How Does Steinbeck Use Imagery In The Grapes Of Wrath

One Thousand Words

A picture is worth one thousand words and while most literary classics lack pictures, John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath paints a mural. Imagery in writing is the load bearing support that keeps us coming back for more, Steinbeck's linguistic workmanship shows this in full. It lets us peer into the lives of the Joad's: rich with culture and lousy with hardships. In The Grapes of Wrath imagery is an essential cornerstone, portraying the land, the people, and how we as readers should feel about the mural of the Joad’s journey. The crux of the people, what they depend on and what defeats them, their true sole provider--the land. In the first chapter, Steinbeck writes, “Then it was June, and the sun shone more fiercely. The

The air was thin and the sky more pale; and every day the earth paled” (Steinbeck 1). His imagery here holds a negative connotation. For example, the use of the word “ribs” to describe the corn stalk bringing to mind the imminent death of the land. The Earth “paleing” as not only moisture leaves the ground, but as an analogy for the blood leaving the body of the land, the word “fiercely” to describe the sun’s harsh rays, whereas if this were to be positive he could have described the sun’s light as “gracious” or “merciful”. Further along in the novel, during the Joad’s struggle for work, we see the golden soil of California: the promised land. This time it holds a feeling of life and of hope, “Valleys in which the fruit blossoms are fragrant pink and white waters in a shallow sea. Then the first tendrils of the grapes swelling from the old gnarled vines, cascade down to cover

For instance, the ending of the novel, a sad but hopeful conclusion. Rose of Sharon’s baby is a stillborn, so they bring him to the river and send him downstream, a large storm starts and their car breaks down, they retreat to a barn to find a starving man and his son; Rose of Sharon matures greatly in the book's final act of her suckling the man back to health. This could also be interpreted as Rose of Sharon’s final act of foolishness, breast feeding a stranger in a barn is surely not the best practice. Steinbeck depicts the hardships of the last chapter as well, “And the rain pattered relentlessly down, and the streams broke their banks and spread out over the country. Huddled under sheds, lying in wet hay, the hunger and the fear bred anger. Then boys went out, not to beg, but to steal; and men went out weakly, to try to steal” (Steinbeck 434). Use of the term “broke their banks” in this context has a double meaning, showing us that it costed them both a lot of money and that the rivers overflowed. That the boys whom would have gone to beg, are now going to they're desperate or that the men are too weak so they make the boys do it themselves. All of these details are just in the back of the book, and every chapter is full to the brim with imagery. The