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How Does Steinbeck Use Power In The Grapes Of Wrath

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In the Grapes of Wrath, John Steinbeck is saying that power has a direct effect on how people live their lives. Throughout the character’s actions and the symbolism in the intercalary chapters, Steinbeck shows us that the wrong kind of power will cause a negative affect how people live. An example of how Steinbeck’s writings talks about the negative effect of power would be the mentioning of banks throughout the story. In a quote he says “The Bank—or the Company— needs—wants—insists—must have—as though the Bank or the Company were a monster, with thought and feeling, which had ensnared them. These last would take no responsibility for the banks or the companies because they were men and slaves, while the banks were machines and masters all …show more content…

One of the main symbols used to convey this would be through how Ma in the Joad family came to hold more power then Pa. During this time the men of the family were known for being the one in charge. They were the ones to make all the decisions and the rest of he family would follow him no matter his decisions. Steinbeck mentions the change of power from the Pa to Ma by saying “She seemed to know, to accept, to welcome her position, the citadel of the family, the strong place that could not be taken. And since old Tom and the children could not know hurt or fear unless she acknowledged hurt and fear, she had practiced denying them in herself.” This is important to Pa’s loss of power by Steinbeck building up the idea that Ma took on caring for the family as a job that she has to do. The quote says “And since old Tom and the children could not know hurt or fear” it implies that Ma has to take over the power of the families emotional well being because Pa and the kids aren’t going to make decisions to protect the family as a whole. So Ma ends up taking the role of leading the family causing the family structure to go from Pa’s leadership to Ma’s leadership. This is an interesting power change in the family because most of the book describes banks and land owners as having to must power. The fact that because Pa was the one that’s losing power and he was supposed to be the leader of the family could be a representation of how migrant families were losing power to banks at the

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