During the great depression, the midwest underwent a long drought. Exposed dry earth swept away with the wind and caused huge dust storms that prolonged the dry weather. With the lowered selling prices and the lack of crops the farmers had some major economic trouble. In Black Blizzard and John Steinbeck 's Grapes of Wrath, the literature develops the ideas of the poor distribution of wealth within the populations and the social aspects of people of different economic class. Social differences arise in the wealthy, the employed, and the unemployed throughout this period of hardship.
In this chapter, you are introduced to Floyd Knowles, a man the Joads meet while setting up tents for shelter, a Hooverville, as they are on the move along with many other families. Knowles warns them of how the police are treating certain groups with harassment. Casy decides to leave the Joads’ group because he insists that he is a burden to them, but decides to stay an extra day. Later, two men, one is a deputy, show up in a car to the tent settlement to offer fruit-picking jobs, but Knowles refuses which provokes the men. They try to falsely accuse him of breaking into a car lot so they can arrest him.
In the novel, The Grapes of Wrath, the author uses the character Jim Casy to illuminate the unification of the migrant workers. He gained power through relinquishing his title as a preacher and speaking from his heart, rather than from the Bible. Through his non-religious persona, Jim Casy is able to be an influential force in his community by organizing a union. Jim Casy represents Christ and brings spiritual stability to the migrant families throughout the novel. The church helped to develop this part of his character by forcing him to form his own ideas about God, holiness, sin, and the Holy Spirit.
So straight off the bat, the reader knows that Jim Casy has a religious background. Steinbeck does this to make sure that the upcoming references will be easily recognizable as those that resemble Christ, and not just some off-the-wall story. Steinbeck uses biblical stories to help exemplify Casy’s Christ-like past. “Prior to our
In between each narrative chapter of The Grapes of Wrath, John Steinbeck wrote intercalary chapters to add to the narrative. These sixteen chapters were a very effective way for Steinbeck to make his points, and progress the theme of the novel. The intercalary chapters were a wise way to summarize the entire struggle of the suffering people during the dust bowl. They showed how Joad family was one example of the millions of families who migrated to California during the dust bowl, and the general rage and resistance felt in the innocent farmers, brought on by rich privileged men who gain their power from the unstoppable big banks. These chapters strengthen my knowledge of the struggles of the time, and give me more information of what is not seen from the Joad’s struggles alone.
In the article Christian Symbolism in The Grapes of Wrath by Martin Shockley, he argues that Jim Casy in many ways is a representation of Jesus Christ. Firstly, Shockley noticed that Jim Casy and Jesus Christ had the same initials; J.C.. The author even described Jim Casy as a “direct copy of Jesus Christ”. Among the things the author realized they had in common, he also noticed that the message that Jim Casy and Jesus Christ both preached a message of a “new religion”. Both figures had taken time to withdrawal for meditation and during these periods reinterpreted their beliefs.
This part of the book is focused on Randy’s personal life while providing background information about his past experiences and details about his illness. His battle with cancer started back in 2006. After undergoing an intense surgery, Randy and his wife, Jai, discovered during a doctor’s visit that Randy didn’t have much longer to live (3-6 months approximately according to his doctor). Randy then talks about how he was, and trying to be, positive throughout this experience. However, he also understands that he is sometimes “self-possessed to a fault”, as his professor Andy van Dam would say.
In the beginning of the story when Casy first met Tom and the rest of the Joad family, his life did not have much direction. During his time wandering around Oklahoma, he came to the conclusion that, "There
They’ll jus’ put me in jail, an’ I ain’t doin’ nothin’” (Steinbeck 265-266). As you can see, Casy only wants to help others, even if that means years in jail. Leading into the next example, once Casy finished his sentence, he began his journey to stop the landowners. He was angry by how these
In The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck, Tom Joad is a hero. Usually, when you think of a hero, you think of someone like Spiderman who has power, but sometimes the smaller things can make someone a hero. Tom shows me this. First, Tom is selfless; he shows this by taking the harder things to do on the journey so the others don't have to, such as “Well drive along the road meet ya in the morning” (Steinbeck 187); he gives up sleeping comfortably so the others can, and he saves them money.
I got no kids. They’ll jus’ put me in jail, an’ I ain’t doing nothin’ but set aroun’.” (Steinbeck 363) During a fight with a labor recruiter and a sheriff, Casy gladly sacrifices himself for the well-being of the
At the beginning of the novel, Tom Joad is primarily concerned with his own survival and the well-being of his family. But as he witnesses the injustice and suffering that other migrant workers go through, his perspective starts to change. Tom's encounter with the former preacher, Jim Casy, played a major role in his transformation. Casy's ideas about the connections of all people and collective action are important to Tom. This is shown in the quote, "I been thinking about us, too, about our people living like pigs and good rich land layin'
(265-266). Casy forethought and relieved the Joad family of what would have been a rough loss, all at his own personal cost. Reverend Jim Casy’s specific action exemplified a selfless
Intercalary Chapter Literary Analysis During the Great Depression, the nation as a whole was stripped of financial security and forced into a survivalist way of living. This changed the ways that people interacted with one another and the overall mentality of society. In the Grapes of Wrath, the Joad family is torn from their land and find themselves with nothing, a common story for migrant farmers of that time, derogatorily called “Okies” by Californians. But this is not the only group that is struggling, the entire county was in a state of panic and bruteness, no matter how “well off” they seemed to be.
