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.
The tone of chapter 11 in John Steinbeck's, “The Grapes of Wrath,” is sympathetic, sad and hopeless. His word choice and syntax show how the sad houses were left to decay in the weather. His use of descriptive words paints a picture in the reader's mind. As each paragraph unfolds, new details come to life and adds to the imagery. While it may seem unimportant, this intercalary chapter shows how the effects of the great depression affected common households.
Also knowing that they left their homeland, Oklahoma in order to search for a better life and to find out California is just as jobless questions the reader. The Joads continued to struggle through when they made it to California. Having to live in an area of the town called “Hooverville” and living day by day without any job or pay would make the reader think the Joads will soon give up. But, despite the fact they had to suffer through the adversity, they still moved forward. In the end of Chapter 1, the quote “The women studied the men’s faces secretly, for the corn could go, as long as something else remained” tells us that hope was the only thing that the women could look forward to.
Ma Joad: Leader of the Pack In my opinion, Ma Joad is the hero of “The Grapes of Wrath”. She is the main force of the force of the family and the one who kept them moving. And although she is the most loving member of the Joad’s, she hides her pain and fear. Without Ma, the family would not have been together at the end of the novel. She can be grouped into many different types of heroes such as, Catalyst, Group Oriented, and Matriarchal Family Strength.
Leah shows Daniel how to let new people into his life and compassion. Like Samson, Daniel views her as a burden that he should throw over his back and drag around. Many believe Leah possesses demons and will not go near her. As time goes on, Daniel watches as she opens up and allows people in. The first person she willing allows to go near her besides Daniel, remains Thacia.
John Steinbeck, in the novel, Grapes of Wrath, identifies the hardships and struggle to portray the positive aspects of the human spirit amongst the struggle of the migrant farmers and the devastation of the Dust Bowl. Steinbeck supports his defense by providing the reader with imagery, symbolism and intense biblical allusions. The author’s purpose is to illustrate the migrant farmers in order to fully exploit their positive aspects in the midst of hardships. Steinbeck writes in a passionate tone for an audience that requires further understanding of the situation.
Since the book came out in 1939, everyone has had a opinion on the ending to John Steinbeck’s Grapes of Wrath. It has a very controversial ending, that Steinbeck thought would name the last nail into the coffin, so to speak, on how bad the dust bowl and moving west really was. The ending starts when the Joad family is threatened with a flood, so they make their way to a old barn where they find a boy and his old father. The boy says his father is starving, and that he can’t keep anything solid down. He needs something like soup or milk.
This is a staggering change from what readers get in the beginning of the book, where the religious parallels brought forth a sense of hope for the Joads under the dire circumstances. Yet, it becomes dim towards the end as the grapes which they thought would help them only brings them more destruction. Further confirming once and for all that there is no promised land to be found for migrant families such as
1. “… and then suffered a mild nervous collapse. He was treated in a veteran’s hospital near Lake Placid, and was given shock treatments and released.” (Vonnegut,24) This quote has to do with Billy’s mental health because it states he had a breakdown and spent time in a hospital for treatment.
Along the road the Joad family has to put aside their innate humanness in order to survive and make it to California. Mae and the other diners actions support the idea that the migrants are misunderstood by those who are not struggling in the same manner. Mae labels the people coming into the diner, not truly understanding any of them, and notes how the rich are just as unhappy as the poor migrants. According to Mae, “..the worried eyes are never calm, and the pouting mouth is never glad... An’ the bigger the care they got, the more they steal-towels,silver,soap dishes.
Injustices, tragedies, and unfortunate circumstances have plagued humankind for all of existence. Many of these problems have arisen from the society of man, and could not be found in nature. The hatred, selfishness, prejudice, and maliciousness seen in so many injustices man created unnecessarily, as well as all the suffering it causes does not need to exist. If an individual witnesses a crime or injustice occurring, it is their responsibility to defend the weak and fight for whatever is morally right, even at the cost of themselves.
In The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck follows the Joad family as they suffer the hardships caused by the Dust Bowl in the 1930’s. The most important lesson people can learn from the novel is the value of a human life. Although the 1930’s was a low point in American society, the ill-treatment of human beings is still relevant today. Just like Jim Casy’s philosophy, it is important to fight for the rights of the people and their dignity. There are several examples of oppression in The Grapes of wrath.
Violence isn't the way to achieve ones goals. Almost everyone has someone of something that stands in the way of their ultimate goal. Many people come to a point where they feel that the only way to achieve that goal is at the expensive of another. This isn't necessarily the case. Rather then inflicting violence on one another we must use the intelligence we were blessed with.
John Steinbeck’s Grapes of Wrath illustrates the story of Tom Joad during the Great Depression on his journey to California to find work and to find himself. Two men, Patrick Shaw and Joseph Campbell, use different tactics to portray his different stages of life. Although their structure of his journey contrast, their overall ideas seem to align. Shaw’s idea of Tom Joad’s psychological development and Campbell’s idea of the monomyth both describe a journey of Tom from the time he is released from prison to the time he returns home from California in which he is struggling to find his purpose in the world.
In John Steinbeck’s masterpiece The Grapes of Wrath, the former minister, Jim Casy, symbolizes Jesus Christ due to his constantly virtuous nature throughout the novel. Casy exemplifies his selflessness when He died for others as a martyr similarly to Christ’s death on the Cross. The corrupt police jailed Casy for trying to assist the marginalized farmers who were underpaid and exploited by the landowners. This parallels with when the Romans seized and arrested Jesus because of a bribe from Judas and false accusations. Moreover, they both endured terrible suffering before their death.
