Summary Of The Migrant Workers Journey In The Grapes Of Wrath

In Chapter Three of John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath, Steinbeck explores the migrant workers’ journey, revealing that although foes and adversaries rail into them, both those with purpose to injure and those blind to their presence, shattering and flinging them off course, abrupt changes in their course cause no true harm; migrant workers come face to face with success at the close of their journey and ultimately they plant a seed, an idea, a revolution that will blossom along their voyage. Steinbeck establishes a metaphorical journey in Chapter Three, shaping the migrants as turtles, to hail them as the jewels of American society, and to reveal their true characteristics, which are usually muddled with dirty connotations and stereotypes.

The land turtle churns along the dusty concrete highway, atop “a mat of tangled, broken, dry grass” bearing a “high-domed shell” just as migrant workers struggle along Route 66, sheltered behind their shell, a shield that is their family (14). A turtle is one of the few animals who have a robust physical barrier to protect itself constantly, most animals have to fend for themselves or dash away before danger captures them. A turtle doesn’t, neither does a migrant worker. As the turtle “jerks into its shell” for a quick second, the worker reaches out, rolling in the comfort their family provides (15). Imagine a lion had been used, lions are fierce, courageous, and travel in packs, but lions are lone in the face of danger, they have nothing, this is a tragedy the migrants never must experience. Tightly knitted, migrants glow with warmth and care, this shell allows them to continue on, bare seconds after they are struck. When the turtle is “flipped like a tiddly-wink, spunt like a coin, and rolled off the highway” a short time afterwards, its legs waved in the air, and the shell “flopped upright”, continuing on its course, an illustration of how the migrant worker takes upon its conflicts (15). A migrant worker

The turtle is able, with “all [its] legs working”, but weak, barely “waggling along” and “straining”, every action it takes is small, it requires many steps to finish a mile (15). The turtle is only working, it is not pushing forward or making strides, it only works. To work is to accomplish the bare minimum, be capable of the function, it doesn’t include going above and beyond the standard. The turtle is only making it, only enduring, not pushing past, overwhelming the situation its in. To waggle is to quiver, to slightly move and shake, it doesn’t include holding ones stance, marching forward with firm steps, dominating the track. The turtle is barely moving forward, it is not capable enough to conquer the walk. Disadvantaged and weak the turtle has no strength in the outer world, it can’t send ripples of its influence throughout the environment, it can hardly be seen. The turtle waddles on, a speck in the major picture, a contrast to its rival, a demanding, attention-hogging truck. The truck overwhelms the concrete highway with its power, it easily swerves to a side with minimum strength, just “striking the edge of the [turtle’s] shell” flinging