Water In John Steinbeck's Grapes Of Wrath

Cracked lips, cracked land. Dusty throats and dusty fields cry out. Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck plants you firmly in a shriveled world alongside an equally as dry witted man. Water is the essence of life, find water and living things thrive. Water, when it pertains to literature, is as versatile as it is useful. It can be simultaneously represent both destruction and life. In the novel water plays the role of the purifier socially, economically, and emotionally for both the Joad’s and the American midwest, As the book opens, water is notably absent which causes great distress. The water is not the destroyer of the land but rather a chance of rebirth albeit forcefully. In the text, “The surface of the earth crusted, a thin hard crust,

When the Joad’s reach the Colorado river it’s as if they’ve reached paradise, and it may as well be considering the drought like conditions they’ve had to endure in the Dust Bowl. Their oldest son, Noah, is particularly taken by the cool, clear water and decides to permanently settle down there saying, “I was in that there water. An’ I ain’t a-gonna leave her. I’m a-gonna go now, Tom-down the river. I’ll catch fish an’ stuff, but I can’t leave her. I can’t” (Pg 208-209). Noah is under the impression that his family is nice to him but they don’t really care for him, not in the familial instinct way they care for Tom. Noah chose to stay because he didn’t believe in his family’s love but he justified his leaving by his inability to leave the water. What is curious is that this does not seem to alarm the family that this is the reason he stays. Heartbreaking, yes, but understandable in its justification. It shows the extent of the almost mystical power of water to the people ravaged by the Dust Bowl, the power it holds not only over nature and their living conditions but over their minds. Water has almost endless possibilities and gives as much it takes for