The Grape Of Wrath Essay, Research Paper
The Grapes of Wrath is a novel by John Steinbeck that exposes the
desperate conditions under which the migratory farm families of
America during the 1930’s live under. The novel tells of one families
migration west to California through the great economic depression of
the 1930’s. The Joad family had to abandon their home and their
livelihoods. They had to uproot and set adrift because tractors were
rapidly industrializing their farms. The bank took possession of
their land because the owners could not pay off their loan. The novel
shows how the Joad family deals with moving to California. How they
survive the cruelty of the land owners that take advantage of them,
their poverty and willingness to work.
The Grapes of Wrath combines Steinbeck adoration of the land,
his simple hatred of corruption resulting from materialism (money) and
his abiding faith in the common people to overcome the hostile
environment. The novel opens with a retaining picture of nature on
rampage. The novel shows the men and women that are unbroken by
nature. The theme is one of man verses a hostile environment. His
body destroyed but his spirit is not broken. The method used to
develop the theme of the novel is through the use of symbolism. There
are several uses of symbols in the novel from the turtle at the
beginning to the rain at the end. As each symbol is presented
through the novel they show examples of the good and the bad things
that exist within the novel.
The opening chapter paints a vivid picture of the situation
facing the drought-stricken farmers of Oklahoma. Dust is described a
covering everything, smothering the life out of anything that wants to
grow. The dust is symbolic of the erosion of the lives of the people.
The dust is synonymous with “deadness”. The land is ruined ^way of
life (farming) gone, people ^uprooted and forced to leave. Secondly,
the dust stands for ^profiteering banks in the background that squeeze
the life out the land by forcing the people off the land. The soil,
the people (farmers) have been drained of life and are exploited:
The last rain fell on the red and gray country of Oklahoma in early
May. The weeds became a dark green to protect themselves from the
sun’s unyielding rays….The wind grew stronger, uprooting the
weakened corn, and the air became so filled with dust that the stars
were not visible at night. (Chp 1)
As the chapter continues a turtle, which appears and reappears
several times early in the novel, can be seen to stand for survival,
a driving life force in all of mankind that cannot be beaten by nature
or man. The turtle represents a hope that the trip to the west is
survivable by the farmer migrants (Joad family). The turtle further
represents the migrants struggles against nature/man by overcoming
every obstacle he encounters: the red ant in his path, the truck
driver who tries to run over him, being captured in Tom Joad’s jacket:
And now a light truck approached, and as it came near, the driver saw
the turtle and swerved to hit it. The driver of the truck works for a
large company, who try to stop the migrants from going west, when the
driver attempts to hit the turtle it is another example of the big
powerful guy trying to flatten or kill the little guy. Everything the
turtle encounters trys its best to stop the turtle from making its
westerly journey. Steadily the turtle advances on, ironically to the
southwest, the direction of the mirgration of people. The turtle…
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