Grapes Of Wrath 4 Essay Research Paper

Grapes Of Wrath 4 Essay, Research Paper

Years

Born: 1902

Died: 1968

Wrote: He wrote The Grapes of Wrath in 1930 s and released it in 1939. It won the Pulitzer Prize in 1940.

Nationality: He was an American author who lived in Salinas, California. He was educated at Stanford University. He first worked as a fruit picker, but then moved to New York. He didn t like it in New York so he moved back and became an author.

Style: John Steinbeck s style is to write about something that he knows first hand. He likes to have all the details before writing his stories. Prior to writing The Grapes of Wrath, he caught up with some migrants from Oklahoma and rode with them on their journey to California.

His style in The Grapes of Wrath is to have a chapter with dialogue and the story, and to then give a picture of the times. He describes the depression of the 1930 s and gives the reader a full view of what the migrants were going through. There is a dialogue and story chapter, which is followed or preceded by an intercalary (between) chapter. The intercalary chapters are what serve to show the migrant s struggling, and the big picture of what times were like.

Genre: The Grapes of Wrath is considered a protest novel to many. Steinbeck originally wrote it to ask California farmers to have sympathy for the migrating Okies . However, today recognized as a classic, this would most likely fall under the genre of drama.

Notes: As you read The Grapes of Wrath you must take into consideration that Steinbeck has traveled with Oklahoma migrants so that he is writing from experience. However, because he wants to get sympathy for migrants he may exaggerate conditions a little. Steinbeck uses a lot of symbolism in his writing. He starts with a turtle symbolizing the Joad family and the hardships they will face. Characters symbolize and foreshadow events, and small things can play a larger role than expected. Steinbeck s mastery of symbolism and his relating to the bible can be seen throughout the entire novel.

THE GRAPES OF WRATH

Conversion and the many changes that take place

Tom and his family undergo significant change due to uncontrollable forces that occur throughout the book. Through these events he and his family go through conversion, death and rebirth, migration, and are on constant pursuit for a better life. Many inner and outer changes occur throughout the entire novel. The Joad family begins the novel as self-centered individuals, and end the novel as a universal family with all the other migrants from Oklahoma, also known as Okies . The California farmers look down on the novel, and are quoted as saying that the Novel is of social criticism that fuses myth and symbol with its attack on a speech of American life during the 1930s. and In Steinbeck s work the false starts and turns, the thwarting problems of material and of the artist in the process of penetrating it, which usually mark the effort to portray truth, these singularly lacking. Many opinions will form and reform both in the characters of the book, and the reader as the book goes on. Whether Steinbeck exaggerates or tells the truth in its fullest, these changes take place in the characters and the theme of a universal family is evident in the novel.

The novel s first theme is that of the pursuit for a better life. Tom Joad has just been released from prison. He only has served 4 years of his 7-year sentence for manslaughter, but he is now out on parole. He returns and finds that his family is at his Uncle John s. The banks are taking away farms and farmers can no longer keep up with the economy. His family welcomes him back, but they have decided to move to California. They have received handbills that announce of high wages and plentiful jobs in California. The Joad s look forward to this new opportunity but fail to see that these handbills do not tell the full story of overcrowding and unemployment that lead to starvation and madness. One book accurately quotes The Grapes of Wrath is a work of contrasts dramatized in alternatively humorous and horrifying episodes: the hopeful westward migration of the Joads is morally compared to that of the original western settlers, and the family s dreams of a land of milk and honey contrast sharply with descriptions of California farm corporations which destroy crops to maintain high market prices .

The Joads begin their journey, but it quickly begins with a chain of death and rebirth. The first of these is when Grandpa is forced to leave his land. Grandpa is like a fish and his land is like the sea. If he is taken out of the sea, he will not survive. The Joads dope him and then force him to move on. Very shortly, he dies of a stroke. Grandma s purpose for living is to compete with Grandpa. These two are happily married (though they don t admit it) and are always competing. She becomes a religious fanatic because Grandpa is anti-religious. Their relationship is marked by frequent quarreling and humorous arguments. As soon as Grandpa dies, she soon passes away. Other deaths come with the separation of the family. Connie (Rose of Sharon s husband) abandons her, Casy is arrested, the dog has been hit by a car, Noah leaves the family by the beautiful river the Joads come across in California, and later in the novel Rose of Sharon s baby is born dead.

These deaths and