Ending In John Steinbeck's The Grapes Of Wrath

It was a cold, dreary night in the month of October in 2003. It was the night before Scarlett’s mothers funeral, she had only been 3 years old. The only thing that made her happy was a stuffed monkey with a picture of her mom in the belly. Scarlett had grown up with her dad Frank in California, and as she hit 9 years old Carla had started coming around more.

Steinbeck’s, The Grapes of Wrath follows the difficult journey of the Joad family as the attempt to move to California. Interwoven into this story is small paragraphs that deliver smaller, individual messages. One such paragraph is paragraph 11. In this paragraph Steinbeck speaks of how the farms have changed over time. This juxtaposition of times seems insignificant and unrelatable to those who don’t look deeply into this short, quick story.

John Steinbeck’s classic novel, The Grapes of Wrath, explains the story of the Joad family while simultaneously dealing with eternal human issues. We open on Tom Joad, fresh out of prison, hitchhiking his way back home after killing a man with a shovel. From there we travel through ideas of religion, capitalism, xenophobia, and determination. As Tom begins walking home from where he was dropped off, he runs across his childhood preacher, alone and barefoot, and discusses ideas of human desire and sin within the church after learning that Casy is no longer a member. Continuing on his way home, Tom finds his family’s barn abandoned and his neighbors gone.

Grapes of Wrath Synthesis Essay Coretta Scott King, prominent civil rights activist and wife of Martin Luther King Jr., once stated, “The greatness of a community is most accurately measured by the compassionate actions of its members”. King argues that the real value of a community lies in how people are treated within the group rather than the communities effect on the outer world. During the Great Depression, the common experience of poverty throughout the nation brought people together to form communities that assisted each other in their aim of survival. The struggle prevalent across the working class created a culture and community that was reliant on this compassion for each other.

Intercalary Chapter Literary Analysis During the Great Depression, the nation as a whole was stripped of financial security and forced into a survivalist way of living. This changed the ways that people interacted with one another and the overall mentality of society. In the Grapes of Wrath, the Joad family is torn from their land and find themselves with nothing, a common story for migrant farmers of that time, derogatorily called “Okies” by Californians. But this is not the only group that is struggling, the entire county was in a state of panic and bruteness, no matter how “well off” they seemed to be.

A Sacrificial Breastfeeder: John Steinbeck’s New Historicism perspective in the 20th Century John Steinbeck’s most interesting ending is illustrated in the 1939 classic Grapes of Wrath. “She moved slowly into the corner and stood looking down at the wasted face, into the wide, frightened eyes. Then slowly she lay down beside him. He shook his head slowly from side to side. Rose of Sharon loosened one side of the blanket and bared her chest” (Steinbeck 455).

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.

This story reveals all the difficulties and all of the suffering proceeding of many of the migrant laborers during the Great Depression and also the Dust Bowl. The novel by Steinbeck has been written to criticize many of the careless and self-interested people and overly important corporate and banking elites for trying to increase their profit policies that would ultimately force many of the farmers to suffer and go through major tribulations. Through these careless actions many of these farmers had to go through things such as starving. It is a very well written political piece, it describes the actions by the lower classes in a great way. As the Grape of Wrath begins, the Joad family is a very traditional family and the structure of the family is in which where the men make the decisions and the women do as they are told.

In the book The Grapes of Wrath, it portrays many of the experiences being lived in the Great Depression and the Dust bowl. But, it also portrays some of the many lives being lived in the modern age today. The book makes a powerful draw to many of the readers due to the fact that America was once in this position; that almost every family was in this position during the Great Depression. Even today in the modern age, most of readers have been through the struggles of trying to survive or what their family members had to do for a better life. The book gives a lot of connection and shows deep meaning that people understand the most.

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.

John Steinbeck has a style of writing unparalleled in history and in the modern world. In the same way, his philosophies are also unparalleled, with his focus in socialism not extending to communism or abnegation of spiritualism. His ideal world is utopian, holding the dust bowl migrant at the same level as the yeoman farmer was held in Jeffersonian times. In The Grapes of Wrath Steinbeck Steinbeck, who posses impregnable technique, conveys his message of a group working tirelessly for the betterment of the community.

Near the end of the excerpt in The Grapes of Wrath, it is seen that the family is going to have to face a catastrophic event. The family is told that they “have to get off the land.” or, “The plows go through the dooryard” (33). At this point, the family is left to question what they are going to have to do. They will no longer have a home to protect them from the elements, they will not have a place to sleep, and they will not have any job. They are facing the worst part of their lives, and they do not know what is to come next.

Grapes of Wrath show the unfair working situations that migrants face when they arrive in California. Land Owners are the most wealthy and powerful having the ability to pay their workers a poor wage. In the Grapes of Wrath, many Americans lose their homes, jobs and life savings, forcing them to move and leave behind their land in hopes of finding a prosperous place to live. The Great Depression (1929-1939) was the worst, deepest and longest lasting economic collapses in the industrialized western world. The Joad family is planning to move to California, but some of them have doubts and attachments that make them contemplate whether or not it is the right choice.

In The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck, the chapters alternate between two perspectives of a story. One chapter focuses on the tenants as a whole, while the other chapter focuses specifically of a family of tenants, the Joads, and their journey to California. Chapter 5 is the former and Steinbeck does an excellent job of omniscient third person point of view to describe the situation. Chapter 5’s main idea is to set the conflict and let the readers make connections between Steinbeck’s alternating chapters with foreshadowing. Steinbeck is effectual in letting readers make connections both to the world and the text itself with the use of exposition, and symbolism.

In Steinbeck's Grapes of Wrath, human suffering is portrayed throughout the whole novel. The novel takes place during the devastation of the Dust Bowl which occurred in the 1930's. People from various Dust Bowl states all migrated towards California; the land of hope. Steinbeck utilizes the Joads' journey to demonstrate and highlight the life of an average migrant. During this harsh time, people managed their lives under the notion: every man for themselves.