Figurative Language In The Grapes Of Wrath

John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath elaborates on

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).

Literary Influences John Steinbeck had many literary influences, but arguably the most important one is the idea of the Oversoul. The Oversoul appears when Casey an ex-preacher is seeking a new way of life. In the novel, Casey speaks about how “ [he has] a little piece of a great big soul…[that] wasn’t no good, less it was with the rest”(Steinbeck 475). This viewpoint which Casey had acquired was exactly what Ralph Waldo spoke about in his paper about the Oversoul(The Oversoul.) The Oversoul has a huge impact on the novel as a symbol of cooperation which is seen many times, this idea of working together is what influenced Casey “to take blame…

Under the circumstances brought by the Dust Bowl, the Joads must leave their life in Oklahoma behind in order to survive and pursue an altogether better life. This separation from their property is conclusively a death sentence for Granpa Joad, the founder of the Joad farm, who shortly dies after their departure. As the Joads embark on their journey, they begin to feel the discrimination that is shared throughout a large population of people who were referred to as “okies”. This conflict is resolved in many ways. In retaliation to the unjust conditions for migrant farmers in California, Jim Casy organizes a strike against unfair wages.

Their own farm. Unfortunately, things don’t go to plan and the novel twists into a miserable tale, on the consequences of your own actions. Although George and Lennie’s bond was almost unbreakable the book still ends in tragedy. The novel highlights the poverty during the great depression, the racism African-American people faced

John Steinbeck, in the novel, Grapes of Wrath, identifies the hardships and struggle to portray the positive aspects of the human spirit amongst the struggle of the migrant farmers and the devastation of the Dust Bowl. Steinbeck supports his defense by providing the reader with imagery, symbolism and intense biblical allusions. The author’s purpose is to illustrate the migrant farmers in order to fully exploit their positive aspects in the midst of hardships. Steinbeck writes in a passionate tone for an audience that requires further understanding of the situation.

The Dust Bowl, a series of severe dust storms in the the 1930’s, left the the southern plains of the United States as a wasteland. The storms occurred due to the lack of use of dryland farming techniques to prevent wind erosion. Powerful winds would pick up loose soil and carry it around the country side. Called “black blizzard” or “black rollers”, these storms had the potential to black out the sky completely. Due to the inability to grow and sell crops, banks evicted families and foreclosed their properties, leaving them homeless and without an income.

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.

Desperation and disaster happened so readily to the Joads in The Grapes of Wrath that I was desensitized into not associating faces with characters. Their sufferings became ideas and just another movement in history we needed to learn in school. Dorothea Lange’s pictures put people with the pain of the past, the desperate and destitute families tearing away from their old lives in one, overburdened car and led on by the dream of creating a new life in California. The Grapes of Wrath talked about the Joads’ packing up their entire family history into one car.

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.

During the time of the Dust Bowl and the Great Depression many small farmers lost their farms due to poor farmer conditions. Those who managed to continue to produce a crop yield eventually lost their farms due to the failing economy. This harsh time is highlighted in John Steinbeck’s classic novel, Grapes of Wrath. During one of Steinbeck’s intercalary chapters, chapter 14, Steinbeck uses pathos, a metaphor, and short syntax to show that big business, especially in the agricultural industry, is the root of the hardships faced by small farmers and migrant workers.     Steinbeck uses a different form of pathos to draw his readers and make it so that the audience can understand the severity of the suffering that the migrant families are facing.

Ashleigh is a girl who has to choose between her mom’s trust that she won’t follow a bad decision and her dad, who wants her to help him in his own debt. Ashleigh’s dad makes her feel special and kept persisting the image that he thought she was special and important. Ashleigh’s mom didn’t say these things to her so Ashleigh felt closer to her dad. The words that kept Ashleigh and her dad so close were, “Your one in a million” .

In this chapter, you are introduced to Floyd Knowles, a man the Joads meet while setting up tents for shelter, a Hooverville, as they are on the move along with many other families. Knowles warns them of how the police are treating certain groups with harassment. Casy decides to leave the Joads’ group because he insists that he is a burden to them, but decides to stay an extra day. Later, two men, one is a deputy, show up in a car to the tent settlement to offer fruit-picking jobs, but Knowles refuses which provokes the men. They try to falsely accuse him of breaking into a car lot so they can arrest him.

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.

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.