Abraham Lincoln Once Said, “Life Is Always Going To Be

In addition, John Steinbeck displays a hopeful tone in his novel. For instance, a chapter exists where it solely talks about a turtle attempting to walk across the road. However, the turtle is slow, so the turtle faces and accepts the life-threatening obstacles the journey provides. Eventually, the turtle intentionally gets hit by a light truck to knocked towards the side of the highway. The turtle continues to crawl away from the road after encountering the truck; “As the turtle crawled on down the embankment, its shell dragged dirt over the seeds. The turtle entered a dust road and jerked itself along, drawing a wavy shallow trench in the dust with its shell” (Steinbeck 16). The turtle crossing the road symbolizes the arduous journey that the Joads will take to California. The turtle originally wanted to cross the highway to get to the other side. However, after the truck hits the turtle, the turtle does not proceed towards the highway, so the turtle successfully crossed the road. The successful turtle crossing symbolizes how the Joads will successfully finish their journey despite facing life-threatening obstacles like the turtle did. The tone shifts from a negative tone to a hopeful tone as we realize that the Joads could potentially have financial success when they arrive to California. Therefore, a hopeful tone becomes evident through the symbolism of the turtle

In life we may go through hardships that take us down a path that benefits us in the future and make us stronger individuals. These hardships can influence a person’s life by making us face obstacles we don’t want to face and

The Grapes of Wrath introduces new characters in chapter four. The characters can easily be related to every day lives, including our own. The character that can be connected most with myself is the turtle. Constantly, I feel I am never noticed and I am just kicked around by people every day. Some people notice me, but only get out of my way instead of offering their help. Some people target me as a way to prove they are larger than me. They swerve towards me to injure me or scare me. Steinbeck's ultimate goal is to make the reader sympathize with the turtle. The turtle is a helpless creature who is abandoned on the road, and the most care he gets from any passing drive is just an attempt to not hit the turtle. Tom Joad comes along

trying to change or overcome obstacles can be damaging. Life is full of struggles, but it

Obstacles change our way of thought and affect our emotions. A person’s values change as well as their character and they develop an understanding on their situation. Through the hardships of any situation, there is some way or another a solution only in the presence of desire.

Everyone has obstacles in life, but find different ways of overcoming the adversity. When you overcome obstacles, you either have a negative or positive attitude. But in the end, you usually end up happy with your outcome. People overcome challenges by not giving up, having a good attitude, and being confident. First, not giving up helps people get over challenges because when you give up, you're throwing away your idea and thinking that it may not change the world or it won't have an effect on anyone.

Obstacles are unavoidable parts of our lives. Obstacles constantly come in the way and slow us down. However, these obstacles should not be viewed as being harmful. They are essential factors in order for one to succeed. They can change the course of one’s life, and encourage one to work harder. Therefore, obstacles can be beneficial.

In John Steinbeck’s novel The Grapes of Wrath he devoted a whole chapter about a turtle crossing the road, but it was not just a filler, it had a deeper meaning to it. The chapter told of a turtle that had to cross a highway and along the way it encounters a few hardships. The real reason Steinbeck added the turtle was to have it symbolize the Joad’s journey from Oklahoma to California. During the Joad’s trip to the west coast they definitely had their fair share of “bumps in the road,” just like the turtle experienced while crossing the road. Despite all of the obstacles faced by both the Joad’s and the turtle, they both managed to make it to their destination and achieve their goal.

The turtle in the “Grapes of Wrath” presents itself as a very important symbol of the Joads determination. A symbol of persistence the Joad family sustains throughout their journey. As the turtle attempts to cross the busy road, it is confronted with many challenges. For instance, as “a light truck approached… the driver saw the turtle and swerved to hit it… little by little the shell pulled over and flopped upright.” (Ch. 3, 15-16) Like the turtle, the Joads slowly, but surely, continue moving forward, “turning aside for nothing,” (Ch. 3, 14)

For example, in the passage, the turtle’s “. . . hind feet kicked his shell along, and it scraped on the grass, and on the gravel” (Steinbeck 15). This description inflicts a mood of sadness as well as compassion for the turtle, as it highlights sadness felt by the turtle in having once again failed to achieve his goal. The turtle’s journey can be compared to The Little Engine That Could. Both the turtle as well as the train faced difficulties, but kept moving on to the best of their abilities. Additionally, the turtle can also be described as a metaphor for the Joad family. No matter what the turtle tried to do, he was faced with new obstacles. The Joads faced similar obstacles as the turtle. When the bank foreclosed the Joad’s home, for instance, they were forced to keep moving on. In drawing similarities between the two, Steinbeck ultimately forces the audience to associate the turtle with the relatable and familiar plight of the Joads, thus making the turtle a sympathetic characters in the audience mind. While encouraging sympathy for both Tom and the turtle, Steinbeck wanted his audience to feel malice toward Jim

In this passage Steinbeck illustrates an interaction between Tom Joad in the turtle. Tom Joad’s description of the turtle serves as a symbolic description of himself. The turtle is “brown-gray, like the dust” on the outside in the same way as Tom Joad appears dirty on the outside from walking from prison to the farm he works. The underside of the turtle, “clean and smooth,” compares to Tom’s personality. While he appears to be a bad person because he has recently left prison, on the inside Tom is not the person his appearance conveys. This passage is from the introduction of the book and as a result I am not positive if the turtle truly is a metaphor for Tom Joad. Tom’s personality has not fully been revealed at this point in the story, but I suspect that this is the turtle’s

In The Grapes of Wrath, the Joad family experiences many hardships on the journey to and in California, ranging from dying family members to a lack of sufficient food. In the third chapter of the novel, author John Steinbeck introduces a determined turtle who attempts to make its journey across a highway. The turtle is apparently nearly run over multiple times, and is actually hit by a car. This causes the turtle to be flipped on its shell, until it catches its footing and “little by little the shell [pulls] over and [is] flopped upright”(16). The turtle then continues its journey and successfully crosses the highway. Although this chapter may have seemed out of place, as the turtle seems to have nothing to do with the novel, Steinbeck’s use of symbolism is apparent. The turtle itself is supposed to symbolize the Joad family and the struggles they face trying to find a better life. Like the turtle, the family is knocked down many times, and like the turtle the family is still able to find its footing and stay determined. The Joad family’s goal is to make a living in California, and although they will face many challenges, they still have their eyes set on crossing their own personal and hazardous turtle highway.

In the novel, grapes epitomize the wrath of the migrants to the land owners. Steinbeck also uses a turtle to symbolize the tormenting agony and the help the Joads received while venturing to California, “A sedan driven by a forty-year-old woman approached. She saw the turtle and swung to the right, off the highway . . . And now a light truck approached, and as it came near, the driver saw the turtle and swerved to hit it” (Steinbeck 15). Rose of Sharon’s stillborn child is a representation of the Joad’s indigence and destitution. The family has been torn apart and separated, they all have little to live from, and it is too much for them to handle (Steinbeck 216). The theme of The Grapes of Wrath is also developed upon its shifts between third person omniscient and objective points of view. The narrator of the novel follows the Joad’s excursion to California and also describes events from a much broader view. The chapters of the Joad’s story are primarily told from an objective point of view in which the Joads communicate to each other, but it sometimes shifts to an omniscient point of view where the narrator will take the voice of a car salesman or a broad view of the Dust Bowl migration. At these points, Steinbeck reveals how the wealthy members of society exploit impoverished and powerless people, “Get ‘em ready to deal, an’ I’ll close ‘em. Goin’ to California? Here’s jus’ what you need. Looks shot, but they’s thousan’s of miles in her” (Steinbeck 66).

Everyone experiences adversity. Challenges that everyday people experience can potentially shape, improve, or destroy one's sense of self and personality. Through all these hardships and seemingly impenetrable obstacles, the most pertinent component of one's ability to overcome can only be shown in actions taken despite the odds. People have one of two options; to let those obstacles overwhelm them and keep them from pursuing all that they were destined to accomplish, or to march forward, fight harder and push past the seemingly impossible circumstances to become greater than they ever expected to be, but until they take the step that enables them to be successful -- they are stranded. All of our actions, mistakes, successes, and behaviors shape our person and what we can or cannot become, but what will always matter is our individual decisions and actions not those of the people around us because at the end of the day, we are the ones who have to deal with ourselves.

In my 38 years of life, I’ve had to overcome plenty of obstacles. When examining my life, especially in my younger years, it showed me life consists of an assortment of minor and major obstacles. Facing an obstacle, especially a major one, and conquering it, awards me a triumphant feeling. Furthermore, this feeling did provide me with determination, willpower, and courage to take on any future obstacles that life can throw at me (Harrington, 2012). This makes minor obstacles to become like a cake walk.