Analysis Of Upton Sinclair 's ' The Grapes Of Wrath '

Throughout John Steinbeck’s novel The Grapes of Wrath, many concepts appear that were noted in How to Read Literature Like a Professor by Thomas C. Foster. However, the three chapters of Foster’s how-to guide that most apply to Steinbeck’s novel were “It’s All About Sex…,” “Every Trip is a Quest (Except When It’s Not),” and “It’s More Than Just Rain or Snow.” On more than one occasion these concepts are hidden within the book, and two of them actually seem somewhat linked together. After reading between the lines, The Grapes of Wrath has an extremely intricate plot and many ulterior meanings. Foster’s book helps to solve these meanings and make it so that the novel can be completely understood.

The dust bowl was a tragic time in America for so many families and John Steinbeck does a great job at getting up-close and personal with one family to show these tragedies. In the novel, “The Grapes of Wrath”, John Steinbeck employed a variety of rhetorical devices, such as asyndeton, personification and simile, in order to persuade his readers to enact positive change from the turmoil of the Great Depression. Throughout the novel, Steinbeck tells the fictional narrative of Tom Joad and his family, while exploring social issues and the hardships of families who had to endure the Dust Bowl and the Great Depression. Steinbeck’s purpose was to challenge readers to look at

The Grapes of Wrath, written by John Steinbeck, is considered by many to be the hallmark of American literature. It covers the journey of the Joad family as they stick together through one of the harshest eras in American history, the Great Depression. The structure of the Joad’s narrative is interspersed by smaller, highly descriptive interchapters, which sets the novel apart from other classics in its ability to make the reader understand and relate to the Joads and everything they went through. The detailed, impactful vignettes foreshadow problems the Joads have to overcome and the overview descriptions in the vignettes contrast with the specificities of the Joad’s story. They contain Biblical allusions, colorful descriptions, and objects that can interact with the main characters later in the narrative. Through the use of imagery and diction, the vignettes make Steinbeck’s message more impactful and meaningful.

“At the heart of every immigrant’s experience is a dream- a vision of hope that is embodied in his or her destination” (Gladstein 685). In the novel, The Grapes of Wrath the migrants imagined the absolute aspects of living care free to the west. However, everything changed once they traveled to the west, realizing the simple concept turned into hazardous problems. John Steinback emphasized the American dream of economic stability and truculent situations towards the Joads family's point of view. Throughout the immigration, the Joads family goes through constant and unpredictable changes in employment, and their eventual failure to find success in California. The novel has been called by critics "a celebration of the human spirit", in several ways it is true due to the aspects of human nature. Despite the hazardous actions people can do, it is important to realize everything around us.

As I started to read chapter one I was thinking “This is going to be so boring” but I just kinda had to get more into. And as I was in the middle of chapter one I was expecting Jody to come home from school and everything was going to be all happy and joyful, of course that wasn’t going to happen it’s too easy. So when Gabilan died, I think Jody over reacted, I mean, yeah I get it he’s sad and everything but he didn’t need to kill other animals. And I was kinda shocked when the chapter ended like that. I was hoping that something else would happen.

“I got thinkin’ how we was holy when we was one thing, an’ mankin’ was holy when it was one thing”

A quote I liked from this section was “The camp looked as though it had been through an epidemic, empty and dead“I think it was important to include this quote because it helps us picture the condition of the camp. Elie uses the word epidemic which means a widespread infectious disease in a community. We can visualize how badly the camp is messed up or trashed.

The diction words I picked from the quote was “blasted” and “sleeping” and which then I chose the tone word, uneasy because reflects how even though the Clutters lost their live due to being shot in the head, Perry and Dick also destroyed their own lives because they turned themselves into murders which means they will have to run away for eternity.

1. “I no longer thought God was the creeks rising from the wood floor. I knew God was found in prayer, not in the sudden closing of the hallways door just as you stepped from the bathroom. But when I was a boy with squares of black space instead of baby teeth when the door closed with a sigh, I thought, that God. God made that happen.” (Page 2)

3.. The tile itself is an allusion to a biblical reference. The line “Grapes of Wrath” comes from a Hymn, songs sang in churches, titled “The Battle Hymn of the Republic.” The journey that the Joad family goes on is a biblical allusion to the Exodus Journey. All the parts of the Journey can be traced back to the Bible. When the drought that stops the family from working in family comes to the journey to california and to working in california. The farm because their prison like the prisoners of the Pharaoh, and their journey to run away from the Pharaoh and to the Promised land can be seen throughout the entirety of the book. Although it might not be that obvious, the tale of Noah’s ark can be see through the family as they go from one car to another throughout the journey. “Noah stood on the ground looking up at the great load of them sitting on top of the truck.” (The Grapes, P. 84) Jim Casy can also be seen as Moses. Casy acts as a leader and helped the Joads start a new life much like moses who guided people out of Egypt. Joads “resurrection” as Jim Casy can also be alluded to the Bible. Ma joad can also be seen as the Virgin Mary From the Bible. She reveals her strength and is very selfless and knows her morals. Rose of Sharon can also be seen as the Virgin Mary. Rose of Sharon is very humble and helps many people throughout the journey and shows selflessness and humbleness. The allusions to the Bible is very important in this novel because it helps deliver that

The Grapes of Wrath is set in the horrible stage of our American history, the Depression. Economic, social, and historical surroundings separate the common man of America into basically the rich and poor. A basic theme is that man turns against one another in a selfish pride to only protect themselves. For example, the landowners create a system in which migrants are treated like animals and pushed along from one roadside camp to the next. They are denied decent wages and forced to turn against their fellow scramblers to simply survive.

All we have is our humanity-our soul and our individualism. In Grapes of Wrath and “Modern Times”, John Steinbeck and Charlie Chaplin suggest that the stability of those parts of us-our humanity-are taken away by the big corporations of modern times. Humanity is the ability to choose your actions based on your own faculty and morals. When our faculty and morals are compromised, whether it be because family, food, or quality of life are on the line, we are no longer human. In their works, Charlie Chaplin and John Steinbeck reveal that capitalism dehumanizes man by forcing him to become a machine lose his life’s purpose.

The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck uses numerous literary techniques to advocate for change in the social and political attitudes of the Dust Bowl era. Simile, personification, and imagery are among the many devices that add to the novel’s ability to influence the audience’s views. Moreover, through his use of detail, Steinbeck is able to develop a strong bond between the reader and the Joad clan. This bond that is created evokes empathy from the audience towards the Joads as they face numerous challenges along their journey. The chapters go between the Joad’s story and a broad perspective of the Dust Bowl’s effect on the lives of Mid-western farmers in which Steinbeck illustrates dust storms devastating the land, banks evicting tenant

The protagonist of this story is Tom Joad. Tom must overcome several conflicts when he is paroled from jail and let out into an economically depressed country. Tom's physical conflict throughout the novel is the task of surviving the horrible starving conditions of America's Great Depression. He also has physical conflicts with people who only wish to destroy the hopes of migrant workers such as the police and strikebreakers. Tom's emotional conflict deals with his inability to get good work and take care of his family. Tom had feelings of worthlessness until he decided to run away and attempt to organize the migrant workers against the wealthy California landowners with inspiration from his close friend Jim

The Dust Bowl, a series of severe dust storms in the 1930’s, left 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 the sediment around the countryside. 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 author of The Grapes of Wrath, John Steinbeck, wrote his American realist novel to allow readers to understand the experiences of the migrants from the Dust Bowl era. Not many