Chapter 25 of The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
In the twenty-fifth chapter of his novel The Grapes of Wrath, John Steinbeck presents the reader with a series of vivid images, accompanied by a series of powerful indictments. Steinbeck effectively uses both the potent imagery and clear statements of what he perceives as fact to convey his message. This short chapter offers a succinct portrayal of one of the major themes of the larger work. Namely, the potential bounty of nature corrupted and left to rot by a profit-driven system, a system that ultimately fails.
Steinbeck begins the chapter with the simple statement, "The spring is beautiful in California" (p. 346). The proceeding explanation of California’s springtime beauty
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32). Spring is how Steinbeck has chosen to begin this chapter and, though it is not an "everlasting spring," this Californian spring resembles Ovid’s Golden Age. Just as Ovid’s ages of the world degenerate into baser and baser metals, so Steinbeck’s California degenerates from springtime of bounty to a harvest-time of fruit rotting on the ground.
Continuing to contrast Ovid and Steinbeck another difference becomes apparent. In Ovid’s Golden Age the earth is bountiful without the interference of humans. Ovid says, "The earth itself, without compulsion, untouched by the hoe … produced all things spontaneously, and men were content with foods that grew without cultivation" (p. 32). Steinbeck’s Californian Eden comes about in vastly different manner. Steinbeck states, "Behind the fruitfulness are men of understanding and knowledge and skill" (p. 346). These men manipulate the earth, experimenting with seeds and roots, seeking to make plants resilient to all manners of pest and blight. Others, "men of chemistry," devise chemical sprays to kills insects, and "cut out disease and rots, mildews and sicknesses" (p. 346). There are still others. "Doctors of preventative medicine," surgeons, and border guards, all of whom are attempting to increase the yield and bounty of the earth. No,
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.
Throughout My Ántonia, by Willa Cather, the change of seasons is often mentioned and represents the hardships and beauties of the world. The summer and spring are examples of the beauties in the world since the citizens are able to work due to the long days. The spring is almost as important as the summer since it is the time of year when farmers begin to farm again after the winter. But, the winter is unforgiving. During the winter all of citizens are hiding in their nice warm houses trying to avoid the harsh cold. Due to the citizens’ perseverance and hard work their town is able to thrive.
Foster’s insights about seasons and weather in literature change the story’s interpretation by clarifying their purposes. Foster’s main idea in the chapter It’s More Than Just Rain or Snow is weather always has a purpose; for example, rain, which has an “association with Spring,” can allow a “character to be cleansed symbolically” and “can bring the world back to life.” This insight is clear in the short story as outside Mrs.Mallard’s room the “trees were all aquiver with the new spring life” and “the delicious breath of rain was in the air.” The rain and spring weather may be dismissed as merely setting, but Foster’s insights allow the deeper meaning behind the inclusion of rain and spring to be clarified. The rain and spring show how Mrs.Mallard was cleansed
Critical Essays on Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath, Ed. John Ditsky, G.K. Hall. 1989, 97-10
The abuse of power in order to make a profit is a prominent theme today in current events and throughout the novel The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck. Today, people in positions of power use that power to take advantage of their workers and customers in order to benefit themselves. In The Grapes of Wrath, most of the Joads’ problems stem from people using the power they have to deceive them. Economic abuse of power is not only prevalent today, but is also prevalent in The Grapes of Wrath as shown through the bank owners, salesmen, brokers, and the landowners.
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.
The book, Grapes of Wrath, follows the life of the Joad family, who live in Oklahoma during the Depression. The story begins with the return of Tom Joad from prison, where he has spent the last few years. He killed a boy in a bar fight and is now on parole. He is taken by surprise when he returns to Oklahoma only to find that his house is in ruins and his family is not there. He doesn’t know that, while he was gone, the banks forced his family and thousands of others off their land. Tom is accompanied by a former priest, Casey, who searches with Tom for his family. Tom and Casey find the Joad family at Tom’s uncle’s house. The family is preparing to move west to California in hopes that they
Throughout history, there have been various occasions such as the Holocaust, the Spanish inquisition or the Salem Witch Trials, where people sacrifice their humanity in order to sustain a position in society or to merely survive. In John Steinbeck’s novel, The Grapes of Wrath, Steinbeck consistently uses economic, social and historical circumstances to show that the majority of the migrants suffering is not caused by bad weather and adversity but by mans inhumanity to man, which introduces the greater idea that human nature is the root of humans capability to behave inhumanly and unless there is a change in human nature the world will with never see a subsidence in its misery. “They breathe profits; they eat the interest on money. If they don’t get it, they die the way you die without air, without side-meat” (32). In this passage Steinbeck shows the importance of money to the land owners
He compares rebirth to spring and purification to rain. He states rain being the principle component to spring. " April showers" for example spring is also the season of renewal and hope. Normally when stories characters or plot produce with us.
When Steinbeck wrote The Grapes of Wrath, our country was just starting to recover from The Great Depression. The novel he wrote, though fiction, was not an uncommon tale in many lives. When this book was first published, the majority of those reading it understood where it was coming from-they had lived it. But now very few people understand the horrors of what went on in that time. The style in which Steinbeck chose to write The Grapes of Wrath helps get across the book's message.
John steinbeck was conceived on February 27 1902. He had a cheerful adolescence however he was bashful more often truly smart.He shaped an early thankfulness for the land and specifically california salinas valley,which would extraordinarily advise his later writing.He was the second of four kids and the main kid destined to John Steinbeck, Sr. the treasurer of Monterey County and Olive Hamilton Steinbeck a previous instructor. Situated close to the focal California drift on a portion of the world's most ripe land Salinas' authentic epithet today is the Salad Bowl of America, Salinas was and still is a cultivating town, encompassed via scenes of wide yellow valleys and rich green fields. The Steinbecks lived agreeable white collar class lives. Olive the previous teacher, especially imparted in youthful John III an
The setting makes the reader feel by starting every chapter with detail, as if Steinbeck was setting a scene of a play. For example, he starts the book by writing, "A few miles south of Soledad, the Salinas. River drops in close to the hillside bank and runs deep and green. The water is warm too, for it has slipped twinkling over the yellow sands in the sunlight before reaching the narrow pool. On one side of the river the golden foothill slopes curve up to the strong and rocky Gabilan Mountains, but on the valley side the water is lined with trees- willows fresh and green with every spring, carrying in their lower leaf junctures the debris of the winter's flooding; and sycamores with mottled, white, recumbent limbs and branches that arch over the pool " (Steinbeck 1). Sensory words such as warm and twinkling further accents the description. The reader can feel the warm water of the Salinas River. The reader can see the twinkling water. Steinbeck evokes all of five senses to help the reader experience the setting. Additionally, the first page reveals many useful details such as the physical location
It is worth noticing that the author uses present tense to portray the natural scenery at the beginning of chapter one. The nature scene described in this novel truly exists in the reality. Steinbeck uses his hometown as the setting.
“John steinbeck's reputation mostly rest on the naturalistic themes he wrote in the 1930’s” editors of encyclopedia.com.
Previously, before the excerpt Steinbeck was describing the scenery of California using astonishing detail, including stating that all the crops, and the environment in general is growing beautifully through the land. Subsequently, Steinbeck stated how the men working in experimental farms are admired by workers who cultivate the land, due to they develop new fruits. However they are unable to cultivate it, due to the enormous amount of money needed in order to cultivate it. Lastly, Steinbeck stated how the wealthy people eliminate their produce in order to maintain low wages, and increase