Deception In John Steinbeck's The Grapes Of Wrath

Many of the events in The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck do not result in the expected manner. Although the Joads seem to be traveling in hope, irony seems to conquer several situations. There are three types of irony: in dramatic irony, the reader sees the characters mistakes, but not the character. In verbal irony, the author means something rather than what is said. Irony of situation is when there is a paradox between the purpose of an action and its result. By observing several situations during the novel, such as the events of the Weedpatch Camp, the death of Casey, and Chapter 29, much irony can be distinguished.

The Grapes of Wrath was written in 1939 in response to the Great Depression by John Steinback. The story follows the Joad family as they are forced to leave their home to travel California which promised land and work. The Joad Family represents many families who had to migrate to California. In chapter 9, Steinback shows us through syntax and diction the bitterness and sorrow migrant workers had to go through as they prepared to make their journey to California. Steinback use of diction and syntax in this chapter is what serves his purpose of writing and sets the tone.

The novel The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck is set in a time during the great depression, in a poor farming town where everyone is reliant on one another for their own survival. During a tough summer of farming due to dust suffocating large numbers of crops, families are struggling to survive. When the large companies that own the land realize it would be more profitable to evict the current residents and farm it all with large machinery many families are forced to leave their homes of many generations and travel halfway across the country to support their families. We see many examples of man’s inhumanity to man and greed throughout the course of this novel.

Similar to a cactus’ bloom in the heat of the desert, through adversity humanity prospers and processes. Society, as a whole, has experienced, at least once, hardships in their lifetime, and through these trying situations people acquire compassion. Being familiar with challenges, people more readily accepts the distress of others and offer required assistance during times of difficulty. Although adversity is seen as the creator of contempt and hatred because of its negative effects on mentality, adversity fosters compassion through the creation of empathy, morality, and association in a person with others in a calamity.

Allusions are used in literature for multitudes of reasons; usually to foreshadow an event in the novel, or to give the piece a deeper meaning. Sometimes, allusions are used to prove authorial purpose. In The Grapes of Wrath, Steinbeck uses allusions to prove the resiliency of the human spirit and how hope can persevere through even the worst of situations.

During the Great Depression, many citizens faced an arduous lifestyle of unemployment. However, many people managed to entertain themselves by reading literature such as The Grapes of Wrath. John Steinbeck witnessed an injustice towards farmers during the Great Depression, and this inspired Steinbeck to present his perspective of the maltreatment to the open through The Grapes of Wrath. The fictional novel describes how unfortunate conditions, during the Great Depression, force an Oklahoma farmer family to travel to California in search for an easy life, job opportunities, and a bright future. John Steinbeck represented and connected his tones through his trope, making it an excellent read. In the novel, The Grapes of Wrath, John Steinbeck

John Steinbeck is the renowned author of novels such as Of Mice and Men, East of Eden, and The Pearl. In his novel The Grapes of Wrath Steinbeck expounds on the theme of the cruelty people inflict on one another as well as how they can overcome the inhumanity of others. Steinbeck’s artfully demonstrates that this cruelty is often born out of the human tendency to think of oneself first; others, if they are thought of at all, come second.

Quest is a method where a literary work is broken down into five simple components. The five aspect of Quest consists of a quester, a place to go, a stated reason to go, challenges and trials, and a real place to go. This method can be applied to a novel by John Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath because many examples are peppered throughout the story.

To begin, migrant farmers are not paid fair wages. In Source D, the graph demonstrates that a farm worker will earn only $.30 for every $100. of produce that he harvests. The majority of the earnings are split between the manufacturers and the retailers. This does not leave the farm worker with an adequate salary to feed and clothe his family. Furthermore, with such measly wages, the farm workers cannot live “The American Dream.”

A family torn apart by poverty and desperation in the Great Depression leave their home in the dust bowl in hopes of finding a new life on the green pastures of California. This was the foundation of an award winning novel, “The Grapes of Wrath,” written by John Steinbeck. Steinbeck achieved great success as an author after writing “The Grapes of Wrath” as it sold over 10,000 copies a week for months after its debut. To illustrate life in the dust bowl, the author uses literary elements or formal components such as a sophisticated tone, natural dialect in the form of slang, and figurative language.

The Grapes of Wrath is a novel written by John Steinbeck. Throughout the novel Steinbeck uses rhetorical devices such as syntax and diction to support his tones and themes. In chapter 5, the tenants get vested by the men of the bank, and were told they had to leave. This chapter created 3 tones: hatred, sympathy and hope. One of the rhetorical devices used in The Grapes of Wrath is syntax.

The use of Rhetorical Strategies often strengthen writing. In John Steinbeck’s “The Grapes of Wrath” he did exactly this. The way he used rhetorical strategies throughout the novel not only helped it to become stronger but it also assisted it in becoming more effective. Steinbeck used rhetorical devices such as Imagery, Symbolism , and Allegories

The author’s purpose for writing chapter 3 of The Grapes of Wrath was to convey to the audience not to avoid your problems but to hit them “head on”. In this chapter, the turtle shows resilience by facing his problems. For example it states, “The old humorous eyes looked ahead, and the horny beak opened a little” (Steinbeck 16). This shows that even after almost facing death, the turtle continues to finish his journey. Chapter three also states, “And as the turtle crawled on down the embankment its shell dragged dirt over the seeds” (Steinbeck 16). This shows how the turtle continues life no matter the troubles he faced. The author uses symbolism to show the turtle’s determination. “His front wheel struck the edge of the shell, flipped the turtle…it’s front foot caught a piece of

A great example of imagery is in the line, “brake rods, exhausts, piled like snakes” (63). This quote is depicting what one can find in used car lots that were full of not only car parts, but snake-like salesmen as well. The scorching heat of the sun is mentioned again when Steinbeck explains that “the sun whipped the earth”, and this is also an example of personification (163). Moreover, by explaining in great detail most actions and conversations the Joads had throughout their travels, Steinbeck makes the reader feels as though they are a part of the family. Private enterprise is criticized as a man tells the Joad men, “... “ever’thing in California is owned... An’ them people that owns it is gonna hang on to it if they got to kill ever’body in the worl’ to do it” (206). This conversation had served to raise awareness of how the large farming companies were taking advantage of people by running small farmers out of business, paying low wages because men would work just to feed their starving children, and keeping the poor poor. Steinbeck was advocating for change with his writing. Another attack had been on the government in this quote, “Sheriff gets seventy-five cents a day for each prisoner, an’ he feeds ‘em for a quarter” (271). By including this, the novel is demonstrating how its take on the corruption of the government and its law enforcers - that this practice of paying to put struggling people in jail

However, this anger presented in the novel is not a negative one. The characters are about to burst out of it and as result they will seek improving their conditions and fighting against this inhumane treatment. Many people agree on the fact that the novel is greatly about anger. For instance, Malcolm Cowely believes that the novel is one among the “great angry books that have the power to spur readers on to protest and action.” ( Cowely, American Tragedy p.382-383)