Grapes Of Wrath American Dream Essay

As the book progresses, the changes within the family are characterized differently in each character. Mrs. Joad's primary concern is keeping the family unit together as they begin their journey. Soon, however, members of the family begin to leave. Noah cannot handle the changes and goes off on his own while Grandpa and Grandma leave through death. Connie abandons his wife and does not return. Al becomes engaged and goes with his fiancée's family. Even Young Tom leaves after he has accidentally killed another man and has to go into hiding. Mrs. Joad deals with each of these losses and appears to be stronger as the story continues, even making the decision for Tom to leave as it becomes necessary.

In the first scene of the movie, Tom Jord comes out as he commits murder a few years ago and lives with his brother. He will return to his home and face the dire reality. After that, Tom and his family decide to head to Western California, where there is plenty of farmland at the end of the discussion. They carried all their belongings in a junk truck and went to California with a large family. On their way to California, they not only go on their own, but many others feel the same. Tom's family was in a tent village in California at the end of their twists and turns and was looking for a job. However, it is difficult for many people to find a job because they are already concentrated in California, but it is difficult to work on an orange farm. However, even at that time, I had to work without getting the right wages. If you buy an orange, it will cost you 5 cents. While Tom is talking, they commit murder again in battle with the locals. After that, Tom Jord decides to leave Orange Farm. Tom is in a position to worry that his family will be hurt because of himself. The last scene in the film shows their dynamic and new adaptation for survival. The movie ends with a happy ending that passively accepts

“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.

You can tell that Casy is having second thoughts about leaving for out west, and it’s almost like he is having a premonition. He tries to convince Tom that something funny is going on, but Tom just ignores him. Casy responds by saying “Oh, what the hell! So goddamn hard to say anything” (Galati 37). Uncle John is also having bad feelings and he expresses this to Casy when he says “I got a feelin’ I’m bringin’ bad luck to my own folks” (Galati 41).  Furthering the family break up, Noah, who was also traveling with the family, found his place when they were at the river. He realized that he could catch fish and never be sad. Noah did not want to leave his family but he knew that it wasn’t going to get any better. While the Joad family was breaking up a shift was happening. After the family looses Connie, Casy and Tom, Ma knew that she is just supposed to go on. When she tells Pa “Man, he lives in a jerk—baby born an’ a man dies, an’ that’s a jerk—gets a farm an’ loses his farm, an’ that’s a jerk.” (Galati 81). Ma is realizing that there is a circle of life, that the death of one may bring life to another, as shown in the end when Rose of Sharon feeds her breast milk for her dead baby to a dying man. Ma’s way of thinking is best illustrated by the quote  "Can't wipe us out. Can't lick us. We'll go on forever. 'Cause we're the people." Ma Joad was going through this shift in thinking.

John Steinbeck's novel, The Grapes of Wrath is an excellent portrayal of the common and true Americans. While it is of course a book of deep thought and incredible symbolism, most of all The Grapes of Wrath gives these common American workers a voice and a distinct identity, and doesn't just turn them into a stereotype or cliche.

Tom, though, is a very complicated individual who turns out to be a tremendous asset and burden to the family. His parole causes the family an unneeded worry, but does get work that helps the family. He is the main protagonist for his family and the main follower of Jim Casy's philosophy on human nature. Jim is much more of a talker and idealist, and he actually puts what he preached into action. Jim Casy is frequently compared with Jesus Christ and his lifestyle of preaching and leading people. As well as sacrificing himself for Tom and the Joad family which upholds his common held belief. Tom carries Jim’s message after his death and aids others with it. The Joad family, along with Jim Casy, shows the benefit of people uniting in order to accomplish goals and this is a lesson that the reader can take away from this novel.

The Grapes of Wrath a movie and a book, written by John Steinbeck. Depicts what the Great Depression was really like for a certain Oklahoma family, the Joads. Throughout the movie you see how hard the struggles actually were and how each character dealt with it. Tom Joad, who just got released from prison, comes home to see that the Depression has taken over his family’s life. The family was forced to move houses and live with their Uncle John. When the family gets a handbill that says California is hiring people to work, the Joads see this as a sign of hope that they can get out of these miserable times. Little do they know this is just the beginning of a long journey ahead of them. The Joads load up all their belongings and set forth to California in an old beat up truck. During this long journey to California they lose two family members and occur quite a few flat tires along their way. Once the family finally gets to California they settle in at a camp where it is overwhelmed by officials telling them what to do. At this point in the movie the family quickly realizes that this may have been the wrong decision. Shortly after not finding a lot of work

The American Dream supposedly gives everyone an equal opportunity at success. However, in The Grapes of Wrath the American Dream the very people who had dreamt it had also slain the dream. The idea of everyone being fair is destroyed throughout this novel. The Californians are very derogatory towards the migrants, leading the migrants to feel the same towards the Californians. Nonetheless, Casy and Tom attempt to rebuild the dream that was a crucial point for hope. The family, as well as others, experienced the hardships of losing hope, for example, Uncle John experienced this when Casy was taken to jail (Steinbeck, 1967).

Tom Joad returns home on parole, after four years behind bars for killing a man. Once home, he finds that his family had been kicked out of their farm due to foreclosure. Tom catches up with them on his Uncle John’s farm, and joins them as they travel to California. On the road, the Joads meet dozen of other migrant families suffering the misery of being homeless and without a job. Once in California, however, the Joads realize that it is not what they expected.

John Steinbeck’s grapes of wrath is one of the most controversial books ever written. It vividly illustrates and depicts the life of an average Joe during the great depression and the dustbowl 1929. The protagonist if the novel is tom Joad who has just been released from prison, he hitchhikes his way back to his family farm, thinking he’ll work and make a quiet honest life. Upon his arrival he realizes that his plan won’t come to truth. The dustbowl has rendered the farm useless, staying there and trying to maintain the farm will result in the death of the whole family.

Tom Joad is able to hold together his family and the workers, give them hope, and lead them on their path to the promised land of California in a way that parallels the struggles of Moses and his efforts to guide the Israelites to a better place. Tom Joad is a young man who is seen as the leader of the Joad family. He derives much inspiration from Jim Casy and he works to be a figurehead for the workers as well. The way Steinbeck portrays Tom Joad causes many connections to be drawn between the character and Moses. When the Joad family is on the road to California, Tom comes across a man who states that there is no work left to be done and that their journey is essentially pointless, Tom uses this information to devise a rebellious idea: “‘The works done...They don’ want you aroun’. So they kick you out, they move you along’... ‘Well, s’pose them people get together an’ says, ‘Let ‘em rot.’ Wouldn’ be long ‘fore the prices went up’” (246). The man tells Tom that “the works done” and that the farm owners will not want his services when him and his family reach California. This highly discourages his family because the man is stating that there is no future for them despite the Joad’s having given up everything for a better land. The man says that the farm owners will “kick” the family “out” and that they will be unable to find a stable job in this new place.

Towards the end of the novel, Tom comes to the same realization Casy has. He remembers what Casy has told him and he tells Ma Joad that he knows “a fella ain’t no good alone” (535). Although Tom is not religious, he takes responsibility for Casy’s mission for the future after he

The Joads are on their way to California. The land which seems to be a heaven with great work, little white houses, and many acres of land. But the Joads soon find out that California may not be the paradise they dreamed of. Their journey to California will be full of hope and despair along with keeping their dignity in the midst of all the wrath. One of the biggest problems they will face is how poorly they will be treated. The one thing that made the Joads successful is that they stuck together as a family and supported each other. . These things mentioned above reoccur throughout the novel. These are some of themes in the Grapes of Wrath.

Tom retaliates in rage, killing a deputy, and forcing him into hiding. Alone all day long for weeks, he begins to think about the plight of the migrant workers and about what Jim was constantly babbling about. One thing that Jim Casy said close to his death, which Tom broads upon, has to do with a revelation that came to the preacher while he was in jail. He tells a group of followers '…one day they give us some beans that was sour. One fella started yellin', an' nothin' happened… then we all got to yellin'… By God! Then something happened! They come a-runnin', and they give us other stuff to eat'; (522). This was a telling example to Tom about the power of the group over one man. Tom reveals his thought evolution in the final meeting with his mother, before he leaves to continue the work of Jim Casy. He says, 'But I know now a fella ain't no good alone,'; and 'Two are better than one, because… if they fall, the one will lif' his fellow, but woe to him that is alone when he falleth, for he hath not another to help him up'; (570). Peter Lisca, an extensive critic of Steinbeck's work, explains '…in is last meeting with his mother, in which he asserts his spiritual unity with all men, it is evident that he has moved from material and personal resentment to ethical indignation, from particulars to principles'; (Lisca 98). Tom clearly changes

John Steinbeck’s text, The Grapes of Wrath narrates the struggles of the Joads as they join people from Oklahoma in a mass migration westward (Steinbeck, 1). When Tom Joad is released from prison after serving for four years, he goes back to his home in Oklahoma. Joad meets with Jim Casy, a former preacher who gave up preaching after he believes that all parts are holy even the sinful ones (Steinbeck, 12). Casy has the new belief in equality among people. When Tom Joad gets home, he finds the surrounding farms deserted where he discovers that everybody was moving out of the farms. Joad and his family, Ma and Pa Joad pick up their possessions and head of to the promised land of California (Steinbeck, 13). While Steinbeck writes about the political and emotional issues of the Great Depression, the characters in the book display a great deal of religiousness and spirituality. When the characters feel desperate and ambiguous about their future, they turn to religion and prayer for hope. Steinbeck uses religious symbolism throughout the “The Grapes of Wrath” through the different stages, characters, and strange occurrences to explore the lives of the Joads family.