Grapes Of Wrath Biblical Allusions Essay

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.

hardship out of anyone. She has a still-born baby. This was the one thing in Rose of Sharon?s

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 ending is about new life because of Rose of Sharon’s baby and what it truly meant to the Joad family. Throughout the entire novel you experience Rose of Sharon pregnancy and her struggle to sustain both herself and a child. Generally babies represent new life, a fresh start, exactly what the Joad family was looking for from the start of the novel. Unfortunately the baby does not make it, this is very sad, but also a sigh of relief for the family. If the baby would have survived then that meant one more mouth to feed. Fortunately she still had her breast milk and used it to help another life, "Says he wasn't hungry, or he jus' et. Give me the food. Now he's too weak. Can'thardly move." The ending may be morbid and bleak but the truth is that if it were not for the death of the baby, the Joad family would be

The novel, The Grapes of Wrath, is a story that construes the journey of the Joad family through the brutal migration from Oklahoma 's destroying Dust Bowl to California corrupt promised land. Through the depiction of events and portrayal of characters, the bible takes part in the novel as one whole allusion. The anecdote of the struggle for survival in the fallen state of Oklahoma and in the “promised land” of California, reveals the same ideas shown as we explore in the bible. In The Grapes of Wrath, author John Steinbeck integrates the allegory of biblical references and values to create the image of a family’s journey to California during the Dust Bowl of the early 1900s.

“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.

One would say that on a literal level The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck is about the Joad family's journey to California during The Dust Bowl. However, it is also about the unity of a family and the concept of birth and death, both literal and abstract. Along with this, the idea of a family unit is explored through these births and deaths.

Another biblical reference is shown when the Joad’s move to California. Their journey to California from Oklahoma is a biblical reference due to the similarity to the exodus of the Jews to Israel from Egypt. This is distinguished by the similarities between the Joad’s and the Jews, the Joad’s were captives of their farm while the Jews were captives of Egypt. Throughout their journey, Ma becomes a Moses like figure but leading the family through hard times and tries to keep the family together. She kept the family moving towards California even though Grandma was dead in her lap. California was the promised land for the Joad’s and other Okies and Ma led the family there.

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

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

At the beginning of the novel, Rose of Sharon (or Rosasharn as she is called by the rest of the Joad family) is the eldest daughter of the Joad family, and is dreamy and self centered, blissfully unaware of anything other than her own happiness and contentment. She is expecting a child with Connie Rivers, who announces big plans to study electronics at night in hopes of giving his family a better life than that

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

It also follows the story of Nicodemus who came to Jesus in the night and was taught about being born again. Nicodemus was a Pharisee and was referred to as “a ruler of the Jews”(he was a member of the Sanhedrin). Whereas, the woman was just that, a woman, without a husband and a Samaritan––who were even more despised by the Jews. She went to get water at the well in the middle of the day when it was the hottest because that’s when no one else would be there. She met Jesus when it was light, whereas, Nicodemus came in the night. Both were alone with Jesus, but Nicodemus went in the night to hide because he was ashamed of being seen with Jesus. The woman had no intention of hiding, in fact she didn’t even know who Jesus was.

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