Grapes of Wrath - Chapter 25 Analysis

John Steinbeck, in the novel, The Grapes of Wrath, constructs the Dust Bowl setting so that it acts as a functioning character within the novel. Steinbeck supports this characterization of the setting through his use of personification, irony, and symbolism to show that the nature of the Dust Bowl functions as a major antagonist against the plight of the migrant workers. The author’s purpose is to foster an understanding of the unique struggles that faced the migrant workers so that the devastation of the Dust Bowl can be fully realized. Steinbeck writes in a colloquial tone for those seeking to understand the role of nature in historical events.

Man's relationship to the land undergoes a transformation throughout John Steinbeck's Grapes of Wrath. Initially, back in Oklahoma, each family feels a strong attachment to the land because the ancestors of these farmers fought and cleared the Indians out of the land, made it suitable for farming, and worked year after year in the fields so that each generation would be provided for. Passing down the land to successive generations, the farmers come to realize that the land is all that they own. It is their family's source of sustenance. However, the strong bond between man and the land is broken when the bank comes to vacate the tenants during hard times.

“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.

The Grapes of Wrath introduces new characters in chapter four. The characters can easily be related to every day lives, including our own. The character that can be connected most with myself is the turtle. Constantly, I feel I am never noticed and I am just kicked around by people every day. Some people notice me, but only get out of my way instead of offering their help. Some people target me as a way to prove they are larger than me. They swerve towards me to injure me or scare me. Steinbeck's ultimate goal is to make the reader sympathize with the turtle. The turtle is a helpless creature who is abandoned on the road, and the most care he gets from any passing drive is just an attempt to not hit the turtle. Tom Joad comes along

1-1. “Before me and Neeka started asking D about her life, we were erasers too—she got to step into our world, with all the trees and mamas calling from windows and kids playing on the block, and forget.” (18)

fathers had to leave to search for work. When living in Oklahoma; the setting for the novel, The Dust Bowl was a disaster to the

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.

In the intercalary chapter with the tenacious turtle, bounteous obstacles of nature and man impeded the turtle’s lengthy journey southwest, but the turtle persevered in the end. For example, when the turtle first appears, he soon saw “the hill, which was the highway embankment, reared up ahead of him” (Steinbeck 14). He thrust with his back legs and pulled with his front legs until he conquered the slope. Secondly, “A red ant ran into the shell, into the soft skin inside the shell” (Steinbeck 15), agitating the turtle’s sensitive inner skin. To remedy this irritation, the turtle yanked in his extremities, effectively crushing the red ant. An instance of humanity harming the tough turtle occurred when a truck driver swerved out of his way in an attempt to hit the turtle, directly after a woman almost

In the epic movie Grapes of Wrath, director John Ford depicted a saga of one family trying to survive the 1930’s. In watching this film, it helped me to understand the hardships of the American migrants. The characters showed unique traits and dealt with problems each in a different way.The Dust Bowl was an ecological and human disaster that took place in the southwestern Great Plains region, including Oklahoma. Misuse of land and years of sustained drought caused it. Millions of acres of farmland became useless, and hundreds of thousands of people were forced to leave their homes --many migrated to California.

In the same way the dust from the dry, dead Oklahoma fields permeates the air, the landowners’ betrayal of their workers permeates the lives of the tenants in John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath. These powerful men who Steinbeck calls the “great owners” use their power to exploit the working class (150). Banks that own the landowners tear families from their homes; a man is locked up for defending himself, and workers must compete with each other to feed their families. The Oklahoma landowners force the tenants from their homes. In California, the landowners pay the tenants starving wages. Steinbeck depicts the actions of both the Oklahoma and California landowners as heinous, as they betray their moral responsibility to take care of their tenants. Demanding

This passage shows how partaking in war and hate are often imposed, not voluntary. As Elisha grows more anxious of having to kill John Dawson, Ilana reminds him of the role he must play in this war. “The fear of either the victim or the executioner is unimportant. What matters is the fact that each of them is playing a role that has been imposed upon them” (Wiesel, 141). Although Elisha fears killing John Dawson, he must not consider his emotions because war requires one to play a role- not to see the humanity in another person. Oftentimes, those who partake in a war or hate others aren't acting on their own volition, rather they are playing a role that was forced upon them.

In a like manner, the owners of the crops are not presented sympathetically, and are seen for the most part from the perspective of the strikers. Steinbeck writes in the sense of ‘the organized power’ of the Torgas valley and the owners’ exploitative nature. Likewise, he creates the unpleasant plight of the laborers and empathized with their dignity that is lost- the society that is depicted by Steinbeck as one where a few men hold major power whilst the workers have little, not even being able to support themselves. They have low wages, and work under what is painted to be terrible conditions.

In the Grapes of Wrath, the author John Steinbeck really emphasizes the importance of unity and family throughout the novel. That is the main theme of this novel, Steinbeck shows us that you need unity and the help of family to succeed in many aspects of life. Without family and support we would all probably be very lost, family helps support you through tough times. And on the migrant's quest to find a new life family comes up big many times.

In Chapter 11 Steinbeck takes a clear stance towards the arrival of tractors and corporate workers on the land. Through his use of similes, he describes the tractor, “the heat goes out of it like the living heat that leaves a corpse,” and gives the tractor a dreary connotation (157). Steinbeck is not fond of the machinery showing it as death and a component of death. Steinbeck hints at the fact that the corporate workers not only killed the land, but the people living on it. The machine destroyed the farmer’s lives as they know it and killed their souls, forcing them to retreat out of the only home they have ever known. The tractor also represents the separation between the man and the land that begins to form. The man’s neglect of the

Eventually jealousy among Laban's sons forced Jacob to flee back to Canaan in spite of his fear of Esau. Chapter 32 tells that he has sent his servants ahead (vs 3-5), bearing gifts to bribe Esau. In verse 6 the messengers come back and say that Esau is coming to meet them with 400 men. It looks like Esau is bringing warriors to destroy them. In verses 7-8 we see that Jacob devises another plan to save himself. He decides to divide his family putting Leah and her children and servants in one group and Rachel and her children and servants in another group. That way he can cut his losses if one group is destroyed. Verses 9-12 show Jacob praying to God for deliverance. It looks like Jacob is going to finally give up and depend on God, but verses