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Grapes of Wrath. Movie vs. Book

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The Grapes of Wrath: Novel versus Film

“America, the land of opportunities” When people hear this phrase, they may think America have always had a handful of opportunities for everyone, but this wasn’t the case in the novel “The Grapes of Wrath” written by John Steinbeck. In the 1930’s, North America faced the Great Depression, the longest economic slump ever experienced by the country. Author John Steinbeck wrote about the tragic experience of a poor American family (The Joads) as they get kicked off their Oklahoma home and moved west towards California, during the time of the Great Depression through his book. Steinbeck’s novel became so popular that the movie, consisting of the same name as the book, directed by John Ford was …show more content…

In the book Steinbeck usually describes a scene thoroughly so readers can get the idea what the mood and atmosphere is like. In the film, there is no narrator so the audience must absorb all this information on their own during a quick scene. In the novel when Grandpa Joad died, Grandma Joad suffered the most from the traumatic lost. “On her mattress, away from the fire, Granma whimpered softly like a puppy” (Ch.13). She mourn after his death and goes into a silent state for a couple of days. “Well, she’s yellin’ an’ talkin’ plenty now, on’y she’s talking to Grampa. Yelling at him. Kinda scary, too” (Ch.16) When Grandma Joad finally break her silence, she thinks she is speaking to Grandpa who have already passed away and have been buried. These details provided in the text shows the audience the suffering that the character in the story went through clearly. Through the transition from book to movie, the portrayal of suffering and sorrow when a loved one died came off a little dull. In the movie, you do not get much of Grandma’s reactions to her husband’s death. Grandma just passed away shortly after, so the audience does not get how tragic Grandpa’s death was, how harsh it was on Grandma to cause her to pass away and how much it affected the family. Another difference is between the novel and film is that the pace is different. The story within the book proceeds at a slower pace than the movie. This gives the

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