Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck

“At the heart of every immigrant’s experience is a dream- a vision of hope that is embodied in his or her destination” (Gladstein, p. 685). In the novel, The Grapes of Wrath, it is portrayed that the migrant’s thoughts of an American Dream is/was a simple and straightforward notion: go west (California), get employment and become rich. Little did they that know that an ideal and perfect life was difficult to accomplish and it corrupted the minds of those pursuing it. The author, John Steinberg, placed a lot of emphasis on the unachievable nature of the American Dream regarding economic stability in the novel through the cross-country migration of the Joads, their continuous and unpredictable changes in employment and eventually, their failure to find the success they so desired in California (Aghosh, Allentown, PA).

The Grapes Of Wrath by John Steinback is a book with the main theme being the oversoul. The oversoul is the idea of an ultimate divine spirit that encompasses all human souls. In order to reach this theme, Steinback uses a variety of metaphors that all lead up to the theme of the oversoul.

In the novel, Grapes of Wrath, by John Steinbeck, depicts the struggles between upper class, middle class, and poor, migrant workers which show how natural human greed and selfishness amongst those with sustainable income increases tension between the separate classes. Steinbeck also uses the empathetic views shared amongst those in the same situations and how it gives them a want to help each other survive. The rich are wasteful with things they are unable to profit from; they cannot stand the poor nor the thought of the stagnation of their company. They are unable to accept a large consistent profit; the business itself is not the monster that begins to die from a constant profit but the greedy humans behind it.

When humans were in their primal state, before they could even comprehend calculus or geometry, they looked at the trees, bushes and plants and grabbed the fruit from their branches. They then looked to the stars and were fascinated the way we are today. Neanderthals reconciled the fact they could not reach these stars with the theory that they were a fruit for a much more powerful and an encompassing being. The point being humanity has a habit of explaining what we cannot fathom, by creating a construct of something greater than themselves, something omnipotent. The prominent religious books of our time, the new and old testament have struggled to explain what exactly the intangible being known as G-d can do as well as explaining the idea

In the first chapter of The Grapes of Wrath, John Steinbeck sets the idea of how life was in the time period. Not only does he set the entire novel in motion by describing the layer of dust as the oppression of life, but how the people react to it and each other. Steinbeck talks about the land being the man’s and

Over the course of a student’s life under the American education system, they will, without fail, read at least two books by California writer and possible communist, John Steinbeck. The longer, sadder and more proletarian book, Grapes of Wrath, tells the tale of the great migration of Midwestern farmers traveling to California during the 1930s. Grapes of Wrath was not Steinbeck’s first venture into the tragedies that faced migrant farmers once they reached California- he had previously written Starvation Under the Orange Trees in 1938. Steinbeck uses these two works to describe the atrocities that migrants’ faces and place blame on land owners and corporations and declaring the government the saviors of the workers. Opposing Steinbeck’s arguments is Keith Windschuttle, who uses his article, Myth of the Oakies, to claim that Steinbeck is over exaggerating nearly everything in Grapes of Wrath, from the amount of migrants that moved to California to the reality that faced the migrants in California, and that Grapes of Wrath is actually a novel praising communism.

Since the signing of the Declaration of Independence in 1776, the United States of America is known as a capitalist society. This is a society in which capitalism behavior results in the sole objective of manufacturing capital. Though this is advantageous to the ones making the money, the most destruction is recognized in the lower class where each week’s pay is how the families sustain. The novel, The Grapes of Wrath reveals the story of the Joad family traveling to California during the Dust Bowl searching for labor. The concept of how they are able to overcome the challenges presented, as well as the effect that the capitalist ideals comprised on society’s people are presented within the novel. This contrast shows that the upper-class is not able to put the blame for events that occur throughout the story in the lower class on any sole event or person. This results in the frustration of many “Okies” who have their farms taken away from them as well as any decent paying job. For the duration of the novel, the wealth of individuals is valued more greatly than the expense of human decency or lives.

Innocent people were being thrown off of their hard earned land and at the same time having to take what they could and leave everything they ever knew. As they traveled west, to California, the Californians and others along the way treated the migrants akin to animals. This is where the title of the story comes into play. Steinbeck uses a verse from the song “The Battle Hymn of the Republic” as inspiration for the title of his novel. Throughout the novel, Steinbeck mentions that the “Grapes of Wrath” are beginning to ripen. The people of California hate the migrants and the migrants soon begin to hate the Californians. The migrants not only hate the Californians, but also the big business owners, who were the main reason the migrants lost their land in the first place.

Humans always want to find a place where they can be assimilated. Humans want to live in a community that they can assimilate into comfortably and can feel safe in easily. Grapes of Wrath, directed by John Ford, which portrays the story of capitalist and environmental forces pushing a poor family off their land and their migration to California. The family tries to look for a place where they can secure jobs and food to support themselves daily. Similarly, the El Norte, directed by Gregory Nava, is about a brother and a sister who have to escape from their government in their village to the USA. Both Grapes of Wrath and El Norte argue that humans are not accepted unless they are welcomed, able to survive, and allowed to stay there.

In difficult times its nearly impossible to stay hopeful expesially when the whole world is against you making things even more difficult.

In the novel, The Grapes of Wrath, by John Steinbeck, class conflict and money are presented numerous times. Steinbeck presents this theme by putting the characters through many trials. Using stylistics elements such as personification and allusions, class conflict and money is presented to show the significance of mistrust and dehumanization, as seen in social classes and humanity in general.

The Grapes of Wrath, written by John Steinbeck, is a story of the Joad family, as they move out west from the Dust Bowl. Tom Joad has recently been let out of prison for a drunken stabbing and sees his family for the first time in years. As the family moves out west, they find the challenges and hardships to be worse as they had first expected. The book shines a light on expectations, and how people set stereotypes based on false assumptions. As humans, people have their own ideas about how minorities should act, behave, and live their lives. We make assumptions and cage people into a stereotype. Throughout the story, every character is unknowingly assigned a stereotype they are meant to hold onto. Wandering out of that boundary is shocking, and even deadly. Steinbeck uses intercalary chapters to further emphasize the theme. An intercalary chapter is inserted into writing between chapters to shine a light on the theme, that relates to the original story. As Steinbeck 's story of the Joad family progresses, the chapters bring forth the assumptions often made about people are sometimes, but very often not true. In The Grapes of Wrath, the intercalary chapters bring forth the set of assumptions and mistakes that are made by the characters. The different stereotypes that are assumed and expectations set for one another, and to see the truth when blinded by expected scenarios are common throughout the story, and are woven into the intercalary chapters to expose

A United Kingdoms survey found that child-parent relationships are breaking down as parents put work before their children, especially in middle class families (Ross). This statistic can explain many of the darker portions of our culture, from the lack of complete families to the increase of drug abuse. Yet one may wonder how this is in any way connected to the novel, The Grapes of Wrath. However, both the statistic and the novel have a similar theme- Money being placed before people. John Steinbeck endeavors to teach us how dangerous and common this mindset can be through his novel. Although there are some instances of the Okies aiding one another, money before people is a central theme in The Grapes of Wrath because it is the main source of motivation for the antagonism displayed towards the Okies.

Beside the depiction of the negative impact of slavery and the sympathy toward these enslaved, Uncle Tom’s Cabin in some degree should be considered as the feminized literature work made by and for women, and highly praise womanhood. Influentially, this work portrays women as the center, especially women's moral strength and holiness. In this case, some people may disagree, as Miss Ophelia starts holding stereotypes to the black, and St. Clare’s wife Marie is pettily mean to others. It is true, but in the play most females are truly kind and warm hearted to others, often as more morally conscientious, committed, and even courageous than men. Through the narrative of the idealized womanhood, Harriet Beecher Stowe offers readers the ethical benchmarking of human behaviors. For instance, Eva is presented as an absolutely perfect imagery of womanhood in the play. She treats Uncle Tom equally as a friend rather the slave of her family, and her innocence also touches Topsy to start learning everything good.

In a time where women were considered inferior, The Grapes of Wrath uses secondary characters, specifically Ma Joad, to demonstrate a woman taking charge in a family setting, and the relationships of such a woman with others. Ma helps amplify the theme of feminism and women’s rights in different scenarios. Her relationships with Pa, her daughter Rose of Sharon, and even herself all convey different elements of an extraordinary leader and an amazing mother.