Grapes of Wrath: the Theme of Decay in Chapter 25

Strange Fruit is extremely valuable today and especially in the 1930’s. The 1930’s was a rough time for society. No one should have to live through the deaths of innocent humans but unfortunately that happened in the past and still happens today in different forms. Strange Fruit was the first controversial song that ever spoke out about the cruelty of the lynching of African Americans. It gained attention throughout the years of Holiday performing it, which gives it tremendous value. The sadness and disturbing imagery portrayed in the song, gave it a positive effect considering it gained support towards the Civil Rights Movement. The song sends out a clear message in an unusual way. Painting a disturbing picture into the listener’s mind through words makes the person perceive the message to be to end lynching. “Strange fruit hanging from the poplar tree” (line 4). The strange fruit is a black person being hanged from the tree. That is a deep message that was made to get into everyone’s head to push for a change in the unfair society.

When you think of the word end you think of the end of a book or movie when the true definition is “a final part of something, esp. a period of time, an activity, or a story” or “

The narrator's vision of her ancestors expanding a plentiful life is emphasized with the picturesque “blue fields…with leaves and vines and orchards.” This then strikes the narrator with the realization that cutting down the tree would be a betrayal to their ancestors, their dreams and the demise of the heritage of the

“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.

fair”, you can tell this is the voice of a child. There is also a

In (chapters 6-13), the landscape of California changes for the worst as Steinbeck tries to describe the damage that the men have inflicted on California. Steinbeck's diction with words such as "rot", "waste", and "decay" associate the former Edenic Califronia with a deathly image. This diction corresponds with the shift in imagery that shows "meat turning dark and crop shriveling on the ground" along with "black shreds(of cherries) hanging from them(the seeds)"; further depicting the change of landscape of California. Instead of "valleys in which fruit blossoms", the valley expels an "odor of sweet decay" showing the horrible state that California has turned in to under the guidance of the "understanding" men. Steinbeck also uses strong imagery to depict plentiful pears falling "heavily to the ground and splashing on the ground"; a symbol Steinbeck also changes the main theme of colors from the beautiful pink and green of the former California to a deathly black. Steinbeck also uses the vernacular of Californians to show the panic that the farmers feel by expressing such phrases as "We can't do it." and "We can't pay wages, no matter what wages." putting the reader in to the mind of the farmers to experience that panic and

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)

The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck and The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls are the stories of two families who endure seemingly insurmountable odds to stay together. Just a few of the many hardships they face include financial instability and homelessness. The Walls and the Joads have a lot of qualities that help them stay together, but their saving qualities are their ambition and the leadership skills in the women.

In both writings the setting is at first a symbol of paradise until it is tainted with sin (Fernandez 2). The fruit the United States is interested in obtaining is the symbol of sin just like it is in the Bible and also results in life long labor metaphorically represented by Latin America’s exertion that only the United States’ capitalism is profiting from (Fernandez 2).

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

Apple Harvest is a painting created by a French artist named Camille Pissarro in 1888. The artwork is derived from the European culture focusing on the style of neo-impressionism or pointillism. The painting is made with the use of oil on canvas and currently located inside the Dallas Museum of Art in second floor in the section of European art. It depicts a lively image of farmers engaging in their daily activities where they are picking apples on a sunny day. The background of the landscape consists of a huge ranch with additional apple trees that gives a vibration of harvesting season. Similarly, it is a form of a representational artwork portraying physical labor by the farmers during that period. Camille Pissarro seemed to support the farmers of low social status and believed in hard work as some of his artworks are the representations of lives of these social groups (Dallas Museum of Art 2017). In the painting “Apple Harvest”, he tries to picture working peasants in an apple farm in the French Countryside (Dallas Museum of Art 2017). This paper is an integration of the analysis of formal elements and principles relevant to the art work “Apple Harvest” and my experience of observation of this piece of art at the Dallas Museum of Art including a reflection upon the visit.

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

The summer fruits represent Laura innocent life, as winter approaches the fruit will decay and so will Laura.

In “Eating Fried Chicken” the author provides symbols throughout the whole poem and gives an ordinary representation of an object. One of the symbols in the poem is the apple and the representation projected is ambition in society. For instance when the author writes “And no doubt that’s why apples can cause riots,” it is not referring to an actual fruit but something deeper. The reason why the author mentions that “apples can cause riots,” is because individuals always want to have more than everybody else. People in society are focused on what other people have and not what can be gained by each person without interfering with others. Some individuals are greedy enough that they would fight to gain what they want. The hunger of ambition overcomes the ability of a person to gain what is needed without violence. In addition the other two foods mentioned in the poem also mean the ambition to have a luxurious life. The author eating the fried chicken symbolizes more than just eating. It serves as the act to achieve something more, a strong desire. The apples, meat and chicken represent a luxurious life and the ambition people have in society.

In Anton Chekhov’s The Cherry Orchard, the effects of an emerging bourgeoisie is seen in the lives of an aristocratic family on the brink of losing their home in the Russian countryside. An encroaching industrialization movement on this landscape, where human concept of the civilized world is disrupted and in contrast with the natural world, creates tension. The author asks whether or not these two elements, civilization and nature, can coexist harmoniously. Human perspectives on this matter in the play take many different forms and sides, thus creating the trouble that drives the plot forward to its arguably tragic ending. One major theme in Chekhov’s The Cherry Orchard explores the relationship between an old order, which legitimizes itself in having an intimate relationship with the natural world and the noneconomic, and a new one in the framing of a disrupted Russian class system. This clash forces the human perspective of civilization and freedom to change amongst characters as their idea of what is nature is challenged. Chekhov thus suggests that there is no true freedom to be found in society, merely differing lens through which to view oneself and the world around them.