Important Characters In Grapes Of Wrath By John Steinbeck

The novel The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck is about the social injustices that took place during the Dust Bowl migration in the western United States. It is composed of a third person view of a family, the Joads, who are kicked off their homestead and forced to travel to California in search of jobs, and inner chapters which are a general third person view of the hardship of homestead farmers during the time period. Steinbeck uses the inner chapters of the book to develop his political stance on the plight of the migrants. The story of the Joads is alone not enough to make the reader fully understand the extent of the misfortune and sorrow experienced by these migrants. The inner chapters help the reader understand the time period, and understand what is happening to the Joads, and what happened to thousands of other migrants during this time. Without these chapters, the book would not have as strong of a statement on the wrongdoings by Americans to other Americans during this time.

The Grapes of Wrath, written by John Steinbeck, is a novel which demonstrates the lives of families during the Dust Bowl migration of the 1930s and the struggles they faced on their route to California. Throughout the novel, Steinbeck applies his writing style in order to convey the theme and general plot of the novel.

In the American epic novel, The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck, there are pivotal and dynamic changes that occur in the various significant characters of Jim Casy, Ma Joad, and Tom Joad. Steinbeck specifically uses these characters to show their common realizations about all of humanity, in order to demonstrate his underlying meaning about the importance of people coming together, helping each other out, and surviving. Ma Joad illustrates this idea clearly when she speaks to Tom mid-way through the novel: “Why, Tom, we’re the people that live. They ain’t gonna wipe us out. Why we’re the people--we go on.” (350)

During the Great Depression, many citizens faced an arduous lifestyle of unemployment. However, many people managed to entertain themselves by reading literature such as The Grapes of Wrath. John Steinbeck witnessed an injustice towards farmers during the Great Depression, and this inspired Steinbeck to present his perspective of the maltreatment to the open through The Grapes of Wrath. The fictional novel describes how unfortunate conditions, during the Great Depression, force an Oklahoma farmer family to travel to California in search for an easy life, job opportunities, and a bright future. John Steinbeck represented and connected his tones through his trope, making it an excellent read. In the novel, The Grapes of Wrath, John Steinbeck

wilderness, he also had rejected an old religion to try and find his own version

   When Steinbeck wrote The Grapes of Wrath, our country was just starting to recover from The Great Depression.  The novel he wrote, though fiction, was not an uncommon tale in many lives.  When this book was first published, the majority of those reading it understood where it was coming from-they had lived it.  But now very few people understand the horrors of what went on in that time.  The style in which Steinbeck chose to write The Grapes of Wrath helps get across the book's message.

Identify one of John Steinbeck’s themes in Grapes of Wrath. Using in-text citations, analyze how three scenes clearly convey this theme.

In John Steinbeck’s novel The Grapes of Wrath, the hardships of the Great Depression lead the Californians and the Okies to treat each other kindly or harshly, based on their own concerns of the future. Social criticism and class conflict are primary themes in this novel because of the unjust treatment the Californians give to the Okies throughout the story, but this is not the only relationship Steinbeck focuses on. He also writes and explains the relationship among the Okies. Steinbeck was born in Salinas, California, where a part of this novel takes place, and Steinbeck uses his experience of working as a hired ranch hand during the Great Depression in the novel. The foundation of The Grapes of Wrath are the problems and tragedies that the Great Depression brings to the Okies.

The Grapes of Wrath stirs up a lot of different emotions that makes you feel connected to the book in a way. Even though you are still able to feel these emotions, it is hard to relate to in 2017. The Grapes of Wrath to me gave me a sense of hatred towards the California Nativists and sympathy towards the poor people just looking to survive. The belief is that in America you can do what you want within reason, but when it comes to looking for work and moving west it seems those basic rights are put to the side. "That's what you think! Ever hear of the border patrol on the California line? Police from Los Angeles – stopped you bastards, turned you back. Says, if you can't buy no real estate we don't want you. Says, got a driver's license? Le's see it. Tore it up. Says you can't come in without no driver's license," (Ch,12.Para,17). In these times, there is border patrol stopping you from going from one state to another,

What is a family? It can be properly described as a group of people consisting of parents and children living together. Although, families are more than just parents and children living together. They are the people that love each other and sacrifice for each other, no matter what. In the novel, Grapes of Wrath written by John Steinbeck describes the Joad family living in through the Great Depression. This family travels together across the U.S. in order to find new jobs in a country where there are limited ones left. Throughout this story, the Joad family continues to model key roles that the standard family needs to follow to stay together. Steinbeck describes the roles of family as taking in and caring for people that are not family

In The Grapes of Wrath, Joad states “I knowed it wouldn't be the same as it was… an' come daylight we'll get on to Uncle John's (38). Joad is telling Muley and Casy that he would head over to his uncle’s place the next day to see his family. This shows that Joad viewed his family as his chance at survival. Joad’s father also states that “we sol' all the stuff at our place, an' the whole bunch of us chopped cotton” (56). He was explaining to Joad and Casy that after things got rough, they had to stick together to ensure their survival.

During the great depression in the plains of Oklahoma, workers were forced out of their homes as their crops withered away to nothing and dust took over. The general feeling of these migrant workers during the late 20’s and early 30’s can be summarized by the struggle for survival showcased in The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck. In the novel, a family called the Joads makes their way westward in hopes of a better life for themselves and their future families. In order to understand the zeitgeist during the dust bowl and the experiences of migrant workers, one must first analyze the intercalary chapters and identify with the characters and their various struggles.

Steinbeck wanted people to understand how the Great Depression affected those in the past so he used strong language to convey his point. “Those families which had lived on a little piece of land, who had lived and died on forty acres, had eaten or starved on the produce of forty acres,” is a super strong statement. It hits the readers with the reality that families were being destroyed by poverty, debt, lack of food, and the tough conditions during this time. He holds nothing back giving the readers something to think about. Further down the story he hits them with the idea again using parallelism to hammer the serious into the reader's mind. He then explains how people had to travel the country with no home, no prospects, and were not

“Fella gets use to a place, it’s hard to go said Casy. Fella gets use to a way of thinkin it’s hard to leave.” (6.72)

The idea that when people join together against discrimination or an injustice is prevalent in John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath. The novel highlights the mistreatment and injustice committed against the migrant people. The theme of unity is not only available in literature it is also something that can, and has been applied to real world problems.