The both of them make a deal. Jake does some researching with the help from Gordon, he realises that Brenton James had profited money from the Keller Zabel collapse. Jake spreads false rumours about the African oil rig that was nationalised that Brenton’s company owns in order to gain the attention of Brenton James. His company loses $120 million and Brenton askes for a meeting with Jake and he offers Jake a job because he is astounded by him. Jake accepts because he wants to make Breton James suffer for what he has done.
Jake is a [seemingly] mentally unstable drifter who wanders into town with muddled and fanatical plans for a socialist uprising. He seems to be bipolar and his tone is ever changing; from knowledgeable rationality to angrily aggressive in a split second. Jake’s first few weeks in town were spent at Biff Brannon's New York Café. After finally meeting someone that he could relate to, Singer, he decided to stay in town and takes a job as a carnival worker. He is obsessive in his aspiration to see the labor force rebel. Jake is the only one, out of all the main characters, who does not have one confidant other than Singer. Jake spent a substantial amount of time sharing his hopes and dreams with Singer. When Singer dies Jake has a very difficult
To quote Ma Joad in the film The Grapes of Wrath, “I ain 't never gonna be scared no more. I was, though. For a while it looked as though we was beat. Good and beat. Looked like we didn 't have nobody in the whole wide world but enemies. Like nobody was friendly no more. Made me feel kinda bad and scared too, like we was lost and nobody cared....Rich fellas come up and they die, and their kids ain’t no good and they die out. But we keep a comin’, we’re the people that live. They can’t wipe us out; they can’t lick us. We’ll go on forever Pa, ‘cause we’re the people.” This statement captures the resilience of the American working class since the birth of the country. Ma 's speech can be read as a proclamation of necessary fictions to bolster the morale of the family. She is the uncomplaining maintainer of status quo in the home, the ultimate mother figure who not only attends to physical needs, but mental needs as well.
Characters mutate more and more as the novel progresses, which makes the character dynamic. The change that a character undergoes works to impact the overall theme of the novel. Over the course of John Steinbeck’s novel, The Grapes of Wrath, one of the characters, ma Joad has drastically developed. She changes into a more nourishing and optimistic character.
Robert was another friend that Ben had made while working for General Motors. Ben discussed how he and Robert had many things in common. For instance, Ben stated “His forefathers, like mine, had drifted into this moron dragnet lookin’ for steady work and a pocketful of beer change.” (Hamper pg. 53). This is important because, again Ben is showing that they have bonded over personal information rather than how well they do their jobs. Once again, this is away of showing that they respect each other’s individuality by sharing information about each other. When you share information about yourself to someone else you are telling them more about you as a person, not a worker. Ben also goes on to discuss different parts of Robert’s life. For example,
The novel begins when the protagonist of the story, Tom Joad, begins his return home after being released from the state penitentiary. On his way home, he meets his childhood pastor Jim Casey and they walk to Tom’s childhood home. Tom learns from a neighbor that his family has lost their home and they are at their Uncle Tom’s house preparing to leave to California for work. It’s the 1930’s and The Depression is in full effect. Tom reunites with his family and The Joads and Jim Casey leave for California after their belongings have been sold.
The Grapes of Wrath, written by John Steinbeck, is considered by many to be the hallmark of American literature. It covers the journey of the Joad family as they stick together through one of the harshest eras in American history, the Great Depression. The structure of the Joad’s narrative is interspersed by smaller, highly descriptive interchapters, which sets the novel apart from other classics in its ability to make the reader understand and relate to the Joads and everything they went through. The detailed, impactful vignettes foreshadow problems the Joads have to overcome and the overview descriptions in the vignettes contrast with the specificities of the Joad’s story. They contain Biblical allusions, colorful descriptions, and objects that can interact with the main characters later in the narrative. Through the use of imagery and diction, the vignettes make Steinbeck’s message more impactful and meaningful.
The plot of the novel The Grapes of Wrath has been confusing readers ever since the book was first written. Steinbeck carefully writes the chapters so that they eventually come together and make sense, or they add extreme detail to the novel. The plot of the book is woven to show, in great detail, how hard the Joads had it. This is why Steinbeck constantly changes between a 3rd person view and a narrator.
“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 fifth chapter presents a remarkable contrast between the natural way of life and the modern methods of farming. It is an achievement of the drama in which the sharecroppers are evicted from their land. In the narrative chapters that follow, the Joads will be the victims of comparable circumstances. In this chapter, Steinbeck describes the tenant's encounter with the tractor driver as he destroys the tenant's house by driving through the doorway. He captures the lack of hope as the tenant merely steps aside and watches his home plummet in front of his own eyes.
The 1930s were a time of hardship for many across the United States. Not only was the Great Depression making it difficult for families to eat every day, but the Dust Bowl swept through the plains states making it nearly impossible to farm the land in which they relied. John Steinbeck saw how the Dust Bowl affected farmers, primarily the tenant farmers, and journeyed to California after droves of families. These families were dispossessed from the farms they had worked for years, if not generations (Mills 388). Steinbeck was guided by Tom Collins, the real-life model for the Weedpatch camp’s manager Jim Rawley, through one of the federal migrant worker camps. He was able to see for himself,
hether it be more day-to-day, or expanding over a long period of time, Tom, Casy, and Ma went through many personal struggles. These struggles are brought up in the book, The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck. Steinbeck provides many examples of these three characters struggles. The book, The Grapes of Wrath, by John Steinbeck, depicts the personal struggles of the migrant worker through the characters of Tom, Casy, and Ma.
After almost 25 years of marriage, Cal’s wife-Emily, confesses that she has been cheating on him with a guy from work. In addition, she wants Cal to move out of their house, so he moves into an apartment. As a new bachelor, Cal goes out to a bar, where he meets Jacob Palmer-a womanizer. Jacob listens to Cal repeat his sob story, over and over again, at the bar. Jacob then decides that he wants to help Cal get his “manhood” back. Moving forward, Jacob gives Cal a complete makeover, which helps boost Cal’s confidence. Afterwards, Jacob demonstrates, to Cal, how to successfully get attention from women, as well as, how to get them to have sex with him. Jacob typically hits on various women at bars, and typically takes them home with him to have sex. Moreover, Cal soon masters the art of meeting and picking up women at the bar, and soon finds himself imitating the same behaviors of Jacob.
The devastating effects of the dust storms mainly in western Oklahoma and the preceding rain failure caused families to flee to California. The banks repossession for their property and homes pushes them further into depression. Unguaranteed about a better future or even about the next meal, the families take their chances. Their arrival into California is however a disappointment as there are no jobs for them. Most ‘okies’ in the Hovervilles end up dead due to starvation as they can’t find work. This highlights the plight of many families that had to struggle in a foreign city for Survival. The unfriendly weather is blamed for the atrocities that befall this community. There are social and economic
he Grapes of Wrath was both written and based during the Great Depression, also known as the 1930s. The stock market crashed on October 29, 1929 during the Presidency of Herbert Hoover. This crash was caused by the uneven distribution between wealth and consumption. Life was hard and very unstable for Americans during the Great Depression. Unemployment rates were constantly increasing and families were often left with no money, which made leisure activities harder to come by. People were constantly trying to find cheap entertainment that would get their minds off of the economic and social depression that surrounded their lives. They found this source of entertainment through the radio but other than that the United States was completely overcome
In the novel The Grapes of Wrath, we are shown many social issues within the story. Social issues are displayed through homelessness, adaptation, prejudice and more. The social issues bring the novel together as one, and they have a great effect on the Okies in the book. Also, adaptation plays a big part in the social issues. Steinbeck captures great struggles in migrant work on the farm and shows how workers needed to come together as one.