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The Grapes Of Wrath Literary Analysis

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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. The central conflict in The Grapes of Wrath is the Dust Bowl during the 1930’s and its effects on tenant farmers. The Joads are just one of many families affected by this disaster. The story revolves around their move to California and their search for jobs. The quality that helps them endure is their ambition. Their desire to be successful drives them to work hard and support one another. Their ambition is symbolized by their move to California and search …show more content…

Jeannette, the narrator, is a young girl whose father is an inventor who frequently loses his jobs and her mother refuses to work. Whereas the Joads have a drive to go out and work, Jeanette’s parents do just about everything they can to not have to work. Her father fills her family’s heads with the idea that they’ll become rich once he sells one of his inventions. Another one of his inventions was going to be the Glass Castle: a massive glass mansion that was self-sufficient and produced its own energy. In the second chapter, Jeanette talks about both inventions. She says, “Dad was always inventing things, too. One of his most important contraptions was a complicated contraption called the Prospector, It was going to help us find gold.” And then, “ All of Dad’s engineering skills and mathematical genius were coming together in one special project: a great big house he was going to build for us in the desert. It would have a glass ceiling and thick glass walls and even a glass staircase” (Walls, pages

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