The Grapes Of Wrath Rhetorical Analysis

Throughout John Steinbeck’s novel The Grapes of Wrath, many concepts appear that were noted in How to Read Literature Like a Professor by Thomas C. Foster. However, the three chapters of Foster’s how-to guide that most apply to Steinbeck’s novel were “It’s All About Sex…,” “Every Trip is a Quest (Except When It’s Not),” and “It’s More Than Just Rain or Snow.” On more than one occasion these concepts are hidden within the book, and two of them actually seem somewhat linked together. After reading between the lines, The Grapes of Wrath has an extremely intricate plot and many ulterior meanings. Foster’s book helps to solve these meanings and make it so that the novel can be completely understood.

The dust bowl was a tragic time in America for so many families and John Steinbeck does a great job at getting up-close and personal with one family to show these tragedies. In the novel, “The Grapes of Wrath”, John Steinbeck employed a variety of rhetorical devices, such as asyndeton, personification and simile, in order to persuade his readers to enact positive change from the turmoil of the Great Depression. Throughout the novel, Steinbeck tells the fictional narrative of Tom Joad and his family, while exploring social issues and the hardships of families who had to endure the Dust Bowl and the Great Depression. Steinbeck’s purpose was to challenge readers to look at

Metaphors are used a lot throughout the book The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck. Some examples of metaphors in the story are, the sand turtle trying to cross the road in chapter three, the bank monster that is described in chapter five, and the car dealership that is described in chapter seven.

John Steinbeck is the renowned author of novels such as Of Mice and Men, East of Eden, and The Pearl. In his novel The Grapes of Wrath Steinbeck expounds on the theme of the cruelty people inflict on one another as well as how they can overcome the inhumanity of others. Steinbeck’s artfully demonstrates that this cruelty is often born out of the human tendency to think of oneself first; others, if they are thought of at all, come second.

“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.

“You don’ know what you’re a-doin’,” were Casy’s last words before he died as a martyr. Casy died for his cause, his belief that the elite were not truly aware of how their greed was causing the suffering of the weak and that the weak could only surpass their sorrows if they worked together. Steinbeck uses chapter 25 of Grapes of Wrath to portray this very message. Steinbeck uses an array of rhetorical devices such as symbolism and the use of a instructive tone which gives the reader a sense of being sermonized to portray the greed of the elite and how that fuels the wrath of the weak, while also empowering the weak to join together and warning the elite of the inevitable consequences of

As I started to read chapter one I was thinking “This is going to be so boring” but I just kinda had to get more into. And as I was in the middle of chapter one I was expecting Jody to come home from school and everything was going to be all happy and joyful, of course that wasn’t going to happen it’s too easy. So when Gabilan died, I think Jody over reacted, I mean, yeah I get it he’s sad and everything but he didn’t need to kill other animals. And I was kinda shocked when the chapter ended like that. I was hoping that something else would happen.

The Grapes of Wrath is a novel written by John Steinbeck. Throughout the novel Steinbeck uses rhetorical devices such as syntax and diction to support his tones and themes. In chapter 5, the tenants get vested by the men of the bank, and were told they had to leave. This chapter created 3 tones: hatred, sympathy and hope. One of the rhetorical devices used in The Grapes of Wrath is syntax.

The use of Rhetorical Strategies often strengthen writing. In John Steinbeck’s “The Grapes of Wrath” he did exactly this. The way he used rhetorical strategies throughout the novel not only helped it to become stronger but it also assisted it in becoming more effective. Steinbeck used rhetorical devices such as Imagery, Symbolism , and Allegories

The land has died and their souls are dying. This is the reality for the Joad family, their hope is leaving and Steinbeck is the mastermind behind it all. These Okies, in the midst of chaos, must evacuate into an unchartered territory, to California a distant possibility of a better life. There is no comfort or resolution from immense suffering the Joad’s face. Casy, gets killed, Tom must leave his family to protect them, Rose of Sharon lost a husband and a child and Ma Joad who had to soak up all the pain and must ensure safety for her family. The language and plot are against the possibility to ever see the Joad family become united and prosperous because of the tension set up by the words. In The Grapes of Wrath, Chapter 11, Steinbeck uses a total of forty-two verbs to convey the hopelessness; he also allows the reader to prepare for the shift from beauty into darkness by defining what is, “living” and “dead,” by using “is” as a linking verb; showing the decline of hope within different verbs.

In the novel, The Grapes of Wrath, John Steinbeck uses many of the literary devices to emphasize the conditions of the people migrating to California. One that I found obvious and recurring in the novel was repetition. There are many instances in the novel where words, images, or phrases are repeated to bring the condition of certain situations to life.In the quote above Steinbeck uses repetition to create an ethereal trance and stress the desperate times of the Dust Bowl era. The overuse of “listen” has a sense of movement. The reader also gets to feel that he is apart of the story feeling the increase of reality. Also the use of “you” by Tom, the narrator makes the reader feel amid with the Joad family who have sold everything they owned

The Grapes of Wrath is set in the horrible stage of our American history, the Depression. Economic, social, and historical surroundings separate the common man of America into basically the rich and poor. A basic theme is that man turns against one another in a selfish pride to only protect themselves. For example, the landowners create a system in which migrants are treated like animals and pushed along from one roadside camp to the next. They are denied decent wages and forced to turn against their fellow scramblers to simply survive.

4. The part of the story that shocked me was when the Masked Man would drain all of his sons blood and kill him just to get his magic back! I know he’s evil but in one of the chapters when he said (in his brain) he could get back everything that was ever taken from him. I thought that he wanted his son back not to take his magic and kill him!!! 8.

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

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