The Pain of the Okies Exposed in The Grapes of Wrath Essay

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

"If you add to the truth, you subtract from it." - The Talmud. Adding to the truth is exactly what John Steinbeck did in The Grapes of Wrath. The very well known novel tells the story of the Joad family and their journey from Oklahoma to California during the Dust Bowl. It's often considered an accurate portrayal of the 1930s, but in reality it isn't accurate at all. The article "Steinbeck's Myth of the Okies" by Keith Windschuttle talks about the historical inaccuracies in The Grapes of Wrath, and as it turns out, there are a lot of them. Much of the information in the book is exaggerated or untrue, such as the scope of the Dust Bowl, the facts of the Okie migration, and the facts of the Great Depression. By exaggerating the real facts, Steinbeck detracted from the real struggles people faced.

Salinger was born in New York in 1919 and wrote The Catcher in the Rye in 1951, and the values in the book reflected values in America at that time. A major value which society followed during that era

I. John Steinbeck used his personal experiences as a laborer to write many of his novels like Of Mice and Men and The Grapes of Wrath.

John Steinbeck worked as an employed laborer, digging canals and working beside men similar to characters in his novels.

John Steinbeck was born and raised in Salinas, California, a town well known for farming and being poor. Its thought that his many conversations with the migrant workers of the area inspired a lot of his work, such as “Of Mice and Men”, a

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.

He was born in 1902 and died in 1966. He won the Nobel Prize in literature and the

Steinbeck heard about these so called cheerleaders who would harass the black children, and Steinbeck noticed when he arrived a man taking his white daughter even though black children were attending the school. Even though segregation was in place the Brave Gray Man still took his daughter," The crowd was waiting for a white man who dared to bring his white child to school. And here he came along the guarded walk, a tall man dressed in light grey, leading his frightened child by the hand" ( Steinbeck 257). Steinbeck became very fond of his bravery and how he took his child even though others were attending the school. I noticed that Steinbeck kept watch of the man as he walked his daughter to the school," A shrill, grating voice rang out. The yelling was not in chorus. Each took a turn and at the end of each the crowd broke out into howls and roars and whistles of applause" (Steinbeck 257). Many people were proud of the Brave Gray Man. Steinbeck found interest of what he did, so he tried to help end segregation. Furthermore, these people all helped Steinbeck understand that their is no real archetype in

John Steinbeck’s acclaimed novel, The Grapes of Wrath, embodies his generation’s horrific tragedy. John Steinbeck’s writing gives insight on the devastating effects of the Dust Bowl on thousands of families and those who helped them. While Steinbeck's novel focuses on the Joad's family journey, he also includes writing of the general struggle of many families at the time. In John Steinbeck's novel, The Grapes of Wrath, the usage of the term “Okies” degrades the workers, while the personification of the cars help depict the struggle of the journey, to exemplify the adaptation the migrant workers had to make to survive the new life.

Every great writer had their own influences, John Steinbeck was no exception. Steinbeck’s influences cam from family, friends, and his environment to write detailed descriptions to involve or influence the reader. Whenever someone reads one of John Steinbeck’s works they are in immersed in the scene he is describing, he makes you feel as if you are right there experiencing everything there first hand.

In the world there is grass that is eaten by grasshoppers, then the grasshoppers are eaten by frogs, who are then eaten by snakes. The snakes get the upper hand in this chain. This is how Tyler Ranch becomes with all the people and clashing personalities. Throughout the story who is prey and who is predator becomes evident. Steinbeck was an American author that was born on February, 27, 1902. He was born in California and died in New York. He enjoyed sports and worked on several ranches and saw many things he did not like. These things he saw in his life as a kid contributed to many of the books he wrote. His books dealt with economic and social issues. The ranch he worked on as a kid was very similar to the one he writes about in the book

It's almost as though Steinbeck has created a textbook about migrant workers in California during the Great Depression, and he wants to represent as many stories as possible so that we can learn as much as

American writer’s haven’t only impacted this country, but the world as a whole. Specifically, J.D. Salinger. He is a well-known author who has wrote many influential books such as The Catcher in the Rye and Franny and Zooey. Salinger’s childhood, education, significant people, major influences,and historical events have all had an impact on how he became the face of a literary movement as well as his contributions to the art of American Literature.