Turtle In The Grapes Of Wrath

Introduced in chapter six of Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck, Muley Graves is a multi-faceted character who remains as the sole, original farmer in the area that Joad’s family lived. The name Muley Graves is carefully chosen by Steinbeck for it embodies the persona and thematic messages Merely presents to the reader. Instead of leaving with the rest of the town, Muley remains and he thinks of himself as a “damn ol’ graveyard ghos’”(51) who wanders the vacated premises. Hence, this is metaphorical to the abandoned homes and lives of the farmers when they left, which essentially caused a graveyard to form. When Muely goes “to neighbors’ houses in the night,”(52) he considers himself a ghosts patrolling the graveyard of the farmers-- their

One of Steinback 's metaphor is the sand turtle. He uses an entire chapter to symbolize the sand turtle as the Joads. The sand turtle attempts to cross the road in chapter three. The turtle slowly crosses the highway, attempting to reach his goal, the other side, to find a new place. As the turtle crosses, it faces obstacles. Such as passing cars and even starting off in the first place. It slowly but surely crosses the road, and eventually reaches his goal. This is just like the Joads predicament. The Joads are in need of a new place to go. A new home, due to the failing crops and the corrupt greedy banks. They head out on a long and vigorous journey, but even starting it was hard. Grampa joad threw a fit about leaving. He told Papa Joad, " I tell ya I ain 't goin ', an ' ya can lump it." So they had to slip him cough medicine in order to get him to go. This prolonged the trip and was an obstacle to overcome. The trip itself was difficult. There were many times where they were hungry, desperate, and out of faith. But, they kept pushing on. Just like the sand turtle, the Joads were tough, and would not be held from their ultimate goal.

When examining John Steinbeck’s, Grapes of Wrath’” he details the story of the Joads an Oklahoma family on their way to California in the midsts of the Dust Bowl. As he discusses their journey towards the american dream he inserts several intercalary chapters that break up the discussion of the Joads and shifts the focus towards the things that symbolizes them. In the novel there are several intercalary chapters that are used to depict the lies and deceit that occurs to the Joads right under their nose.

As an example of good writing, the passage about the turtle is especially effective. This passage, which can be found in chapter 3 of the novel, describes the journey of a turtle trying to cross a highway road and was purposely almost run over by one man. This passage is effective particularly because of its use of literary devices. Steinbeck represents symbolism and foreshadowing simultaneously through the turtle and his journey. The turtle symbolizes the families who are traveling to California and the turtle’s struggle to cross the

Identify or describe device: Foreshadow and symbolism Explain as directly and as specifically as you can how the device contributes to the tone, attitude, or effect and significance of the passage: The turtle’s fall foreshadowed that the Joads family will face challenges such being driven off their land and forced to travel to California where they hope to reach

Serious drive and great strength are qualities they needed to have amid their adventures. In the Grapes of Wrath, Steinbeck demonstrates endurance by his use of well developed metaphors, Steinbeck also utilizes intercalary

In the third chapter of the book, the readers are introduced to a keen description of a turtle trying to cross the highway to get to the other side. What makes its journey so interesting is that the readers can see the experiences that the turtle faces, regarding two different vehicles. In one case, a forty year old woman in a sedan “saw the turtle and swung to the right, off the highway, the wheels screamed and a cloud of dust boiled up. The car skidded back onto the road, and went on, but more slowly. The turtle had jerked into its shell, but now it hurried on, for the highway was burning hot.” (p. 15) This shows that even though the the woman could have been in a hurry, she still took into account that she wanted to avoid harming the turtle. In another case, a light truck approached near the turtle, and the driver

For example, in the passage, the turtle’s “. . . hind feet kicked his shell along, and it scraped on the grass, and on the gravel” (Steinbeck 15). This description inflicts a mood of sadness as well as compassion for the turtle, as it highlights sadness felt by the turtle in having once again failed to achieve his goal. The turtle’s journey can be compared to The Little Engine That Could. Both the turtle as well as the train faced difficulties, but kept moving on to the best of their abilities. Additionally, the turtle can also be described as a metaphor for the Joad family. No matter what the turtle tried to do, he was faced with new obstacles. The Joads faced similar obstacles as the turtle. When the bank foreclosed the Joad’s home, for instance, they were forced to keep moving on. In drawing similarities between the two, Steinbeck ultimately forces the audience to associate the turtle with the relatable and familiar plight of the Joads, thus making the turtle a sympathetic characters in the audience mind. While encouraging sympathy for both Tom and the turtle, Steinbeck wanted his audience to feel malice toward Jim

In The Grapes of Wrath a turtle appeared many times. John Steinbeck used repetition to show that the turtle was important. The turtle first appeared in Chapter 3. He was described as climbing over the grass at the roadside. Steinbeck wrote, “His hard legs and yellow-nailed feet threshed slowly through the grass, not really walking, but boosting and

Steinbeck used symbolism in the characters, and in animates to focus most of the reader’s attention on them, and to bring out their hidden characteristics. The Joads took all of their belongings from their home and held on to them until they had arrived to California, they dragged their heavy truck with difficulties along the road, The turtle in chapter three symbol resembles not only the Joads, but all of the migrants from Oklahoma, the turtle is an old, slow animal that was traveling west just like the Joads, going west , The turtle was described with its hard legs, yellow nails, and not walking slowly but dragging its shell around, and that’s how the migrants were too; very slow, very weak , traveling along the hot road dragging all of their belongings around, trying to escape their depressed souls, and to find better lives just like the turtle, The turtle faces many obstacle such as getting run over by a truck driver all the way to the opposite side that it was heading to, getting flipped on its shell, trying so hard to get back up on its feet, turning around, and continuing its way to the west , Although the turtle faced many challenges it never stopped from moving forward, The Joads just like the turtle never stopped from moving forward to

After reading a small portion of the book, The Grapes of Wrath, by John Steinbeck, I was able to see many relatable themes and messages. One of them of which is the human nature of pushing through and standing up when one falls down or has many obstacles front of them. This notion of not breaking or giving up is clearly portrayed when it states, “After a while the faces of the watching men lost their bemused perplexity and became hard and angry and resistant. The men sat in the doorways of their houses; their hands were busy with sticks and little rocks” (Steinbeck, 4). Even though these men lost their crops that decided their survival in the world right in front of their, the men didn’t lose hope.

In The Grapes of Wrath, the Joad family experiences many hardships on the journey to and in California, ranging from dying family members to a lack of sufficient food. In the third chapter of the novel, author John Steinbeck introduces a determined turtle who attempts to make its journey across a highway. The turtle is apparently nearly run over multiple times, and is actually hit by a car. This causes the turtle to be flipped on its shell, until it catches its footing and “little by little the shell [pulls] over and [is] flopped upright”(16). The turtle then continues its journey and successfully crosses the highway. Although this chapter may have seemed out of place, as the turtle seems to have nothing to do with the novel, Steinbeck’s use of symbolism is apparent. The turtle itself is supposed to symbolize the Joad family and the struggles they face trying to find a better life. Like the turtle, the family is knocked down many times, and like the turtle the family is still able to find its footing and stay determined. The Joad family’s goal is to make a living in California, and although they will face many challenges, they still have their eyes set on crossing their own personal and hazardous turtle highway.

The turtle from the beginning of the novel The Grapes of Wrath represents the constant struggles which the Joad family have to face, throughout this novel, against the Banks. This turtle which is seen in Chapter 3 is a significant symbol for the novel as a whole. This turtle, even though almost killed, continues on in his journey and does not look back. Steinbeck uses this slow-moving but determined and will-full turtle as a parallel to the Joad family, who are determined and strong as well. Steinbeck establishes the idea that the Joad family is like a turtle in order to heighten the intensity of their determination.

Before the Joads are introduced, the plight of another being is highlighted. In Chapter 3, Steinbeck introduces the turtle on the side of the road struggling through obstacles. The turtle itself is a symbol of the Joad family and other migrant workers, while its journey is an allegory of the struggles and obstacles they will face along the way. The turtle comes upon an embankment along the highway and stops to size up the wall in front of it (Steinbeck 14). At several points in the novel, the men face decisions and hunker down together on their hams to discuss their

Grapes of Wrath Author, John Steinbeck, in his novel, Grapes of Wrath, narrates the life of people in Oklahoma during the time of the Dust Bowl, when no one has everything, but everyone has nothing. Steinbeck’s purpose with this novel is to show different people’s point of view and way of life during this time; what people had to do to for themselves and their families to survive. He adopts a narrative, everyday tone; therefore causing the reader to feel like they are there with the usage of imagery and the vernacular familiar to the region during this time period. In Chapter 1 of Grapes of Wrath, Steinbeck uses of imagery to show the reader what the Dust Bowl was like, not only in general, but with everyone else in the story.