Grapes of Wrath - a Novel by John Steinbeck
Essay by review • September 19, 2010 • Book/Movie Report • 1,483 Words (6 Pages) • 2,022 Views
Grapes of Wrath
Author: John Steinbeck, Robert Demott (Introduction).
Penguin USA; New York.
Reissued Edition (Oct. 1992).
619 Pages.
Reviewed By: Kevin Kearney, 2001 April 22.
Reviewed For: Professor George Browne.
Kearney 1
The Grapes of Wrath is a novel by John Steinbeck that exposes the desperate
conditions under which the migratory farming families of America during the 1930's
lived, through a personal approach and heavy symbolism. The novel tells of one family's
migration west to California through the great economic depression of the 1930's. The
bank took possession of their land because the owners could not pay off their loan. The
novel shows how the Joad family deals with moving to California, and how they survive
the cruelty of the landowners that took advantage of them, their poverty, and willingness
to work.
The Grapes of Wrath combines Steinbeck's adoration of the land, his passionate
hatred for corruption; resulting from materialism (money), and his abiding faith in the
common people to overcome the hostile environment. As it opens with a retaining
picture of nature on rampage, the novel shows the men and women that are unbroken by
nature. The theme is that of a man verses a hostile environment. His body may be
destroyed, but his spirit is not broken.
The method used to develop the theme of the novel is through the use of
symbolism. There are several uses of symbols in the novel from the turtle at the
beginning to the rain at the end. As each symbol is presented, examples of the good and
the bad things that exist within the novel are shown. The opening chapter paints a vivid
picture of the situation facing the drought-stricken farmers of Oklahoma. Dust is
described as covering everything, smothering the life out of anything that wants to grow.
The dust is symbolic of the erosion of the lives of the people. The dust is synonymous
with "deadness", as Steinbeck puts it.. The land is a ruined way of life (farming), people
Kearney 2
uprooted and forced to leave. Secondly, the dust stands for profiteering banks in the
background that squeeze the life out the land as the people are actually forced from their
land. The soil, or the people (farmers), have been drained of life and are exploited: The
last rain fell on the red and gray country of Oklahoma in early May. The weeds became
dark green to protect themselves from the sun's unyielding rays. The wind grew
stronger, uprooting the weakened corn, and the air became so filled with dust that the
stars were not visible at night.
The book continues with a turtle, which appears and reappears several times
early on in the novel and which can be seen as standing for survival, a driving life force
in all of mankind that cannot be conquered by nature or man. The turtle represents a hope
that the trip to the west is survivable and accomplishable by the Joad family. The turtle
further represents the migrant's struggles against both nature and man by overcoming all
obstacles he encounters: the red ant in his path, being captured in Tom Joad's jacket, and
lastly, as a light truck approached nearer and nearer, the driver saw the turtle and swerved
to hit it. The driver of the truck works for a large company, who try to stop the migrants
from going west. As the driver attempts to hit the turtle, it is yet another example of the
large and powerful trying to extinguish or kill the small and weak. Steadily the turtle
advances on, ironically to the southwest, the direction of the migration of people. The
turtle is described as being lasting, ancient, old and wise: "horny head, yellowed toenails,
indestructible high dome of a shell, humorous old eyes." The driver of the truck, red ant,
and Tom Joad's jacket are all symbolic of nature and man trying to stop the turtle from
continuing his journey westward to the promise land.
The turtle helps to develop the theme by showing its struggle against life,
comparing it to the Joad struggle against man. The grapes seem to symbolize both
copiousness and bitterness. Grandpa, the oldest member of the Joad family, talks
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