Grapes of Wrath - a Novel by John Steinbeck

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