1. Steinbeck
composes his novel, The Grapes of Wrath, by utilizing juxtaposition,
alternating long, narrative chapters focusing on the Joad family’s journey with
short, expressive chapters pertaining to the migrants as a whole. Steinbeck allows the reader to look through
different lenses and experience the story through multiple perspectives by
using this shifting telescoping technique.
Steinbeck stirs up emotion within the reader during poetic chapters and
helps the reader to relate to and empathize with a family struggling for a
better life in the expository episodes.
Steinbeck masterfully weaves an intricate web that stands out “magically
in this light, in the overdrawn perspective of a stereopticon” (99). For example, in Chapter 17, to describe the
convergence of all the migrating families into a single huddled mass, Steinbeck
writes, “because they were lonely and perplexed…and because they were all going
to a new mysterious place….a strange thing happened: the twenty families become
one family, the children were the children of all. The loss of home became one loss” (193). Chapter 18 reverts back to the Joad family’s
exodus, as tragedy strikes with the death of a loved one. Steinbeck implicitly conveys the sense of a
dearly departed soul in the line, “after a time Granma was still, and Ma lay
rigid beside her” (225). Chapter 17
instills a sense of unity within the reader, and therefore the loss of family
creates a more dramatic effect upon the reader’s emotions. The chapters pertaining to the migrants also
foreshadow obstacles that the Joads encounter.
For example, Chapter 19 foretells the unfortunate events, such as the
destruction of camps, which reappear in Chapter 20. The deputies rage, “Department of Health
orders. This camp is a menace to
health…We got orders to get you out of here.
In half an hour we set fire to the camp” (237). In Chapter 20, a deputy tries to persuade Tom
and other migrants to move, threatening, “Might be a good idear to go. Board of Health says we got to clean out this
camp” (264).
2. Chapter
3 represents the journey of the Joads and the other migrants portrayed through
aspects of nature. The tenant men share
similar characteristics with the seeds since their initial inert reaction to
the bank’s cruelty mirrored the state of the seeds. Steinbeck describes the seeds as “sleeping
life waiting to be spread and dispersed…all passive but armed with appliances
of activity, still, but each possessed of the anlage of movement” (14). After a tractor crushes a house like a bug,
Steinbeck expresses how “the tenant man stared after it, his rifle in his
hand. His wife was beside him, and the
quiet children behind. And all of them
stared after the tractor” (39). Several
parallels exist between the turtle’s trek and the Joads’ plight. First of all, a malicious truck driver
intentionally strikes the edge of the turtle’s shell with his front wheel,
rolling the turtle off the highway.
Similarly, different adversities impede the Joads’ progress along their
way. The Joads often face bigotry, for
the deputies treat the migrants harshly with no hint of sympathy in their
demeanor. Casy recalls how cops tore
people apart, remembering, “We tried to camp together, an’ they druv us like
pigs. Scattered us. Beat fellas” (383). Secondly, the truck displaces the turtle in
the same way that the tractors drive tenant men from their homes. Steinbeck describes how “suddenly the
machines pushed them out and they swarmed on the highways” (282). Lastly, the turtle also overcomes obstacles
amidst his defeats. Steinbeck writes
about how the animal relieves himself of irritation caused by an ant: “A red
ant ran into the shell…and suddenly head and legs snapped in, and the armored
tail clamped in sideways. The red ant
was crushed between body and legs” (15).
Likewise, Floyd Knowles and Tom Joad stand up to the forces of
oppression when a deputy attempts to arrest Floyd on the indictment of a charge
with no actual evidence. Steinbeck
details the attack: “Floyd spun and swung with one movement. His fist splashed into the large face…The
deputy staggered and Tom put out his foot for him to trip over. The deputy fell heavily and rolled” (264).
3. The
title of the novel reflects the intense emotion of the migrants who cannot
retain contentment after bearing such an immense amount of contempt. Steinbeck writes, “There is a crime here that
goes beyond denunciation….In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are
filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage” (349). These words convey the anger of the migrant
people, resulting from the loss of everything they shed blood, sweat, and tears
to gain. The emotion that words cannot
express, beyond angst, overwhelms the people.
For example, Steinbeck writes about how a man maintains and cares for a
piece of land only for a sheriff to drive him off his prized possession:
“Secret gardening in the evenings, and water carried in a rusty can. And then one day a deputy sheriff: Well, what
you think you’re doin’?…The land ain’t plowed, an’ I ain’t hurtin’ it
none…Think you owned it. Get off now”
(235). Wrath plays an important role in
the novel because it serves as a source of motivation, determination, and
strength. Steinbeck writes about how one
may fight for what he has grown with his own two hands: “A crop raised-why,
that makes ownership. Land hoed and the
carrots eaten-a man might fight for land he’s taken food from” (235).
4. After
Casy’s death, Tom reminisces about the epiphanies the former preacher used to
share. Tom recalls, “Says one time he
went out in the wilderness to find his own soul, an’ he foun’ he didn’ have no
soul that was his’n. Says he foun’ he
jus’ got a little piece of a great big soul….his little piece of a soul wasn’t
no good ’less it was with the rest, an’ was whole” (418). Tom remembers a Scripture Casy quoted from
Ecclesiastes 4: 10-12, which reads, “Two are better than one…For if they fall,
the one will lift up his fellow; but woe to him who is alone when he falls and
has not another to lift him up. Again,
if two lie together, they are warm; but how can one be warm alone?” Casy’s comment suggests a need for people to
be together in order to help each other, and the Old Testament passage
complements Casy’s message by revealing the results of cooperation. Steinbeck illustrates this theme throughout
the novel in the togetherness of the Joads, the merging of the migrants’
families, and personal sacrifice. Ma
emphasizes the importance of staying together as a family when Tom suggests
that he leave for fear of endangering the family after committing murder. She pleads, “…goin’ away ain’t gonna ease
us. It’s gonna bear us down…Got nothin’
to trus’. Don’ go, Tom. Stay an’ help” (392-3). Chapter 17 describes the accord between several
families who support and live with each other in harmony through both joyous
and despondent moments. Steinbeck
narrates, “It might be that a sick child threw despair into the hearts of
twenty families, of a hundred people; that a birth there in a tent kept a
hundred people quiet and awestruck through the night and filled a hundred
people with the birth-joy in the morning” (193). Casy’s words also encourage a man’s actions
to benefit the good of the people instead of a single individual. Tom decides to follow in Casy’s footsteps and
direct his efforts towards the good of the family to fulfill his duty, which
means leaving his loved ones. He
explains that he will always be with the people, in times of triumph and
victory as well as times of sorrow and defeat.
Tom conveys, “Wherever they’s a fight so hungry people can eat, I’ll be
there. Wherever they’s a cop beatin’ up
a guy, I’ll be there. If Casy knowed,
why, I’ll be in the way guys yell when they’re mad an’—I’ll be in the way kids
laugh when they’re hungry an’ they know supper’s ready. An’ when our folks eat the stuff they raise
an’ live in the houses they build—why, I’ll be there” (419).
5. Chapter
19 discusses the consequences of too much land in too few hands. The deputies express fear after contemplating
the results that would follow if the Okies revolted. They urge, “Got to keep ’em in line or Christ
only knows what they’ll do!…If they ever get together there ain’t nothin’
that’ll stop ’em” (236). The basis of
this prejudice originates from xenophobia, resulting in repression,
devastation, and eventually wrath for the Okies. For instance, an official by the name of
George clubs Casy on the head after the preacher asserts his opinion. Steinbeck depicts this image in the following
lines: “The heavy club crashed into the side of his head with a dull crunch of
bone, and Casy fell sideways out of the light” (386). Tom’s wrath at this injustice becomes
apparent by his actions. Steinbeck
communicates, “He wrenched the club free.
The first time he knew he had missed and struck a shoulder, but the
second time his crushing blow found the head, and as the heavy man sank down,
three more blows found his head” (386).
This harsh reality of inequality resurfaces in Chapter 28 as Tom
communicates, “I been thinkin’ about our people livin’ like pigs, an’ the good
rich lan’ layin’ fallow, or maybe one fella with a million acres, while a
hunderd [sic] thousan’ good farmers is starvin’” (419).
