Essay, Research Paper: The Grapes Of Wrath

The Grapes of Wrath

The Grapes of Wrath is an eye-opening novel which deals with the struggle for survival of a migrant family of farmers in the western United States. The book opens with a narrative chapter describing Oklahoma, and the overall setting. It sets the mood of an area which has been ravished by harsh weather. "The sun flared down on the growing corn day after day until a line of brown spread along the edge of each green bayonet. The surface of the earth crusted, a thin hard crust, and as the sky became pale, so the earth became pale, pink in the red country, and white in the gray country." (Steinbeck pg.3)

The idea was made clear, quite early, that the farming plains of Oklahoma were a cruel and difficult place for a family to make a successful living.

Once the family reaches California, their hopes and dreams are basically shattered. Although briefly employed for descent pay, wadges are slashed, and the hard times become even worse. With lack of money, possessions, and an adequate food supply, the family finally hits rock bottom when torrential rains flood their makeshift boxcar home, destroying their truck, and once again sending them on the run.
There are many characters who played a vital role in the development of the Grapes of Wrath. Each and every character has something to add to the book as a whole.

For example, chapter 3 expresses the struggle of a turtle trying to get across the highway. An ignorant reader might take the chapter literally, missing the underlying message that Steinbeck is trying to reveal. As the turtle attempts to cross the road, he is twice nearly crushed by passing motorists, and is flung off the road by a motorist who tried unsuccessfully to purposefully squash the turtle in it's tracks. The turtle, in actuality, completes a micro/macrocosm constructed by Steinbeck. The turtle struggles to cross the street while looking failure in the eyes from both the ignorant driver, and the driver who tried to squash him. So what is Steinbeck trying to tell us? The ignorant driver symbolizes those who, not knowingly, are killing the lives of the migrants workers, including those of the Joad's. These unsuspecting people include the plantation owners who jack up prices and cut wadges ignorant of the havoc they cause to their workers, as well as the land owners who evict the families not aware of what they will have to go through to survive. Those who intentionally are out to hurt the migrant workers are represented by the police officers who try to shut down their tent cities keeping them on the move and out of their area. They are also represented by those who intentionally try to swindle the migrant workers by charging ridiculously high prices for goods and services. The officers are fully aware of what their actions will do, but do not care, as the downfall of the migrant workers is their only concern.
Steinbeck wrote this book for one reason; to make the plight and difficulties of the migrant workers known to all of America.

It showed just what the life of a migrant worker was all about; for example the establishing of a common ground within one another. The migrant workers were a group of people who were looking out for each other and willing to work together, as survival during these periods proved tough and could not be accomplished without teamwork. This is simply why the migrant workers found ways to successfully govern themselves throughout their tent cities which is why they looked to establish a common ground. Times were tough, and that constant harassment of police organizations only worsened the situation.


The Grapes of Wrath is a novel by John Steinbeck that exposes the desperate conditions under which the migratory farm families of America during the 1930's live under. The novel tells of one families migration west to California through the great economic depression of the 1930's. The Joad family had to abandon their home and their livelihoods. They had to uproot and set adrift because tractors were rapidly industrializing their farms. The bank took possession of their land because the owners could not pay off their loan.

How they survive the cruelty of the land owners that take advantage of them, their poverty and willingness to work.

The theme is one of man verses a hostile environment. His body destroyed but his spirit is not broken.

There are several uses of symbols in the novel, like the turtle at the beginning .

As each symbol is presented through the novel they show examples of the good and the bad things that exist within the novel.

Dust is described a 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". The land is ruined ^way of life (farming) gone, people ^uprooted and forced to leave. Secondly, the dust stands for ^profiteering banks in the background that squeeze the life out the land by forcing the people off the land. The soil, 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 a 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. (Chp 1)
As the chapter continues a turtle, which appears and reappears several times early in the novel, can be seen to stand for survival, a driving life force in all of mankind that cannot be beaten by nature or man. The turtle represents a hope that the trip to the west is survivable by the farmer migrants (Joad family). The turtle further represents the migrants struggles against nature/man by overcoming every obstacle he encounters: the red ant in his path, the truck driver who tries to run over him, being captured in Tom Joad's jacket: And now a light truck approached, and as it came near, 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, when the driver attempts to hit the turtle it is another example of the big powerful guy trying to flatten or kill the little guy.

The grapes seem to symbolize both bitterness and copiousness. Grandpa the oldest member of the Joad family talks of the grapes as symbols of plenty; all his descriptions of what he is going to do with the grapes in California suggest contentment, freedom, the goal for which the Joad family strive for: I'm gonna let the juice run down ma face, bath in the dammed grapes. (Chp 6)

Stein beck often showed the prejudice and hatred for the migrants. Somewhere around the middle of the book an ?okie? family stops at a roadside 66 truck stop. They are hoping to buy some bread with the mere money they have rationed. The waitress is very bitter and tries to get rid of the man. She turns down his needs for a half a loaf of bread. her boss turns and reprimands her. The man is sold a small amount of bread for his money. The man turns to see his little boys gazing at the candy case. It eats at his stomach to know that he can?t afford to buy his boys candy. The man timidly asks if t! ! he candy is penny candy. The waitress replies no. The man aches. The waitress turns and states that it?s two for a penny. Smiling as they head down the road the waitress feels good about herself as the candies were a nickel a piece. The depression and all the migrant brought a lot of spite and anger. But in a few cases it also caused people to draw up a kinder side of the waitress Mae, was shown by Steinbeck. Probably the biggest act of kindness Steinbeck shows is in the end of the novel. The biggest symbols found by myself lead to the loss. Rose of Sharon Joad loses her baby before she delivers. Afterwards, as were very familiar with comes great flooding. This is where Steinbeck shows the coming generosity. Rose of Sharon breast feeds a starving stranger, saving a life. The effect on people because of the depression is shown by Steinbeck. He shows the kindness and the bitterness that came to our country. The effect comes from death and poverty just the same as any time period
In his novel The Grapes of Wrath John Steinbeck wishes to change the negative social attitude toward the migrants to bring about better treatment of this group of people.

Steinbeck attempted to change the negative attitudes that needed changing in order to create a better society.

Steinbeck developed many different characters that showed the reader the feelings and hardships of their journey, and distinguished them as individual people and families, not just a bunch of "Okies." He uses the Joad family to show what was happening to all the other migrants in their journey across the U.S. to get work. When the Joad family's car broke down, that symbolized the hardships of all the migrants. In their search for work, the Joad family represented the migrants who were forced to live in Hoovervilles and answer to the local law enforcement officials. Lastly, the work the Joads did get was typical of all the migrants because of the rarity, harsh conditions, and low wages that were a characteristic of migrant work in California.

Steinbeck hope to change the way the people viewed the migrant farmers by showing how they were mistreated by people who were more fortunate.

Steinbeck hoped the landowners and wealthy people of not only California but of the United States would realize there needed to be changes in social attitudes regarding the migrant workers.