Literary Review and Summary of the Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck

Setting and Atmosphere:

The story takes place during the late 1930's, in the middle of the great depression. The setting shifts as the main characters move westward across the United States, but begins in Sallisaw, Oklahoma and ends in California. The overall atmosphere of the novel shifts from optimistic to one of hopeful desperation.

Plot Summary: (On Page Two)

After serving a term of four years in prison, Tom Joad returns to his family farm in Oklahoma. On his way to the farm he meets up with his former preacher Jim Casey, and both move on to the Joad farm. Upon arrival, they find the farm, along with many others in the surrounding area, completely deserted. An old neighbor wanders by and informs Tom and Jim that the Joads had moved on to Uncle John's cabin after being forced off the land. Tom and Jim travel to John's cabin, and upon arrival, find the Joads preparing to move to California in search for work. Using an old, broken down truck, the Joads slowly make their way for California. Grandpa Joad dies soon after departure, and the Joads meet up with the Wilsons, also traveling to California. On arrival in California, Grandma Joad dies. Noah Joad (Tom's brother) and Connie (Tom's brother in law) desert the family, Connie leaving his pregnant wife behind. The Joads stay in a Hooverville, where they hear disturbing rumors of a lack of work in California and of discrimination towards new immigrants. At this Hooverville, Tom and other residents get into a heated argument with a deputy sheriff. This argument soon turns violent, and Tom attacks the deputy. As Tom is on Parole, Casey claims responsibility for the assault, and is brought in to jail. The Hooverville is burned, the Joads narrowly escaping. The Joads move on to a government relief camp where they are impressed by the quality of life. Tom learns that surrounding police are planning to overthrow the camp by creating a fight during a party. Tom, with help of others in the camp, successfully diffuses this situation. Unable to find work, the Joads move on from the safety of the government camp. The Joads find employment picking fruit, but learn that they have been hired to break up a strike. Tom meets up with the strikers, and discovers Casey to be among them. At this moment, the police attack and kill Casey. In anger, Tom kills an officer, obtaining a heavy blow to the face in the process. The Joads decide they have to hide, and move on to live in a box car near a cotton picking plantation. Tom is sent away, and the family lives in poverty. Rose of Sharon (Tom's sister) has a stillborn baby, and the boxcar is overrun by flood water. The remaining Joads escape to a farmhouse nearby, where they discover a boy and his starving father. The novel closes as Rose of Sharon nurses the dying man.

Major Characters:

Tom Joad : The protagonist of the novel. Tom lives life in the present. Although he has killed a man and has spent four years in jail, he chooses to focus on challenges at hand. Strong and intelligent, Tom is respected by those he meets.

Mama Joad : The backbone of the Joad family. Mama Joad is strong willed and knowledgeable. Although she often acts as subordinate to her husband, she acts as a medium and as a voice of reason.

Papa Joad : The leader of the Joad family. Papa Joad is a good natured man who finds himself in a distressing dilemma. He is thrown off his property in the middle of a depression and needs to feed his family. For guidance, Papa Joad often looks to his wife.

Jim Casey : A former preacher, Casey plays the part of the moral voice of the novel. He delivers through his speeches various themes to the reader, such as the themes of sanctity in unity, and freedom. Casey is a strong friend of the Joad family.

Rose of Sharon : Pregnant throughout most of the novel, Rose of Sharon is an innocent and largely impractical woman. Her husband abandons her upon arrival to California, creating a mood of tension and despair between her and other characters.

Grandpa and Grandma Joad : Both die on the road to California. These deaths represent and inability to conform to a change of lifestyle. Grandpa Joad is unable to live off of the land he grew up on, and Grandma Joad is unable to live after the death of her husband.

Al Joad : Tom's younger brother. Al is arrogant and boastful, yet sees himself as inferior to Tom, and glorifies the fact that his brother has killed a man. A lover of women and cars, Al proves himself vital in the survival of the Joad family.

Uncle John : A man unable to forgive himself for the death of his wife. He refused to call a doctor when she complained to stomach pains while pregnant, and blames himself for her death. Heavily disheartened, Uncle John often finds himself unable to cope with the happenings around him, yet does what he can do help.

Personal Observations & Writing Topics: (On Page 3)

The Grapes of Wrath is a commentary on the despair and unbending tension of the great depression. The main characters face challenge after challenge with no end in sight, yet are somehow able to maintain a sense of hope and unity. Although conditions appear to be worsening, although there are people dying around them, the Joad family continues to move on. This is a largely accurate depiction of the mindset of great depression migrants who found themselves void of options and opportunity. It is human nature to cling to hope, as well as to find others to share with whom to share common purpose. It is for this reason The Grapes of Wrath has been so widely read and praised since its publication, along with the spectacular writing style.

Three Important Themes:

Inhumanity: The suffering experienced by the migrants was not an effect of circumstance, but rather a result of the ignorance and cruelty of fellow Americans. California landowners believed the migrants to be a threat to their luxurious and easy lifestyle, and in effect, believed it their right to interfere with the basic human rights of these people. The migrants are treated as less than animals, given ridiculously low wages, and forced to turn on each other for survival. Human fear, not circumstance, created the pain.

The Power of Family and Friendship: If not for family and friends, survival under depression conditions would become an impossibility. The Joad family often sacrificed personal relief for the welfare of the whole unit. The idea of family is not constrained to a biological viewpoint in the story. The Wilsons and Joads become as one family, both looking out for members of the other.

The Importance of Dignity: Steinbeck implies a belief in the importance of a strong will and dignity in the face of challenge. If the Joads were to have been weak willed and unable to act with pride when faced with wrath, survival would have been an improbability. Those with weak wills, like those who refused to move on after the police burned down the Hooverville, were those who starved.

Tone:

The tone of the novel is passionately dejected. The Joad family overcomes obstacle after obstacle on their path to California, yet persevere and remain hopeful. The speaker focuses on the dejection of great depression migrants, and holds an obviously passionate loathing of the American landowners who created the atmosphere of hate and pain.

Structure and Point of View:

The story is told in chronological order, with frequent shifts from the story of the main characters to the stories of those who shared migration experiences. The point of view of The Grapes of Wrath is ever shifting. Although the narrator is generally omniscient, Steinbeck also utilizes first and second person point of view.

Symbols: (On Page Four)

Rose of Sharon's Pregnancy : The pregnancy symbolizes hope, a new beginning, and new life. The stillborn birth symbolizes the despair of the era, yet the Joads ability to overcome depicts the everlasting hope and passion of the migrant workers.

The Death of the Joad's Dog: This dreadful scene foreshadows the tragic events awaiting the Joad family in California.

The Grapes of Wrath: The title of the book is pulled from the song "Battle Hymn of the Republic." This hymn summons God to bring justice to those who have been wreaking havoc over the land, in the case of this song, the confederate army. In the case of the novel, the grapes of wrath refer to the greed and hate of the Californian landowners. It also refers to the fruit orchards used as weapons against the migrants.

Motifs, Images, and Allusions:

Motifs: Leadership structures, blood, animals, the sun, bugs, music.

Images: Steinbeck utilizes fantastic imagery throughout the novel. Great examples include the abandoned Joad farm, the death of Casey, and the closing scene of the novel in which Rose of Sharon prepares to nurse a dying man.

Allusions: The title of the novel itself an allusion to the Battle Hymn of the Republic, as described under symbols. Steinbeck also alludes to numerous biblical passages, such as the book of Job, Noah and the Flood, and The Promised Land.

Important Quotes:

" The bank is something more than men, I tell you. It's the monster. Men made it, but they can't control It." ~ Chapter 5

The Oklahoma farmers believed the bank to be the hidden evil that they could not quite grasp, the source of their troubles. It was this institution that had forced them off their land, which had created the void. Unfortunately, the bank itself could not be targeted, for it is not under the control of men.

" It ain't that big. The whole United States ain't that big. It ain't that big. It ain't big enough. There ain't room enough for you an' me, for your kind an' my kind, for rich and poor together all in one country, for thieves and honest men. For hunger and fat." ~ Chapter 12

This commentary portrays the flaw of the system, the inability for the peoples to co-exist. The rich became rich by stepping on the poor, and the poor were no longer willing to be stepped on. The rich were living comfortably with great excesses of food, while the poor were starving to death. The rich got fatter, the poor starved, yet more were there to fill their places.

"Is a tractor bad? Is the power that turns the long furrows wrong? If this tractor were ours, it would be good - not mine, but ours. We could love that tractor then as we have loved this land when it was ours. But this tractor does two things - it turns the land and turns us off the land. There is little difference between this tractor and a tank. The people were driven, intimidated, hurt by both. We must think about this." ~ Chapter 14

If the tractor were being used to unify the people, it would be considered a blessing. Unfortunately, the tractor was being used to drive families off of their land. The families became obsolete, why use manpower when a tractor is four times as efficient? A blessing for one side is a plague on the other. The quote compares the tractor to a tank, a weapon of war, a tool of destruction, not of production.

How can you frighten a man whose hunger is not only in his own cramped stomach but in the wretched bellies of his children? You can't scare him--he has known a fear beyond every other. ~ Chapter 19

The men of the great depression were desperate. They felt the pain of not only their own suffering, but also the suffering of their families. Nothing could stand in the way of bringing comfort to the ones they loved most, and it is for this reason that they were able to persevere and survive when all seemed lost. The Californian landowners could not bring them down, not when it meant the loss of a man's family if he were to fall.