The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck

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The Grapes of Wrathby John Steinbeck

• Introduction to the Text
• Created by Miss Ptak

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• The Grapes of Wrath was published in 1939.
• The novel is set in the time period during which
  Steinbeck was writing the 1930s.
• What do you know about the 1930s?

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CONTEXT Effects of the Depression on Rural
Americans

• Drought strikes in Oklahoma. Oklahoma
  Dustbowl

http//www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/dustbowl/maps/
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CONTEXT Effects of the Depression on Rural
Americans

• Drought kills crops
• Farmers (sharecroppers) cannot pay their rent.
• Farm owners kick out sharecroppers
• Sharecroppers Dispossessed Homeless

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CONTEXT Effects of the Depression on Rural
Americans

• Ruined farmers abandon land
• Families pack all they own onto a truck to
  migrate to California, where there are rumors of
  employment
• The road to California Route 66

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CONTEXT Effects of the Depression on Rural
Americans

• 400,000 midwestern plains farmers traveled Route
  66 to work in California.
• These workers harvested ripe crops and are known
  as migrant workers.
• Jobs were not as abundant as advertised.
• Migrant Workers Okies

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Grapes of Wrath as a highly political text

• Controversial
• Religious Leaders ? obscene
• Oklahomans ? negative portrayal of state
  inhabitants
• Californians ? not that cruel
• Americans in general ? Communist
• Draws attention to the plight of migrant workers
• Explicitly POLITICAL
• Champions collectivist action
• Anti-individualism, Anti-monopoly, Anti-big
  business

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Steinbecks Autobiographical Information

• Born in California, 1902
• Schoolteacher mother read classic literature to
  young Steinbeck
• Attended Stanford for five years, but never
  graduated
• Steinbeck always lived and worked with the people
  about whom he wrote

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The Novels Form and Structure

• Chronological
• 3 Logical Parts
• Oppression drought and dust in Oklahoma
• Exodus the journey on Route 66
• 3. The Promised Land California
• Narrative Chapters Interchapters
• Interchapters short sketches of economic and
  social history that are significant to the story

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The Novels Style

• Vivid imagery and close attention to detail
• "The dust-filled air muffled sound more
  completely than fog does"
• Figures of speech such as simile, metaphor, and
  personification
• The full green hills are round and soft as
  breasts
• Dialect
• "a walkin' chunk a mean-mad"
• Realism
• Dialect, Steinbecks research methods

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Key Players in the Novel

• Tom Joad (main character)
• Ma and Pa Joad
• Granpa and Granma
• Rosasharn (Rose of Sharon) and Connie
• The other Joads Noah, Ruthie, Winfield
• Reverend Jim Casy
• Ivy and Sairy Wilson

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Governing Themes in the Text

• Forces of the Times "An' Almighty God never
  raises no wages" (265)
• Family First "Use' ta be the fambly was fust. It
  aint so now" (470, 148)
• The People's Justice "They's change a-comin'.
  They's a res'less feelin'." (365, 184)
• Survival "Ever'thing we do ..is aimed right at
  goin' on."(448)
• Identity "He was that place an' he knowed it."
  (156, 95)
• Faith "How can such courage be and faith in
  their own species? ... Faith is refired forever"
  (130)
• Choices and Regret "The one-eyed man . . cried
  in his bed" (193)
• Trusting one's own instinct "I got a feeling I
  got to see them" (58, 149)

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The writer is charged with exposing our many
grievous faults and failures for the purpose of
improvement. . . Furthermore, the writer is
delegated to declare and celebrate Man's proven
capacity for greatness of heart and spirit - for
gallantry in defeat, and for courage, compassion
and love." --Steinbeck in his Nobel Prize
acceptance speech (1962, Literature)