“I” to “We”. Let’s Start a Revolution
We live in a world full of chaos and the only way to survive is with a family, but what exactly is considered family? The people an individual shares the same blood with? or the people that share the same situation? In the book “The Grapes of Wrath” by John Steinbeck, Steinbeck develops a theme throughout the first fifteen chapters of the book. In other to survive chaos, people have to unite together and form strong bonds like a family and fight to overcome the obstacles that they face. Steinbeck develops his theme through the actions of the characters . Even if the reader does not get the theme he states it clearly in chapter fourteen and fifteen which is the importance of people coming together to fight for a cause.
First, Steinbeck introduces the character Tom Joad, a man that has recently released from jail and returns back home. On his way home he finds Reverend Casy, a man that used to be a preacher, which joins Tom in his Journey. Later Tom finds his family and realizes that they are going to California. It may be insignificant but Steinbeck at the beginning of the book introduce us one character. Which relates to the “I” form, but later the reader meets the whole family in which is the “We.” The
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Throughout the novel she emphasizes of the family being together and helping others. For example, she worried that Tom would never find them if they moved without him knowing “ ‘Well!’ she cried we come mighty near to going without ya. An’ we was wonderin’ how in the worl’ you could ever find us” (96).As the reader can clearly see Ma Joad Was worried about Tom not being able to see them which shows that she has a sense of the family being together.Which enforces Steinbeck’s idea of a family being united and working together. Also, Ma shows that people should support each other whether they blood related or people
The story is centered around two migrant farmers; Lennie, who has a mental disability, and George, who watches over and protects Lennie from getting into any trouble. One of the mens’ fellow workers, Curley, has a wife who is constantly ignored and discriminated against because of her gender. While attempting to reassure Lennie after the loss of his pup, Lennie repeatedly states that he must follow George’s orders and avoid talking to her. Frustrated, Curley’s wife begins to rant about her true feelings after stating “‘I get lonely’” (Steinbeck 87).
The quote describes Ma Joad as a strong, experienced, and protective woman who had gone through various situations, from tragic to happy. Going through the ‘steps,’ she had already learned how to stay calm in adverse situations and understand her relatives when they were suffering from food shortages. Ma Joad was strong, but not harsh, and knew how to accept the current situation and lead the family to a better life. Also, she was humble, had great dignity, which made herself as a strong, leading woman in her family. Steinbeck uses figurative language, especially imagery, to highlight her as a determined, and wise, but an innocent woman, and to symbolize her as a hard-working farmer who silently continue his or her life with
For example, both writers express ardent support for a simple, limited kind of government based only on individuals’ needs. Steinbeck describes how the families develop a “world” built with “their hearts and their brains,” meaning that the camp’s government depends on the will of each member (Steinbeck 267). In other words, their government is formed by the migrants and for the migrants, such that the makeshift state exists only to serve its people. This parallels Thoreau’s belief that a government’s power derives solely from the community that it governs. For it to be honorable and just, it should have “no pure right over [any] person or property but what [he or she] concede[s] to it” (Thoreau 14).
John Steinbeck’s classic novel, The Grapes of Wrath, explains the story of the Joad family while simultaneously dealing with eternal human issues. We open on Tom Joad, fresh out of prison, hitchhiking his way back home after killing a man with a shovel. From there we travel through ideas of religion, capitalism, xenophobia, and determination. As Tom begins walking home from where he was dropped off, he runs across his childhood preacher, alone and barefoot, and discusses ideas of human desire and sin within the church after learning that Casy is no longer a member. Continuing on his way home, Tom finds his family’s barn abandoned and his neighbors gone.
Intercalary Chapter Literary Analysis During the Great Depression, the nation as a whole was stripped of financial security and forced into a survivalist way of living. This changed the ways that people interacted with one another and the overall mentality of society. In the Grapes of Wrath, the Joad family is torn from their land and find themselves with nothing, a common story for migrant farmers of that time, derogatorily called “Okies” by Californians. But this is not the only group that is struggling, the entire county was in a state of panic and bruteness, no matter how “well off” they seemed to be.
One of the main symbols used to convey this would be through how Ma in the Joad family came to hold more power then Pa. During this time the men of the family were known for being the one in charge. They were the ones to make all the decisions and the rest of he family would follow him no matter his decisions. Steinbeck mentions the change of power from the Pa to Ma by saying “She seemed to know, to accept, to welcome her position, the citadel of the family, the strong place that could not be taken. And since old Tom and the children could not know hurt or fear unless she acknowledged hurt and fear, she had practiced denying them in herself.”
Today you will learn about how John Steinbeck symbolizes his characters like, George,Lennie, and Crooks. George cares about lennie because he traveled with him to the ranch. John Steinbeck wants the american dream to seem foolish because he has people talk about owning a ranch/ people lost all of their money. People lost all of their money do to the stock market crashes in 1926. George takes care of Lennie by making sure he has food in the woods/ “telling him where he needs to go to hide if he gets in trouble (15).”George tells Lennie to to stay away from Curley’s wife.
Set out on a journey to socialize with the American people, Steinbeck shows how people have the power to influence others, and for him, it is not always positive. One of Steinbeck’s first negative experiences is at a small restaurant in New England. After a distasteful attempt to converse with the lifeless waitress, Steinbeck makes a strong statement about all people. He says, “…one person can saturate a room with vitality, with excitement. Then there are others, and
Besides hope, family was the most important element that strived them through the hard times. It was the mean of survival and without each other, the Joads would have never been able to get to California. It tells us that family is a commodity that shouldn’t be given up on. As the book is read through, it is noticeable that Ma Joad is the one who always tries to keep the family together and is willing to accept new members to join the family. For example, Ma says “we don’t want you to go’way from us.
The spirit of unity emerges as the one unfailing source of strength in Steinbeck’s novel. He tries and accomplishes in conveying it to the reader, through imagery. On multiple accounts,
In specific, Steinbeck manipulates intercalary chapters, a robust narrative, and allusions in order to get his point that community is indispensable across. To begin, Steinbeck’s intercalary chapters abruptly halted the narrative, yet progressed the themes in a stunning manner. The turtle in chapter three is a delicate symbol and an excellent example of an intercalary chapter that moved the whole book, so to speak. Steinbeck leaves a whole chapter to describe a turtle for seemingly no apparent reason; nevertheless, when describing this turtle, he releases a powerful symbol that preys on the sympathy of the reader.
(Unique title) What makes a family a family? Families are all different. Having a family does not always include having both a mother and father. Sometimes having a family is a group of coworkers or friends from school.
The Joads find their motivation by helping each other through tough situations. Steinbeck shows the determination of the human spirit
Through using the farm to represent the American Dream, Steinbeck brings forward issues from difficulties the mentally ill have to prejudices against African Americans. Lennie’s illness did not take away from his quality of work, but other men’s attitudes towards him made keeping a job more difficult, hindering his American Dream. Lennie and George’s previous job had been at Weed until Lennie had gotten into trouble.
In The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck, the chapters alternate between two perspectives of a story. One chapter focuses on the tenants as a whole, while the other chapter focuses specifically of a family of tenants, the Joads, and their journey to California. Chapter 5 is the former and Steinbeck does an excellent job of omniscient third person point of view to describe the situation. Chapter 5’s main idea is to set the conflict and let the readers make connections between Steinbeck’s alternating chapters with foreshadowing. Steinbeck is effectual in letting readers make connections both to the world and the text itself with the use of exposition, and symbolism.