ipl-logo

The Grapes Of Wrath Chapter 5 Analysis

735 Words3 Pages

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. Chapter 5 is about the unfair hand the farmers get because property owners that took their land and essentially told them to get out. The farmers are left with no choice because they can’t fight the bank. Since there are no actual characters, unlike the other chapters, Steinbeck organizes the chapter to be told third-person omniscient. Rather than focus on the characters, Steinbeck directs the reader’s attention to the situation and the events that take place. It’s his excellent use of exposition that adds to the true story of the Grapes of Wrath: the Joad …show more content…

Steinbeck makes a peculiar description of the tractors, “ The tractors came over the roads and into the fields, great crawlers moving like insects, having the incredible strength of insects.” (Pg. 47) By describing the tractors as pests or insects, Steinbeck makes a subtle allusion to the biblical story where God lashes his wrath and might on the Egyptians for not freeing the Jews. God plagues the Egyptians with an infestation that destroyed their crops and starved them. Moreover, God, himself, is also an important use of symbolism. The farmers acknowledge that God cursed them with tragedies. This could be tied to Casy’s turmoil with his

Show More
Related

  • Intercalary Chapters In The Grapes Of Wrath

    498 Words  | 2 Pages

    Symbols are often characters, animals, objects, and or actions. In The Grapes of Wrath, a symbol that I first came across when reading was the turtle that was trying to continue its journey in the rough terrain. It was run over by a truck, that threw it on to the other side of the road and it still got up and continued its way. The turtle directly symbolizes the Joad’s. Like the turtle, the Joad’s are thrown off track by the harsh environment, but continue on their journey through the hardship.

    Read More

  • Foreshadowing In The Grapes Of Wrath

    859 Words  | 4 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Grapes Of Wrath Literary Analysis

    1639 Words  | 7 Pages

    During the great depression, the midwest underwent a long drought. Exposed dry earth swept away with the wind and caused huge dust storms that prolonged the dry weather. With the lowered selling prices and the lack of crops the farmers had some major economic trouble. In Black Blizzard and John Steinbeck 's Grapes of Wrath, the literature develops the ideas of the poor distribution of wealth within the populations and the social aspects of people of different economic class. Social differences arise in the wealthy, the employed, and the unemployed throughout this period of hardship.

    Read More

  • Literary Analysis: The Grapes Of Wrath

    1880 Words  | 8 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • The Role Of Oppression In John Steinbeck's The Grapes Of Wrath

    168 Words  | 1 Pages

    In The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck follows the Joad family as they suffer the hardships caused by the Dust Bowl in the 1930’s. The most important lesson people can learn from the novel is the value of a human life. Although the 1930’s was a low point in American society, the ill-treatment of human beings is still relevant today. Just like Jim Casy’s philosophy, it is important to fight for the rights of the people and their dignity. There are several examples of oppression in The Grapes of wrath.

    Read More

  • Archetypes In The Grapes Of Wrath

    766 Words  | 4 Pages

    It’s difficult to get kicked out of a land you have lived in for so long and end up having nowhere to go. In this novel, Grapes of Wrath, written by John Steinbeck, shows Tom Joad’s journey with his family to a new place where they've never been. They travel from Oklahoma to California and encounter a lot of hardship. Tom Joad is the main character in the story and is portrayed in the beginning as someone who can’t control their anger. He shows development in managing his anger issues as a result of his family’s unwavering emotional support.

    Read More

  • Allusions In The Grapes Of Wrath

    961 Words  | 4 Pages

    Through out the novel, the character of Jim Casy is vital to providing hope and a new outlook of like to the Joad family. In one sense Jim Casy could be tied to Moses who guided thousands of people out of slavery from Egypt. This could be compared to Jim Casy guiding the Joads by providing them a way out of the famine and hard times and just into California. Once the Joads get a clear picture of what they need to do he disappears, but comes back when they are once again in a dire situation. “Somebody got to take the blame.

    Read More

  • Diction In The Grapes Of Wrath

    596 Words  | 3 Pages

    Namely, a chapter called route 66. Figurative language such as diction is used to highlight how little the migrants truly had, this chapter exposes imbalances of society. For instance in this chapter it says (in reference to the migrants) “ And the good earth that had borne them, strengthened them, was their only possession. For a man who had nothing, possessing nothing was difficult too.”

    Read More

  • Quotes From The Grapes Of Wrath

    749 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the book The Grapes of Wrath, it portrays many of the experiences being lived in the Great Depression and the Dust bowl. But, it also portrays some of the many lives being lived in the modern age today. The book makes a powerful draw to many of the readers due to the fact that America was once in this position; that almost every family was in this position during the Great Depression. Even today in the modern age, most of readers have been through the struggles of trying to survive or what their family members had to do for a better life. The book gives a lot of connection and shows deep meaning that people understand the most.

    Read More

  • Grapes Of Wrath Book Review

    2198 Words  | 9 Pages

    This story reveals all the difficulties and all of the suffering proceeding of many of the migrant laborers during the Great Depression and also the Dust Bowl. The novel by Steinbeck has been written to criticize many of the careless and self-interested people and overly important corporate and banking elites for trying to increase their profit policies that would ultimately force many of the farmers to suffer and go through major tribulations. Through these careless actions many of these farmers had to go through things such as starving. It is a very well written political piece, it describes the actions by the lower classes in a great way. As the Grape of Wrath begins, the Joad family is a very traditional family and the structure of the family is in which where the men make the decisions and the women do as they are told.

    Read More

  • Ending In John Steinbeck's The Grapes Of Wrath

    953 Words  | 4 Pages

    Since the book came out in 1939, everyone has had a opinion on the ending to John Steinbeck’s Grapes of Wrath. It has a very controversial ending, that Steinbeck thought would name the last nail into the coffin, so to speak, on how bad the dust bowl and moving west really was. The ending starts when the Joad family is threatened with a flood, so they make their way to a old barn where they find a boy and his old father. The boy says his father is starving, and that he can’t keep anything solid down. He needs something like soup or milk.

    Read More

  • The Grapes Of Wrath Chapter 11 Analysis

    294 Words  | 2 Pages

    His use of imagery shows the reader the aftermath of the great depression was not complete destruction, but slow rusting and weathering. For example, in the second paragraph of chapter 11, Steinbeck uses this to describe the situations the vacant homes would encounter, “The doors of the

    Read More

  • Grapes Of Wrath Rhetorical Analysis Essay

    1177 Words  | 5 Pages

    John Steinbeck has a style of writing unparalleled in history and in the modern world. In the same way, his philosophies are also unparalleled, with his focus in socialism not extending to communism or abnegation of spiritualism. His ideal world is utopian, holding the dust bowl migrant at the same level as the yeoman farmer was held in Jeffersonian times. In The Grapes of Wrath Steinbeck Steinbeck, who posses impregnable technique, conveys his message of a group working tirelessly for the betterment of the community.

    Read More

  • The Grapes Of Wrath American Dream Analysis

    487 Words  | 2 Pages

    The term “American dream” was coined in 1931 by James Adams. It is defined as the dream of a land where life is fuller and richer for everyone. This dream has been shared by millions of people all over the world since America was discovered. People such as European immigrants, and even people born in the Americas who wanted to expand west. The Joad family’s journey is a prime example of the determinism families had to try to live the American dream.

    Read More

  • The Upper Class In John Steinbeck's The Grapes Of Wrath

    451 Words  | 2 Pages

    Grapes of Wrath clearly illustrate the class struggle between workers and the upper class. Steinbeck displays the discrimination between the migrant people and landowners. Migrant workers are handled worse than animals, family’s or “Okies” are starving as food is wasted by the wealthy and the landowners maintain control through violence. “What do you want us to do? We can't take less share of the crop – we're half starved now.

    Read More

More about The Grapes Of Wrath Chapter 5 Analysis

Open Document