Rose of Sharon’s pregnancy is a symbol in the novel. In Chapter 30, in page 440-444, Rose gives birth to a stillborn baby. The pregnancy represents the prospects of new life, much like the life they could supposedly find in California.
In the Great Depression era novel The Grapes of Wrath John Steinbeck deploys descriptive language to convey Man’s perseverance. For example in chapter 3 Steinbeck describes Man’s perseverance by using a turtle and it struggles to represent the Joad family’s struggles. One can see Man’s perseverance when narrator states, “Now the hands, braced on top of the wall, strained and lifted, and the shell came slowly up and rested its front end on the wall.” In this passage the phrases “strained and lifted” and “came slowly up” evoke the reader's sense of struggle and hardship because the turtle is slowly lifting itself with all its might over a large obstacle. This dialogue also expresses life’s will to survive regardless of the
In the story Grapes of Wrath the author , John Steinbeck, includes the tale of a desert turtle crossing the street as a form of foreshadowing to the journey of the Joad family to California. The turtle’s tale opens with it crawling though the dead grass on its way to the other side of the street. This is comparable to the Joads while they were living in Oklahoma during the dust bowl because of the harsh conditions the Turtle is working though is much like the conditions the Joads are living in. Then the turtle encounters the sloped edge of the road and struggles to scale the hill much like the coming journey for the Joads. As they get further and further along their trip they get the harder it will probably get as their starting supplies and
The Grapes of Wrath portrays contemporary people 's actions during the long journey from Oklahoma to California. As Joad 's family travels from Oklahoma to California, their dreams and hopes are slowly crushed. When Joads struggle while facing difficulties, Ma plays a significant role: the citadel holding family all together in this hectic migration. Regardless of gender rules, Steinbeck demonstrates Ma as the real head of the household instead of Pa, driven by the responsibility and leadership within motherhood. Ma plays both mother and father figure which consequently might make Pa Joad as a useless character.
Not only does Rose of Sharon take on a responsible role within the Joad family, but she takes on the responsibility of a stranger. When the Joad family finds a barn to hide from the flood, they encounter a man dying of starvation. Rather than ignore the man, like she likely would have previously done, Rose of Sharon breastfeeds him. Steinbeck depicts the interaction between them in a caring tone: “Her hand moved behind his head and supported it. Her fingers moved gently in his hair” (455).
Rose of Sharon is similar to Mary in that in the beginning, she was naïve and even selfish, but as she grew older, and with the guiding hand of her mother, she too embraced her maternal instincts in the end, even though her beloved child did not survive the pregnancy. Ma Joad is challenged over and over and does anything she can do to just help her family get to California. This is evident as the family crosses the desert, on the verge of entering California. Granma passes away during this event, and Ma must mask her
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.
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.
In John Steinbeck’s novel, Of Mice and Men, Steinbeck displays the importance of hope throughout the story, and how hope makes life worth living. In of Mice and Men, George tells Lennie his story about how “Someday—we're gonna get the jack together and we're gonna have a little house and a couple of acres an' a cow and some pigs” (Steinbeck 14). This story seems to comfort Lennie whenever he is stressed or worried. Lennie's knows this story by heart, but he always has George tell it because “it ain’t the same if [Lennie] tells it” (Steinbeck 14). George and Lennie’s dream, in their mind, isn’t coming anytime soon, until Candy overhears them talking about it.
In chapter 8, pages 71-74, Tom Joad finally returns to his home after four years of imprisonment at McAlester, a state prison. Tom’s arrival causes his mother to react with happiness and surprise. Throughout the entire novel, Ma Joad is like a thread which holds the family together. She very rarely loses her composure, but her son’s arrival is one of the few occasions. In fact, “her hand sank slowly to her side and the fork clattered to the wooden floor” (Steinbeck 50), displaying her complete astonishment.
Ma and Rose of Sharon look at each other and they agree that Rose of Sharon should use her milk, that she doesn’t need because her baby was stillborn, and feed this old man. Everyone gets out of the barn, and she feeds him. Now the weirdest part of all is that while she is feeding him, she starts to smile a mysterious smile. There are so many things that are just not right in any
The tone of chapter 11 in John Steinbeck's, “The Grapes of Wrath,” is sympathetic, sad and hopeless. His word choice and syntax show how the sad houses were left to decay in the weather. His use of descriptive words paints a picture in the reader's mind. As each paragraph unfolds, new details come to life and adds to the imagery. While it may seem unimportant, this intercalary chapter shows how the effects of the great depression affected common households.
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.
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.
‘A Mother In A Refugee Camp’ is a tragic and emotive poem, written by Chinua Achebe. The poet describes the hardship of refugee camps and the difficulty of accepting the death of those you truly care about. The poem exemplifies this struggle by describing the mother’s love for the child through direct description of the “mother’s pride” and her “tenderness for” her son. The word “pride” makes her feelings clear and the use of the comparison to “Madonna and Child” amplifies her tenderness. The poet lists tactile imagery which emphasise the mother’s loving actions, “she had bathed him And rubbed him down with bare palms”.
