Summary And Symbolism In The Grapes Of Wrath

The Grapes of Wrath
Jail
In the beginning of the book, Tom is released from his prison in Oklahoma. The prison is symbolic of the struggle the lack of freedom that the Joad’s have throughout this story. They have no choice but to go to California to try to weak land, like people have no choice what they do in jail. (66 words)

Dying Crops
In this story, dying crops symbolized the loss of hope. Thousands of people relied on there fields to live and once they were taken away, they either died or had to move. Crops also represent food in this story which is very hard to come by. Having no food constantly reminds the family of having no hope. (65 words)

The Turtle
The turtle crossing the street symbolizes the difference in peoples personalities.

From the first time Tom sees him, he feels a sense of things being normal again. When he comes along later in the book, he dies for his cause and gives Tom a reason to fight on. (52 words)

Banks
The banks throughout this story represent a bully to the people of Oklahoma. The returns from the farmers are not high enough and the banks do not care what happens to the people. They just care about the wellbeing of themselves. This causes people to leave the area, like a playground bully would do on the playground. (60 words)

California
California in this story represents prosperity for the people. The goal for everyone throughout the story is to make it to California for land and jobs. Later in the story, the Joad family finds out that California is just as bad as things were back in Oklahoma. (54 words)

Cars
Cars in this story represent a new life for the people. Once they get a car, they can drive wherever they want to change their lives. This causes people in the story to associate cars with the chance of starting a new life for them and their families. (50 words)

The brown color is associated with dead crops and other dead things throughout the story. As the people were forced to leave, the crops died and the food supply went down immensely. This caused famine throughout the area which lead to death. (53 words)

Gold
California is also known as the golden state due to significant gold deposits found in there during the 1800’s. The main focus of the Joad family throughout this book was to get to Calirfonia. Even though they didn't think anything of the color gold, it was an important color to the story (55 words)

Red
The color red in the story symbolizes the love of the Joad family, both for each other and for the land they grew up on. The grandpa had such a hard time leaving the land that he owned that he had to be drugged by the family. Red also represents the love for the family and how Tom, the family leader, will do anything to feed them and keep them safe. (58