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Teamwork In John Steinbeck's The Grapes Of Wrath

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As an astute philosopher once declared “The whole is greater than the sum of its parts” (Aristotle). This idea is called synergy and it means that teamwork leads to great benefits. This teamwork is demonstrated in the movie Dead Poet’s Society when Mr. Keating repeats “Or if you are slightly more daring O Captain, my Captain” (Dead Poets Society). He forces his class to work together and the results are astonishing. Characters in American literature do the same as they endure bad situations, which causes them to seek help from others and ultimately realize that they’re part of the oversoul. Those bad situations greatly impacted the characters and their actions. Seeking help was the only option after those situations occurred. After receiving …show more content…

Through this, the characters eventually seek help and companionship from family and friends. In The Grapes of Wrath migrants are forced out of their homes and move West in hopes of attaining a better life. When “a majority of the people are hungry and cold they will take by force what they need. And the screaming fact that sounds through history: repression works only to strengthen and knit the repressed. The great owners ignored the three cries of history. The land fell into fewer hands, the number of dispossessed increased, and every effort of the great owners was directed at repression” (Steinbeck, 249). Desperate times call for desperate measures and many migrants were forced to resort to crime. Wealthy land owners ignored the migrants, but bad situations bind them together and eventually they will become too strong and large to ignore. Alone the migrants are weak, but together they are unstoppable. In Catcher in the Rye, Holden faces a very different problem. His loneliness causes him to “trying to feel some kind of good-by. I mean I’ve left schools and places I didn't even know I was leaving them. I hate that. I don’t care if it’s a sad good-by or a bad good-by, but when I leave a place I like to know I’m leaving it. If you don’t, you feel even worse” (Salinger, 7). Holden has no one, or so he thinks. This leads to a very unhealthy mental state and almost causes Holden’s suicide. His family and friends are the only ones who can help him. Sadly, family couldn’t save Ashoke Ganguli. Ashima gets a horrible call with a nurse saying “‘I’m very sorry, ma’am,’ The young woman repeats. ‘We’ve been trying to reach you.’ And the the young woman tells her that the patient, Ashoke Ganguli, her husband, has expired” (Lahiri, 168). Ashoke’s death is irreversible, but leads to a reunion of their

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