Theme Of Family In John Steinbeck's Grapes Of Wrath

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. 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

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. The kids are hungry all the time. We got no clothes, torn an' ragged. If all the neighbors weren't the same, we'd be ashamed to go to meeting.” (Pg 33). Farmers are trying to reason with the landowners, their whole community is out of money and are struggling to make a living. Grapes of Wrath show the unfair working situations that migrants face when they arrive in California. Land Owners are the most wealthy and powerful having the ability to pay their workers a poor wage. In the Grapes of Wrath, many Americans lose their homes, jobs and life savings, forcing them to move and leave behind their land in hopes of finding a prosperous place to live. The Great Depression (1929-1939) was the worst, deepest and longest lasting economic collapses in the industrialized western world. The Joad family is planning to move to California, but some of them have doubts and attachments that make them contemplate whether or not it is the right choice. The Joads find their motivation by helping each other through tough situations. Steinbeck shows the determination of the human spirit

The novel starts off with the Joads having to endure the effects of the Dust Bowl, which forces the family to move to California to start a new life. When they reach California, their hopes for a better life doesn’t fulfill their expectations. They end up having to face the troubles of social injustice. The family has to change the way they look at themselves because they no longer live a normal life.

John Ernst Steinbeck Jr wrote the novel The Grapes of Wrath which was a realistic novel based on trouble and hardships during the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl. The novel set during the Great Depression; the novel focuses on the Joads a low-income family of tenant farmers who was forced from their home in Oklahoma by drought economic hardship, technical changes, and the bank forecloses. The novel does not only show the trouble of the Great Depression, but it makes a connection which helps the audience understand Steinbeck's views on life. The novel and the speech helps us understand Steinbeck's view on the mistreatment of humanity to each other, selfishness, and religion.

Financial struggle is one of the world’s biggest problems today. The present isn’t the only time period the world has had this issue. Financial struggle has been a huge problem since the beginning of time, although the worst time would probably be during the time “Grapes of Wrath” is set in. During the late 1930’s was the “Depression Era” this was when many, many families had been in debt and couldn’t afford many things, including food. In the book “Grapes of Wrath”, the family who the book is focusing on is the Joads. They’re a big family who are also farmers, but not for long when the dust bowl hits their land. Their crops are destroyed and covered in a layer of dust. The family doesn’t have enough money to regrow their crops or buy a new

The upper and lower-class have had the longest damaging social divide throughout history which was caused by the upper-class living a lavish lifestyle while their social counterparts went through new struggles every day. The upper-class has ownership and bosses the working class around, while the lower-class is forced to accept the low-paying jobs the owners offer. In The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck, the migrants face several hardships on their journey to California, and also struggle to obtain daily necessities as a result of not having jobs. The Joads, the family seen throughout the book, come across numerous difficulties due to the lack of job opportunities. For instance, when the Joads are provided with jobs to pick cotton or jobs

In the book “The Grapes of Wrath”. John Steinbeck, an American author, asserts the idea that going through hard times can show the meaninglessness of traditional family structures/gender roles through the character Ma. He first supports this claim by showing when the men make a decision but Ma rebels and ultimately makes the choice. “‘I tell you, you got to go. We made up our mind’. And now Ma’s mouth set hard. She said softly, ‘On’y way you gonna get me to go is whip me.’” (230) It shows how Ma is against the mens’ decision because she doesn’t want to split up the family and she knows that would make everything harder than it already is. Next, “The eyes of the whole family shifted back to Ma. She was the power. She had taken control.” (231) This is when Ma ultimately realizes that she has power and can make decisions without the men. “Pa’s lost his place. He ain’t the head no more.” (536) This quote shows additional explanation to how the gender role can change under stress and pressure.

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

Farm life completely transforms in Chapter 19. It is no longer depicted as a way of living, but rather as a way of survival. This change ultimately leads to the themes of greed and fear that are portrayed throughout the rest of the novel. As more families continue to migrate into California, the locals become more alert. Who are these new people coming onto our land; what do they want; how will it affect us all? These questions linger through the Californians’ minds. Okies and migrants are consistently treated with hostility and resentment by the locals. Most of them are shovelled off into Hoovervilles, which are the settling grounds for homeless migrants who were fooled by the “promise” of California. The three great facts of history mentioned in The Grapes of Wrath are: property is taken away

John Steinbeck’s Grapes of Wrath illustrates the story of Tom Joad during the Great Depression on his journey to California to find work and to find himself. Two men, Patrick Shaw and Joseph Campbell, use different tactics to portray his different stages of life. Although their structure of his journey contrast, their overall ideas seem to align. Shaw’s idea of Tom Joad’s psychological development and Campbell’s idea of the monomyth both describe a journey of Tom from the time he is released from prison to the time he returns home from California in which he is struggling to find his purpose in the world.

The Dust Bowl refers to the time of a severe drought that stirred up windy dust storms in the midwestern states of the United States during the 1930s. This disaster destroyed crops, job opportunities, and farms which led to the migration of thousands of farmers and their families from the Great Plains to the west coast. The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck illustrates the Joad family trying to escape from the devastating effects of the Dust Bowl during the 1930s. “Gastonia’s tragic 1929 strike gets deeper look” from The Charlotte Observer portrays the story of a famous union activist named Ella May Wiggins who was killed at the age of 29 during her fight towards justice for wages and working conditions during Gastonia’s 1929 Loray Mill strike. The Grapes of Wrath and “Gastonia’s tragic 1929 strike gets deeper look” both relate stories of people striking for justice of workers like Jim Casy and Ella May Wiggins did but were later killed while fighting for the cause, the stories portray women acting as leaders like both Ma Joad and Ella May Wiggins did repeatedly, and they also reveal the death of sick babies like Rose of Sharon’s child and Ella May Wiggins’ child.

John Steinbeck’s novel, The Grapes of Wrath, illuminates the despairing and depressing conditions the American farm families in Oklahoma had to go through during the Dust Bowl era from late 1920’s to early 1930’s. The novel depicts Steinbeck’s fanaticism of the land, hatred towards the corporeality, and his belief that people can survive the cruel influence of their surroundings. Steinbeck accomplishes the following by illustrating the life of the Joad as well as by using various types of symbolisms throughout his novel. According to Oxford Dictionaries, “a symbol is a thing that represents or stands for something else, especially a material object representing something abstract.” The three symbols in Steinbeck’s novel include the dust, the

In “The Grapes of Wrath”, John Steinbeck developed Ma Joad as the matriarchal hero of the story. Ma Joad exhibited her matriarchal heroism in many ways throughout the story. She endowed people with hope, took on leadership roles, and kept the family bonded together.

Quality of success is determined by effort and influences. John Steinbeck’s life was set on track at a young age. He had always had a passion for writing so he dedicated his life to it. Throughout his writing career he had his own personal strengths and weaknesses.

John Ernst Steinbeck Jr was born in 1902 in Salinas, California, to a teacher and a