Grapes Of Wrath Analysis
There is something mysterious about the reason why people feel the need to look out for one another. In some cases, it is like humans feel a certain obligation of compassion. The Grapes of Wrath encourages this part of human nature. During the Joad’s westbound journey, the characters were held face to face with people who needed help just as much as they did. In this way, John Steinback presents the question: how can we as humans support the livelihood of one another? His answer is that humans must support each other’s livelihood by providing what others are deprived of. In the early chapters of the Grapes of Wrath, John Steinback wasted no time in describing in which way humans can provide for one another. Jim Casey had been roaming the farm lands for quite sometime, a-thinkin’ an’ a-wonderin’ about humans and God. However, over the years he had grown lonely. He
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needed to be around people as much as any natural preacher would. This is why he timidly asked the Joads if he could go along with them to California. He needed to “go where the folks is goin’...an maybe [he’ll] be happy” (pg. 94). Tom, who was in charge of the decision, saw that Casey was so desperate for human company he would travel all the way to California with a strange family, little money, and little chance of making it to the Promised Land. However, he was moved, and decided to provide for Casey’s need of companionship he so desperately wanted. All too often, humans face more than simply the problem of loneliness. They have not just loneliness, but a low self-esteem and are so enveloped in their despair, they cannot do anything besides mope with self-pity. This case appears in the story when Al and Tom go to a car garage in search for an essential engine part. When they get there, they meet a man with only one eye, who refused to make himself presentable. The entire time he moaned about how he would never be able to leave the shop and settle down because of the prejudice towards one-eyed people. After a while, Tom’s patience snapped and he retorted back to the mechanic, “Now look-a-here, fella. You got that eye wide open. An’ ya dirty, ya’ stink. Ya jus’ askin’ for it. Ya like it. Lets ya feel sorry for yaeself” (pg 179). One might wonder how this comment was supposed to provide for the livelihood of the mechanic. Tom did the very best think he could of done be telling the mechanic the hard truth about his condition.
In order to get his point across, Tom uses strong and somewhat condescending diction. The last line, “Lets ya feel sorry for yaeself” reveals the gritty truth about the mechanic. The mechanic isn’t in any trouble, he just needs to get over himself. Sometimes humans need other humans to give them a good smack in the face to get their head out of the raincloud. When situations are dire, the best humans come out of the blue. This happened for the Joads when the Wilsons offered Grampa their tent and quilt when he was having a stroke. He eventually died in their tent as well. The Wilsons were happy to provide for Grampa a place of security for him to die. They recognized death as an event in need of respect due to the life that had been lived. When Ma asked Mrs. Wilson why they had decided extend their hospitality, Mrs. Wilson replied, “We’re proud to help...people needs to help” (pg. 141). It is this quote of Mrs. Wilson’s, there is a meek urgency of the importance of helping and providing for the livelihood of others. Later on in the novel, Steinback demonstrates how humans can help provide for the livelihood of others by cutting them a break. The migrant people were all short on money. However, they still needed sustenance, no matter how meager. The chapter gives a scenario in which a man walks into to road-side dinner and asks the waitress if they could buy a loaf for ten cents instead of fifteen. Mae, they waitress, is insistent that they cannot make a purchase because it is too cheap and they might run out of bread before the next delivery. However, her husband hollers to his wife, “run out, then, goddamn it” (pg. 160). Reluctantly, she appeases her husband’s order. Al recognized that the human need for food is more important than an inconvenience for a business. Al put the humans first, and John Steinback is implying that the rest of the humans should all do the same. Discounting prices is one thing, giving away food when it is limited is another. This is just what Ma did when she saw the hungry children gather around her at Hooversville, and so she fed them the leftovers. Of course, Ma would just humbly say, “S’pose you was cookin’ a stew an’ a bunch a little ones stood aroun’ moonin’, what’d you do?” (pg. 259 ). From this quote, the reader gets an image of a little child, skinny as a string bean, staring wistfully at a pot of boiling stew. This scene also goes to show how imagery in the novel also helps promote the message of providing for others. Describing the children as “moonin’” provides a picture of a small child staring wistfully at the pot of boiling stew, as skinny as a string bean. If no one could picture what the children looked like, not seeing their suffering, they would not of cared as much. Thus is true in real life. Who really cares about an issue until they see it first hand? The epitome of caring for the livelihood of others comes at the last page of the last chapter of the Grapes of Wrath.
This is when Rose of Sharon gives her breast milk to an old dying man after her own child was a stillborn. All she did was “lay down beside him...loosened one side of the blanket and bared her breast” (pg 455). This is a fascinating conclusion to the Grapes of Wrath because this event symbolizes the familial bond of the human race, one of which that increases the responsibility and human obligation of providing for each other. Not only that, but Rose of Sharon is a phrase used in the Song of Solomon in the Bible, “I am a rose of Sharon, a lily of the valleys” (Sos 2:1). This book in the Bible refers to the holiness of matrimony and glorifies marital intimacy. This only emphasizes the symbolism of the breastfeeding because holy marital intimacy, in the eyes of the Christian faith, should lead to children, and who gets breastfed, children. The man is getting breastfed, and is therefore reduced to a childlike state. This then makes the image of the human family
complete.
John Steinback provides the reader with many more instances with how humans can care for each other, but represents most of the book concretely. To recap, John Steinback in his book, the Grapes of Wrath, answers the question of how humans can support the livelihood of another. He demonstrated that humans can provide for each other company, truth, respect for the dying, extending mercy, feeding the hungry, and treating each other like family. All in all, the Grapes of Wrath presents a beautiful message of human dignity that all should follow.
needed to be around people as much as any natural preacher would. This is why he timidly asked the Joads if he could go along with them to California. He needed to “go where the folks is goin’...an maybe [he’ll] be happy” (pg. 94). Tom, who was in charge of the decision, saw that Casey was so desperate for human company he would travel all the way to California with a strange family, little money, and little chance of making it to the Promised Land. However, he was moved, and decided to provide for Casey’s need of companionship he so desperately wanted. All too often, humans face more than simply the problem of loneliness. They have not just loneliness, but a low self-esteem and are so enveloped in their despair, they cannot do anything besides mope with self-pity. This case appears in the story when Al and Tom go to a car garage in search for an essential engine part. When they get there, they meet a man with only one eye, who refused to make himself presentable. The entire time he moaned about how he would never be able to leave the shop and settle down because of the prejudice towards one-eyed people. After a while, Tom’s patience snapped and he retorted back to the mechanic, “Now look-a-here, fella. You got that eye wide open. An’ ya dirty, ya’ stink. Ya jus’ askin’ for it. Ya like it. Lets ya feel sorry for yaeself” (pg 179). One might wonder how this comment was supposed to provide for the livelihood of the mechanic. Tom did the very best think he could of done be telling the mechanic the hard truth about his condition.
In order to get his point across, Tom uses strong and somewhat condescending diction. The last line, “Lets ya feel sorry for yaeself” reveals the gritty truth about the mechanic. The mechanic isn’t in any trouble, he just needs to get over himself. Sometimes humans need other humans to give them a good smack in the face to get their head out of the raincloud. When situations are dire, the best humans come out of the blue. This happened for the Joads when the Wilsons offered Grampa their tent and quilt when he was having a stroke. He eventually died in their tent as well. The Wilsons were happy to provide for Grampa a place of security for him to die. They recognized death as an event in need of respect due to the life that had been lived. When Ma asked Mrs. Wilson why they had decided extend their hospitality, Mrs. Wilson replied, “We’re proud to help...people needs to help” (pg. 141). It is this quote of Mrs. Wilson’s, there is a meek urgency of the importance of helping and providing for the livelihood of others. Later on in the novel, Steinback demonstrates how humans can help provide for the livelihood of others by cutting them a break. The migrant people were all short on money. However, they still needed sustenance, no matter how meager. The chapter gives a scenario in which a man walks into to road-side dinner and asks the waitress if they could buy a loaf for ten cents instead of fifteen. Mae, they waitress, is insistent that they cannot make a purchase because it is too cheap and they might run out of bread before the next delivery. However, her husband hollers to his wife, “run out, then, goddamn it” (pg. 160). Reluctantly, she appeases her husband’s order. Al recognized that the human need for food is more important than an inconvenience for a business. Al put the humans first, and John Steinback is implying that the rest of the humans should all do the same. Discounting prices is one thing, giving away food when it is limited is another. This is just what Ma did when she saw the hungry children gather around her at Hooversville, and so she fed them the leftovers. Of course, Ma would just humbly say, “S’pose you was cookin’ a stew an’ a bunch a little ones stood aroun’ moonin’, what’d you do?” (pg. 259 ). From this quote, the reader gets an image of a little child, skinny as a string bean, staring wistfully at a pot of boiling stew. This scene also goes to show how imagery in the novel also helps promote the message of providing for others. Describing the children as “moonin’” provides a picture of a small child staring wistfully at the pot of boiling stew, as skinny as a string bean. If no one could picture what the children looked like, not seeing their suffering, they would not of cared as much. Thus is true in real life. Who really cares about an issue until they see it first hand? The epitome of caring for the livelihood of others comes at the last page of the last chapter of the Grapes of Wrath.
This is when Rose of Sharon gives her breast milk to an old dying man after her own child was a stillborn. All she did was “lay down beside him...loosened one side of the blanket and bared her breast” (pg 455). This is a fascinating conclusion to the Grapes of Wrath because this event symbolizes the familial bond of the human race, one of which that increases the responsibility and human obligation of providing for each other. Not only that, but Rose of Sharon is a phrase used in the Song of Solomon in the Bible, “I am a rose of Sharon, a lily of the valleys” (Sos 2:1). This book in the Bible refers to the holiness of matrimony and glorifies marital intimacy. This only emphasizes the symbolism of the breastfeeding because holy marital intimacy, in the eyes of the Christian faith, should lead to children, and who gets breastfed, children. The man is getting breastfed, and is therefore reduced to a childlike state. This then makes the image of the human family
complete.
John Steinback provides the reader with many more instances with how humans can care for each other, but represents most of the book concretely. To recap, John Steinback in his book, the Grapes of Wrath, answers the question of how humans can support the livelihood of another. He demonstrated that humans can provide for each other company, truth, respect for the dying, extending mercy, feeding the hungry, and treating each other like family. All in all, the Grapes of Wrath presents a beautiful message of human dignity that all should follow.