Grapes Of Wrath Movie Analysis

Adapting a novel into a film is difficult, the director must analyze the book and pick what he/she wants to include in the film. In the film adaptation of The Grapes of Wrath, director John Ford attempts to turn 455 pages of the novel into a movie lasting no more than 2 hours. The first part of the film follows the book fairly closely and is very effective. However, the second half and the ending in particular are significantly different from the book and is not as effective.
The first part of the novel are very similar and the film is very effective in adapting the novel. In the film, Casy does not need to ask if he may join them, the family invites him to travel with them. It is actually Pa Joad, the one family member who worries most about
Even if it's no good, it's still ours." Though the novel's despair and determinism have been eliminated in the film, they have been replaced with saddening imagery of the landscape.
While the film is somewhat sad, it has a more hopeful and optimistic view than the novel, especially when the family lands at the camp provided by the government. The film emphasizes Ma’s hopeful way of dealing with their situation despite Tom's departure. Ivy and Sairy Wilson, who attend to Grampa's death and travel with the family until they reach California, are left out of the movie. Noah's departure from the family is passed over in the movie. In the book, Floyd tells Tom about how the workers were being exploited, but in the movie he does not appear until after the deputy arrives in Hooverville. Sandry, the religious fanatic who scares Rose of Sharon, is left out of the movie. The film uses visual imagery to focus on the Joads as a family unit, whereas the novel focuses on their journey as a part of the human family. Their farm is never shown in detail, and the family members are never shown actually working; not a single peach is shown in the entire film. This serves to focus the film on the