Ellie Nalaboff
Mrs. Byun
Ap English Language, P.4
27 May 2014
The Grapes of Wrath : Part 1
John Steinbeck wrote a very long novel consisting of thirty chapters. The total book has four hundred and sixtyfour pages including an introduction, a further to reading, notes, and of course the novel itself. As the story develops he introduces characters who go on a journey to
California to find work. In the fantastic story, he reveals characters in love, starvation, sickness, poverty, killing, death, and struggle throughout their adventure. In this long novel, Steinbeck reveals every little detail in chronological order to tell his story. Another technique he uses is his stream of consciousness. This is a sequence and repetition of Tom Joad's thoughts in the novel that are never interrupted by a random event. Overall, Steinbeck reveals a huge plot illustrating the hard life of workers in America and what they had to adapt to, but he also includes small multiple plots throughout the story such as bad economy, and family struggles. The time covered in this novel is about five years starting in the late 1930s. This is the time period of the
Great Depression where many Americans like the Joad family struggled with poverty and the disaster of the Dust Bowl. In the beginning of the book it starts off as the family is devastated by the dust that destroyed their crops. Tom is let out of jail and returns to his family to find out they are heading to California. The family is hopeful to find work, higher wage, and a better life in the west. Unfortunately, there dreams do not come true. By the end of the book many family members are dead, separated, or in hiding like Tom. Their hopes dwindle down as the book
Nalaboff 2 develops only to find more obstacles. The beginning and the end are the same because both have devastating situations, but are different because there is little hope left by the end of the book.
Steinbeck writes the