Grapes of Wrath Rhetorical Strategies

The Nobel Prize winner for literature, John Steinbeck, in his novel, The Grapes of Wrath, illustrates the hardships of the migrant farmers as they moved from their homes. Steinbeck’s purpose is to establish how much the Joads and other migrant farmer families struggled during their journey and to . Through the use of personification, allusions and symbols, Steinbeck successfully gets his message across to his readers.
As Uncle John makes his way down to the “boiling stream”, he finds a spot and puts down the apple box. Uncle john fiercely tells the apple box to ,” Go down an’ tell ‘em. Go down in the street an’ rot an’ tell ‘em that way. That’s the way you can talk.” Even though Uncle John and the family know the box and whoever is in the box cannot talk, they know that it will spread their message. Whoever finds the box will see the devastation and struggle of the migrant farmers lives. Steinbeck and the Joads all hope to spread their message. Steinbeck alludes to the story of Moses in this section. He uses the apple box going down the river to send the readers a image of hope. Moses’ mother sent him down the Nile River, as a newborn baby, for an opportunity to survive the Egyptians. As John sends the apple box down the river, he tells it, “Go down an’ tell ‘em. Go down in the street an’ rot an’ tell ‘em that way. That’s the way you can talk.” The body in the box is a symbolic message that the migrant’s people are suffering. This relates to how Moses was sent down the river because his people were also suffering.
In order for Uncle John to bury the applebox, he must walk ,”down the highway,” and climb ,”the slippery bank,”. Steinbeck uses the highway to symbolize the long journey of the migrant farmers. For Uncle John, walking to the highway and to the stream is a difficult journey, just like the migrant farmers difficult journey of leaving their farms and homes. At the end of the slippery bank, Uncle John will bury the apple box in the