Grapes Of Wrath Setting Analysis
Brydie Jones b block English summer reading paragraphs
Setting in The Grapes of Wrath Some ask why is the setting of the book so important? Well would Lord of the Rings be so dramatic if it were set in Atlanta? Or would Gone With The Wind have the same story line if it were not set during the Civil war? The setting is equally important in John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath which is set first in Oklahoma, then to route 66, and finally in California during the 1930s. The exact location is Sallisaw, Oklahoma, to be exact, which is mainly a corn farming city but, because of the Dust bowl, the town now grows corn. I find Oklahoma to be an important setting in the book for many reasons because it holds a lot of symbolic features in it. In the beginning of the story, Tom Joad, …show more content…
the protagonist, has just been released from jail and is returning home to his family. While riding in a truck with a truck driver Tom finds a cricket and he , "crushed it's hard skull-like head with his fingers, and he let it into the wide stream out the window"(Steinbeck 12).
I think this represents how the big farm owners don't care about their workers who labor for them and how easy it is to dispose of one worker with just a flick of the wrist. After Tom is dropped off at his family's house, he comes across a turtle that, in the previous chapter, had just been run over by a truck. The turtle represents the Joad family. The turtle just keeps trying to cross the road but is hindered by a continuing onslaught of cars and is finally stopped by Tom. The Joad family is even more determined than this turtle when they move out West and, like the turtle's hard shell, use each other for support and protection. The beginning of the book also talks a lot about the color gold and yellow, possibly representing wealth and prosperity before the Dust Bowl, and then after the terrible dust storm, the colors red and gray are used to describe the blood and pain put into the land and how it was all wasted. Tom eventually finds his family and after loading up there car, head west to California. So not only was Oklahoma important because it has a lot of symbolic features but it is also
important because this was where the family lived for many generations and they had to leave it.
Why The Grapes of Wrath?
When I am at Borders looking for a good book I always end up in the fiction section. That section is obviously too broad so how do I pick out a book from there? I always look for an intriguing title and an exciting cover. The Grapes of Wrath is one of those books that makes you ask why the author gave the book that title. I didn't quite understand until I read it in context towards the end of the book. In chapter 25, the book talks about how the farmers in California have such great produce such as cherries and oranges because they spray the fields, work the fields, put their life into the fields. The problem is they would be losing money from selling their produce. The Great Depression caused the prices in shipping to rise and the prices in produce to fall, so the farmers would actually lose money when selling their product. The food is then left to rot because it is the cheapest thing to do. The poor try to take this rotting food because nobody else is doing anything with it. So the farmers have to destroy there own produce with kerosene and slaughter their pigs. This plants seeds of hate in the souls of people and the seeds of hate turn into grapes of wrath. The farmers are angry at the bigger farms because they have put their life into their farms only to have it literally go into flames in front of them. They watch as the bigger farms that own there own canneries make it while they slowly die. The poor are angry because they see the food go to waste, they don't have jobs, and they don't have any money. "In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage."(Steinbeck 349). This is the most powerful line of the book in my opinion. This is where Steinbeck shows how truly frustrated he is with the workers conditions in California. The chapter also shows how strong the Joad family is. Many seeds of hate have been planted in them like when the used car salesman cheated the family or when the Joads lost their house. The seeds of hate that were planted in the Joad family never grew because the family kept each other strong through all of their turmoil. The main reason Steinbeck wrote this book was not just to talk about the Dust Bowl period in America. Steinbeck also wanted show how the small farms and the poor were being oppressed by the bigger farms. He also wanted to show how the workers were being treated in California and he wanted to put a stop to it. This chapter not only describes the whole purpose of this book, but also explains the meaning of the title.
Setting in The Grapes of Wrath Some ask why is the setting of the book so important? Well would Lord of the Rings be so dramatic if it were set in Atlanta? Or would Gone With The Wind have the same story line if it were not set during the Civil war? The setting is equally important in John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath which is set first in Oklahoma, then to route 66, and finally in California during the 1930s. The exact location is Sallisaw, Oklahoma, to be exact, which is mainly a corn farming city but, because of the Dust bowl, the town now grows corn. I find Oklahoma to be an important setting in the book for many reasons because it holds a lot of symbolic features in it. In the beginning of the story, Tom Joad, …show more content…
the protagonist, has just been released from jail and is returning home to his family. While riding in a truck with a truck driver Tom finds a cricket and he , "crushed it's hard skull-like head with his fingers, and he let it into the wide stream out the window"(Steinbeck 12).
I think this represents how the big farm owners don't care about their workers who labor for them and how easy it is to dispose of one worker with just a flick of the wrist. After Tom is dropped off at his family's house, he comes across a turtle that, in the previous chapter, had just been run over by a truck. The turtle represents the Joad family. The turtle just keeps trying to cross the road but is hindered by a continuing onslaught of cars and is finally stopped by Tom. The Joad family is even more determined than this turtle when they move out West and, like the turtle's hard shell, use each other for support and protection. The beginning of the book also talks a lot about the color gold and yellow, possibly representing wealth and prosperity before the Dust Bowl, and then after the terrible dust storm, the colors red and gray are used to describe the blood and pain put into the land and how it was all wasted. Tom eventually finds his family and after loading up there car, head west to California. So not only was Oklahoma important because it has a lot of symbolic features but it is also
important because this was where the family lived for many generations and they had to leave it.
Why The Grapes of Wrath?
When I am at Borders looking for a good book I always end up in the fiction section. That section is obviously too broad so how do I pick out a book from there? I always look for an intriguing title and an exciting cover. The Grapes of Wrath is one of those books that makes you ask why the author gave the book that title. I didn't quite understand until I read it in context towards the end of the book. In chapter 25, the book talks about how the farmers in California have such great produce such as cherries and oranges because they spray the fields, work the fields, put their life into the fields. The problem is they would be losing money from selling their produce. The Great Depression caused the prices in shipping to rise and the prices in produce to fall, so the farmers would actually lose money when selling their product. The food is then left to rot because it is the cheapest thing to do. The poor try to take this rotting food because nobody else is doing anything with it. So the farmers have to destroy there own produce with kerosene and slaughter their pigs. This plants seeds of hate in the souls of people and the seeds of hate turn into grapes of wrath. The farmers are angry at the bigger farms because they have put their life into their farms only to have it literally go into flames in front of them. They watch as the bigger farms that own there own canneries make it while they slowly die. The poor are angry because they see the food go to waste, they don't have jobs, and they don't have any money. "In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage."(Steinbeck 349). This is the most powerful line of the book in my opinion. This is where Steinbeck shows how truly frustrated he is with the workers conditions in California. The chapter also shows how strong the Joad family is. Many seeds of hate have been planted in them like when the used car salesman cheated the family or when the Joads lost their house. The seeds of hate that were planted in the Joad family never grew because the family kept each other strong through all of their turmoil. The main reason Steinbeck wrote this book was not just to talk about the Dust Bowl period in America. Steinbeck also wanted show how the small farms and the poor were being oppressed by the bigger farms. He also wanted to show how the workers were being treated in California and he wanted to put a stop to it. This chapter not only describes the whole purpose of this book, but also explains the meaning of the title.