Grapes Of Wrath Summary

The Grapes of Wrath
By: John Steinbeck
John Steinback wrote The Grapes of Wrath; a fictional novel based on real happenings. The novel took place after the Dust Bowl during the Great Depression. The journey of the Joad family began on their land in Oklahoma, and then they migrated to California on Route 66. In California, they moved from place to place; they were not stable in one area.
The book tells the story of the Joad family’s hardships during their migration to California and the trouble they faced in the prosperous state. The Joad family was consisted of Grampa Joad, Granma Joad, Uncle John Joad, Pa Joad, Ma Joad, Noah Joad, Tom Joad, Rose of Sharon, Al Joad, Ruthie Joad, Winfield Joad, Connie, and a friend, Jim Casy. The story’s protagonist, Tom Joad, was
favored by Ma and Pa Joad. Although, he had killed a man, he was good natured and will criticize anyone who complained. He was respected in the family and turned into a provider for the family’s survival. Pa Joad was a tenant farmer, who had been forced off his land. Therefore, he took his family to California to earn a living to provide for his family. However, because of the mass amount of people in California wanting jobs, he was unable to find work. This lead him to Ma Joad for strength and decisions. Ma Joad was the mother of the family – the stronghold. She served for her family’s well-being and will not let the family separate. Al Joad was a sixteen year old, who had nothing but cars and girls on his mind. He was extremely cocky, but he took really good car of the family’s truck. Throughout the book he matured mentally. Rose of Sharon was the wife of Connie. An unreasonable, irritable, selfish young woman was pregnant with her first child, who later gave birth to as a stillborn.
She made plans with Connie about living in the city; however, the harsh surroundings of California lead her to do away with her unrealistic dream. Also, because of the harsh surroundings Connie drifted away from the family which only hurts no one other than Rose of Sharon. Like Al Joad, she too matured mentally. The youngest of the Joad family were Ruthie and Winfield. They had a very strong relationship; they were very dependent on one another. Ruthie was the stronger of the two. Winfield was the youngest who became ill, but became well soon after. Uncle John was the older brother of Pa Joad. He was carrying sin with him, because he did not call for the doctor when his wife had a stomachache for what she soon died of. Noad Joad was the oldest child of Ma and Pa Joad. Noah was a quite odd, because of his deformity from birth. He left the family at the Colorado River feeling neglected by his parents. Grampa Joad was the founder of the Joad farm. He had a very violent temper with a sinful tongue. The family forced him off the land with which he is strongly attached to, and soon after Grampa died. Granma Joad was a pious
Christian. Once Granpa died, her own health started to terminate. She died soon after the family reached California. Jim Casy was a former preacher. He did not preach, but listened to his surrounding from which he learned greatly. He went to jail for Tom Joad, who hit a police. Later he organized a strike and was killed. The characters of The Grapes of Wrath were dynamic differentiated individuals.
The Grapes of Wrath began with Tom Joad’s perspective. He had just gotten out of jail for manslaughter and was returning home to his family’s farm in Oklahoma. On his journey home, he met a former preacher, Jim Casy, who tagged along with Tom Joad. When he reached home, he found his family packing to migrate to California in search of work, because they were being forced off their land. They traveled to California in a jalopy. The Joad family forced Granpa Joad off the land and died shortly after the departure for California. The Wilsons helped the Joad family during Granpa’s end and burial; they tagged along with the Joads to California until they reached the Colorado River. At the Colorado River, Noah Joad drifted away from his family. Once the family reached California, Granma died; her health was declining soon after Granpa died. At the Joad family’s first stay at a Hooverville, Connie abandoned the Joad family and Rose of Sharon; he was not able to stand the harsh environments of the prosperous state. The newcomer migrants faced hostility, hunger, and no work in California. At the Hooverville, Jim Casy went to jail for Tom Joad, who tripped a California police. Because the Hooverville was going to be burned, the Joads migrated to a government camp. The Joads felt most welcomed and like human beings at the camp. However, only Tom was able to find work. Because of the lack of jobs for the other family members, they once moved to a peach farm, where the entire family found work. On the first day at the peach farm, there was some commotion outside of the camp and curious Tom went to go investigate. However, Tom returned home with a bruised lip, broken nose and cheek bone; he had ran into Jim Casy who was organizing a riot, because of the low wages for picking peaches. A police officer shot Jim Casy, which lead Tom Joad in killing the man and becoming wounded himself. The next day after the riot, prices returned to a lower wage, and the Joad family migrated into a boxcar on a cotton farm. The Joad family worked in the cotton fields, while Tom went into hiding, because his face would raise questions. One day, Ruthie revealed to another girl that her older brother killed two men. This lead to Ma Joad finding Tom and sending him away, before he was founded. The land was flooded with rain and the cotton season had ended meaning no work. Rose of Sharon gave birth to a stillborn. The Joad family has still to become stabilized in a flourishing state; they faced many problems, and migrated from one place to another, still searching, still hoping.
Steinbeck wrote the book to reflect on the migrants migrating to California. He wanted to show the hardships that the tenant farmers faced during the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl. The bank forced the tenant farmers off their land, which lead them to journey to California in search of work – in search of money. However, there was thousands of families jobless wanting work. Because of the amount of people working, the wages decreased; the families could not support themselves from the low income. It was simple economics – the circular flow of money acting throughout the business cycle – the roaring twenties was a boom in the economy, which lead to a recession, and later a weak depression – The Great Depression.