The Grapes of Wrath: A Warning to the System
Sanchez 1
Hannah Sanchez
AP Lang
Koops
21 January 2015
The Grapes of Wrath: A Warning to the System
In Chapter 25 of the novel The Grapes of Wrath, author John Steinbeck creates and shifts tone to show the failure of the economic system and how that failure causes people’s anger anger to grow inside them, like grapes, growing ripe for harvest.
At the beginning of the chapter, the tone is positive. He describes California in the spring, using positive diction such as “beautiful” and “full green hills” (Paragraph 1). He also describes all of the crops, how the tree limbs “bend gradually under the fruit” because there is so much of it. Steinbeck makes nature seem perfect; the hills are “round and soft as breasts” and the men are
“of understanding and knowledge” (paragraphs 2 and 3). He creates a sense of hope which is only to be destroyed later on in the chapter. In paragraph 5, the fruit begins to ripen. This is when money is introduced: “Hell, we can’t pick ‘em for that.” Right away, with the introduction of money, the tone shifts from positive to negative. Words such as “hell” and colors like “black” and “red” are used. The reason for this shift in tone is because the starving people are angry because there is an over abundance of food that is just being wasted. Paragraph 12 simply says
“And the smell of rot fills the country.” This describes all of the wasted food, the word “rot” insinuates that the economic system stinks.
Sanchez 2
The last few paragraphs are a warning to the system. In paragraph 13, Steinbeck uses parallelism: “Burn coffee for fuel in the ships … [s]laughter the pigs and bury them” (paragraph
13). He does this to emphasize how this was deliberately being done just so a profit could be made. He writes about how crime “goes beyond denunciation” (paragraph 14). People are so desperate for food that they are willing to do anything to get it. Children die because “a profit cannot be taken from an orange.” All of
Hannah Sanchez
AP Lang
Koops
21 January 2015
The Grapes of Wrath: A Warning to the System
In Chapter 25 of the novel The Grapes of Wrath, author John Steinbeck creates and shifts tone to show the failure of the economic system and how that failure causes people’s anger anger to grow inside them, like grapes, growing ripe for harvest.
At the beginning of the chapter, the tone is positive. He describes California in the spring, using positive diction such as “beautiful” and “full green hills” (Paragraph 1). He also describes all of the crops, how the tree limbs “bend gradually under the fruit” because there is so much of it. Steinbeck makes nature seem perfect; the hills are “round and soft as breasts” and the men are
“of understanding and knowledge” (paragraphs 2 and 3). He creates a sense of hope which is only to be destroyed later on in the chapter. In paragraph 5, the fruit begins to ripen. This is when money is introduced: “Hell, we can’t pick ‘em for that.” Right away, with the introduction of money, the tone shifts from positive to negative. Words such as “hell” and colors like “black” and “red” are used. The reason for this shift in tone is because the starving people are angry because there is an over abundance of food that is just being wasted. Paragraph 12 simply says
“And the smell of rot fills the country.” This describes all of the wasted food, the word “rot” insinuates that the economic system stinks.
Sanchez 2
The last few paragraphs are a warning to the system. In paragraph 13, Steinbeck uses parallelism: “Burn coffee for fuel in the ships … [s]laughter the pigs and bury them” (paragraph
13). He does this to emphasize how this was deliberately being done just so a profit could be made. He writes about how crime “goes beyond denunciation” (paragraph 14). People are so desperate for food that they are willing to do anything to get it. Children die because “a profit cannot be taken from an orange.” All of