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Course Hero Literature Instructor Russell Jaffe provides an in-depth analysis of the plot, characters, symbols, and themes of John Steinbeck's novel The Grapes of Wrath.
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John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath is an indelible portrait of American agricultural life during the Dust Bowl 1930s.
Poor farming practices have left the formerly rich fields of the southern prairies desolate and unfarmable. Among the families affected are the Joads, who must leave their home in Oklahoma in hope of finding work in California.
Following a taxing journey across the country, they find that California is little better and must make ends meet as migrant workers. The Joads are tried and tested as their family is torn apart by poverty and instability.
They quickly realize they are among thousands of migrants flocking to California in search of work and housing, only to find that both are scarce, much to the pleasure of the big landowners.
To keep prices high, the big landowners destroy some of their crops instead of letting hungry migrants eat them. This waste and cruelty causes a "crop" to develop in the souls of the migrants—the grapes of wrath.
The jeremiad of the Joads is both an indictment of American class stratification and a testament to human resilience. It is filled with bleak images of one of the most devastating crises in American history alongside scenes of profound compassion and ingenuity.
American author John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath was first published in 1939. Steinbeck worked as a manual laborer during the 1920s, an experience that helped him portray migrant workers in The Grapes of Wrath. The book won the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award.
The novel The Grapes of Wrath contains many powerful themes, including selfishness versus kindness, seen in the selfishness of landowners and unselfishness of migrant workers; meekness versus wrath, seen in the power structure within which the characters must obey or rebel; and individuals versus community, seen in the characters who choose to follow their dreams and those who understand the bond of community. Powerful symbols include music, Rose of Sharon’s pregnancy, and the bank of monsters.
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