Book Intro
The Grapes of Wrath is a novel written by John Steinbeck. The novel follows one family as they navigate the fallout from the Dust Bowl of the 1930s. Nearly penniless and with no direction, the family sets out on the now-historic Route 66 to California, in hopes of finding high-paying work so that they can begin again. Rooted in gritty realism, The Grapes of Wrath speaks to the far-reaching effects of greed and corruption trickling down to destroy working-class (in this case farmers).
The novel is told by a third person omniscient narrator and follows the Joad family as they search for a life of value and meaning. They are willing to risk everything just to be able to work to afford the essentials. Although beat down time and time again, they do the best when they stick together as a family.
Literary Elements
Author: John Steinbeck
Type of Work: Novel
Genres: Realism, Historical Fiction
Published Date: 1939
Setting: Oklahoma, Route 66, Central California
Main Characters: The Joad Family (and Jim Casy)
Protagonist: Tom Joad
Antagonist: The banks
Narrator: Third person omniscient
Major Thematic Elements: Man’s ability to treat other men inhumanely, the power of family and fellowship, dignity and honor, the multiplicity in acts of kindness or acts of evil
Motifs: improvised social structures
Exposition: The Oklahoma farms are being deserted as the banks push out the sharecropper families who have lived on and worked the land for decades
Conflict: The sharecropper families pushed off their land have nowhere to go and are met with prejudiced and unhelpful people as they push West in search for work
Plot: Linear narrative
Major Symbols: The road, trucks/vehicles, the bank monster, the West, the stillborn baby
Climax: Casy is murdered by a policeman and Tom kills the policeman in retaliation. He then totally commits to the outlaw life and advocates for workers’ rights
Literary Significance
As a writer, John Steinbeck tended to write about working class people who had found that life has beat them down in ways that are seemingly outside of their own control. In this way, the sharp realism of The Grapes of Wrath matches with Steinbeck’s usual style perfectly. It’s no wonder it became the American classic that it is today.
When Steinbeck began writing this novel, The Dust Bowl had already wreaked havoc on thousands of people across the Great Plains region of the United States. He saw that these people were kicked off their land and taken advantage of and exploited as they moved west in search of work and better lives. To prepare for writing a novel about these migrant farmers and their struggles, he lived with an Oklahoma family and traveled west with them to California.
The novel is seen by critics as having captured an exceedingly tumultuous time in American history and begs readers to ask themselves how the world around them and the way they are living could contribute to something like this happening to good people. Although the Dust Bowl was out of any one person’s hands, The Grapes of Wrath points the finger at policies and figures that drove farmers to overproduction and then failed to support them when the earth no longer would.
Book Summary
The novel opens as Tom Joad is released from prison and now must make his way back to his family, Oklahoma farmers. Readers learn that Tom was in prison on manslaughter charges
When Tom makes it close to his family’s land, he runs into Jim Casy, a former preacher who has given up the life of worship and preaching for a simpler existence based in wandering and reflecting. A neighbor wanders by and finds the two men chatting. He tells them that most families have already been tractored off the land, meaning that the banks had come and cleared everything away with giant tractors, forcing the families to move elsewhere. The neighbor tells the two men that the Joad family has not yet left.
When Tom and Casy arrive at the Joad house, they find that everything has been packed up and that they were just about to set out west for California to look for new work. The family has found handbills advertising work picking fruit in California for good wages and they feel hopeful that even though they are forced to leave behind everything they know, they will find an even better life in California.
The family purchases a used old truck and sets out west along Route 66. Grandpa Joad has complained that he will never leave his land, so the family gets him drunk and sneaks him onto the truck while he is sleeping. His health quickly deteriorates, and he dies shortly after the journey starts. The family notices that there are other old trucks like theirs migrating west. As they find a place to rest overnight on the side of the road, they meet Ivy and Sairy Wilson. Their truck has broken down, so the Joad family invites them to come with them in their overburdened truck. The Wilson couple and the Joad family become fast friends and work together for some time to make things work. However, Sairy becomes gravely ill near the California border and so the Wilson couple stay behind, presumably so that Sairy can die in peace rather than on the road.
The Joads forge onwards but begin to run into increased difficulties. They hear rumors that the job market in California is oversaturated. Still, with no other options, the Joad family chooses to believe that they will find work once they get to California. Unfortunately, Granma Joad has been sick and her health deteriorates to the point that she dies while the truck barrels onward. Feeling like a burden and feeling lost, Noah (the eldest of the Joad children and Tom’s brother) departs from the family saying that he just has to go his own way. Not long after, Connie gets introspective and worries about his ability to provide a good future for his wife and unborn child. He leaves as well, leaving behind his pregnant wife Rose of Sharon (Tom’s sister).
The Hooverville camps in California are crowded and the Joads are met with hostility from Californians. Police are out to get them, calling them Okies in a demeaning manner. Often, the migrants living in the Hoovervilles are mean to each other as well, feeling a fierce competition for jobs and resources. There is often a rumor or two floating around about a good job somewhere or a good place to live… but they never seem to materialize in any way. Many workers want to organize to demand better worker’s rights but this is exactly what the landowners and the police fear and so there are often warnings rumbling around that migrants cannot cause any kind of social stir or else they will be immediately arrested and remove. For Tom, this poses a huge threat because he is on parole in Oklahoma and legally was not allowed to leave the state. However, for the sake of his family, he travels west with them.
Eventually, Tom cannot remain level-headed living in such conditions anymore. When Jim Casy and a police officer get into a fight, Casy is arrested for assault against an officer. The police force exclaims that they will be burning that Hooverville to the ground. The Joads are forced to move and find a slightly more bearable living situation elsewhere. However, Tom learns that the police are planning to stage a riot so that they can round up migrants and shut down the living facility. Tom organizes the other residents of the living area, and they are able to prevent this from happening. Unfortunately, the Joads are still not able to find steady work and cannot make ends meet enough to continue living there. Again, they pick up and move on.
In their new location, they find good work picking fruit with decent wages. However, they are frustrated to learn that the good wages will not last because they are being used to provide labor during a worker’s strike. Tom and Jim Casy reunite, and Tom learns that Casy has been organizing workers, but he has made many enemies. The police eventually kill Casy. This proves to be too much for Tom and out of retaliation, he kills that police officer. After this, Tom has to go into hiding. He carries on Casy’s work by organizing workers and does not continue to travel with his family.
Desperate and smaller in number now, the family moves on. Rose of Sharon gives birth to a stillborn baby as a result of the malnourishment and stress. The family comes across a young boy crying over his dying father who has not eaten for days. Ma Joad has Rose of Sharon nurse the dying man because even though her baby did not survive, she is still producing milk. The novel ends on this bleak note.
Contents