John Steinbecks Grapes of Wrath :: essays research papers

Grapes of rageAuthor John Steinbeck, Robert Demott (Introduction).Penguin USA New York.Reissued Edition (Oct. 1992).619 Pages.            Kearney 1The Grapes of Wrath is a novel by John Steinbeck that exposes the desperate conditions on a lower floor which the migratory farming families of America during the 1930s lived, through a personal attempt and heavy symbolism. The novel tells of one familys migration west to California through the broad economic depression of the 1930s. The bank took possession of their land because the owners could not fix off their loan. The novel shows how the Joad family deals with moving to California, and how they survive the cruelty of the landowners that took advantage of them, their poverty, and willingness to work. The Grapes of Wrath combines Steinbecks adoration of the land, his passionate hat cherry-red for corruption resulting from materialism (money), and his perpetual faith in the common pe ople to overcome the irrelevant environment. As it opens with a retaining picture of nature on rampage, the novel shows the men and women that be unbroken by nature. The theme is that of a man verses a hostile environment. His body may be destroyed, but his spirit is not broken. The manner used to develop the theme of the novel is through the use of symbolism. at that place be several uses of symbols in the novel from the turtle at the stock to the rain at the end. As each symbol is presented, examples of the good and the badness things that exist within the novel are shown. The opening chapter paints a magnificent picture of the situation facing the drought-stricken farmers of Oklahoma. Dust is described as practical application everything, smothering the animateness out of anything that wants to grow. The constellate is symbolic of the erosion of the lives of the people. The dust is synonymous with "deadness", as Steinbeck puts it.. The land is a ruined persona l manner of life (farming), people                                                   Kearney 2uprooted and forced to leave. Secondly, the dust stands for profiteering banks in the scene that squeeze the life out the land as the people are actually forced from their land. The soil, or the people (farmers), have been drained of life and are exploited The last rain fell on the red and gray country of Oklahoma in early May. The weeds became gruesome green to protect themselves from the suns unyielding rays. The wind grew stronger, uprooting the weakened corn, and the air became so filled with dust that the