Transcript Monday, March 22, 2003 AP

The Grapes of Wrath
By John Steinbeck
Title of The Grapes of Wrath
“The Battle Hymn of the Republic”
by Julia Ward Howe
“Mine eyes have seen the coming of
the glory of the Lord. He is trampling
out the vintage where the grapes of
wrath are stored.
Title of The Grapes of Wrath
 Revelation 14:19 –
“And the angel thrust in his sickle into the earth,
and gathered the vine of the earth, and cast it into
the great winepress of the wrath of God.”
 Deuteronomy 32:32 –
“Their grapes are grapes of gall, their clusters are
bitter.”
 Jeremiah 31:29 –
“The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and their
children’s teeth are set on edge.”
Title of The Grapes of Wrath
in the novel
 “Men ravenous for work, murderous for work. . .
The granaries were full. . .And the anger began
to ferment.” --Ch. 21
 “In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath
are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for
the vintage.”--Ch. 25
Setting/Historical Background
Dust Bowl—in the1930s and 40s Texas and Oklahoma were
devastated by a severe drought that dried up the crops and
caused extreme dust storms
 The Great Depression—poor economic conditions left the
farmers even more devastated, often forcing them to borrow
money that they couldn’t pay back. This led to farmers
being evicted from their land with no prospect of making a
living.
 The Great Migration—California fruit pickers advertised (too
much) for the need of fruit pickers in California. Hoping for a
better life, Oklahoma farmers left their ruined farms and head
to California in droves.

Layers of the novel
 1.
An individual’s struggle for survival—Tom,
Jim Casy, Uncle John, Rose of Sharon, etc.
 2.One family’s struggle for survival—The
Joads
 3. All migrant workers’ struggle from OK to
Cali
 4. The entire nation’s struggle
 5. Mankind’s struggle to comprehend his
commitment to his fellow man and the earth he
inhabits.
Structure of the novel
I.
Plot chapters—a slow narrative
that chronicles the Joad family’s
journey. Filled with realism,
dialogue, and regional dialect, and
colloquial language.
Structure cont.
II. Interchapters—fast-paced description
Moves from specific to general (from
the Joads to all migrant workers)
Look for POV shift.
Provides historical background of
California, migrant labor, economic
factors in Cali
Structure cont.
The interchapters allow Steinbeck
to change styles to establish mood
for each chapter. Pay attention to
the style of each interchapter as it
is juxtaposed with the plot
chapters.
Interchapters
Steinbeck revised these from a series of 1936
articles he had written after he visited the
migrant camps. The articles were
entitled “The Harvest Gypsies.” He also
traveled with a photographer in 1937
throughout various migrant camps under the
expectation of writing copy for the photos.
Literary Philosophy
 Romanticism – “A literary or philosophical
theory that tends to see the individual at the
center of all life, and it places the individual at
the center of art. . .”
 “idealization of rural life. . .interest in human
life, sympathy with animal life. . . .”
(Harmon and Holman 452).
What elements of Romanticism do you see in Grapes?
Literary Philosophy
 Realism – “Fidelity to actuality in its
representation”
“Realists are believers in democracy, and
the materials they elect to describe are the
common, the average, the everyday”
(Harmon and Holman 428).
What elements of Realism do you see in Grapes?
Literary Philosophy
 Transcendentalism – ”an ideal spiritual
state that 'transcends' the physical and
empirical and is only realized through the
individual's intuition, rather than through the
doctrines of established religions.”
The Universal Being (Oversoul)
What elements of Transcendentalism do you
see in Grapes?
Literary Philosophy
 Naturalism – A response to the revolution in
thought that science has produced. These
works tend to emphasize either a biological or
socioeconomic determinism.
 Naturalism –
a. Biological determinism (animal nature of man
in brutal struggle for survival)
b. Socio-economic determinism (man is victim
of his environmental forces.)
What elements of Naturalism do you see in Grapes?
Literary Philosophy
 Modernism
Experimentation in style and form
Alienated characters
Disillusionment of a corrupted society
Allusive and symbolic
What elements of Modernism do you see in
Grapes?
Steinbeck’s style
“No other American novel has succeeded in forging
and making instrumental so many prose styles”
(Bloom).
 1. Diction and dialogue—natural and realistic
 2. Narrative pace—changes frequently; syntax
variation
 3. Allusion—mostly biblical; some historical and
political
 4. POV shift—from “I” to “we”
 5. Symbol—dust, turtle, bank, tractor, car, rain,
erosion, one-eyed junk man, etc.
Biblical Allusions




The travel west to the land of milk and honey-> the story of Exodus and Moses leading
the slaves to the Promised Land
Uncle John sending the stillborn downriver->inversion to Moses in the basket
Rose of Sharon-> “Earth Mother” and bride from “Song of Solomon”
Jesus->Jim Casy=J.C.
Went into the wilderness
Sacrifices himself
dies a martyr's death, paraphrasing Christ's last words ("Forgive them, Father, for they know
not what they do") when he cries, "You don' know what you're a-doin."
his teachings are delivered to the rest of the world as the result of this death; Tom is his
disciple
Thematic issues
 Connection to the land
 Brotherhood of man
 Primacy of family
 Human being’s responsibility to one another
 Man’s ability to grow
 Shattering of the American Dream
“And there’s an end”
 Entire book moves toward the ending—out of the
greatest depths of despair comes the greatest
assertion of faith
 Intentionally ambiguous—”mysterious smile”
 Lack of closure—why?
 “ultimate triumph of a society based upon
nurturing and creativity”