Review- The Grapes of Wrath

The Grapes of Wrath

by John Steinbeck

                                                                               

         If one were to take an old, well used United States road atlas, the kind that is creased with the dust and oil of the road and that has probably seen the majority of the places it depicts, as well as an anthology of Greek epics and mythology, a family Bible, and a copy of Marx’s

Communist Manifesto and breed them all together, the resulting offspring could only be John

Steinbeck’s The Grapes of  Wrath. Written in 1938 and published in 1939, The Grapes of Wrath,

considered by many to be Steinbeck’s masterpiece, is an epic tale that epitomizes the extremes

of human nature during the hardships of the Dust Bowl era. The story follows the Joad family,

a typical close-knit clan who have, for several generations, worked, loved and harvested, been

born on, bled upon, and have died and been buried on their plot of Oklahoma land as tenant farmers. The story takes place during the early 1930s, when a severe drought led to massive agricultural failure in parts of the southern Great Plains, especially western Oklahoma and the

Texas panhandle. These areas had long been heavily over cultivated by wheat farmers and were thus covered by millions of acres of loosely exposed topsoil. The drought caused the crops to wither and die, releasing the loose topsoil. The soil was then picked up by the heavy winds that characterize the region and carried across the Midwest, which created massive dust storms that  only further blighted the land and earned it the nickname “the Dust Bowl”.

         To make matters worse, the mid-1930's gave rise to the Great Depression. Soon vast waves of families beholden to the land, such as the Joads, began a migration westward in order to seek release from the crippling effects of the drought and poverty and find new work and the promise of a new and better way of life. California became the destination for most, as rumors of the prosperity of the region and abundance of ready employment seemed far better than to suffer a fate of squandering in obsolete despair on their family homesteads. However, California quickly became overcrowded by the migrants, and the dream of a better life often ended bitterly, without as much as the mere semblance of fruition.

         The story begins with  Tom Joad, who has just been released from McAlester, an Oklahoma state prison, after serving four years on a conviction of manslaughter. Tom makes his way back to his family’s farm in Oklahoma, where he meets Jim Casy, a former preacher who has given up his calling, and with whom Tom has been acquainted with since his childhood. Casy has recently undergone a crisis of faith, and still seeks to find resolution. Having come to the  belief that all life is holy, especially the aspects of sin, and that sacredness is simply the equality of man, the ex-preacher has decided to become an equal among them, rather than a leader. Casy accompanies Tom to his home, where they find it, as well as all the surrounding farms, to be deserted. They soon encounter an old neighbor, who informs them that everyone has been “tractored” off the land and have headed out for California in order to find work. The next morning Tom and Casy set out  to the home of another one of Tom's relatives, where they hope to find  the rest of the Joad family. Upon their arrival, Tom finds his family and receives a warm





welcome. After they eat a quick breakfast and catch up on the events of the last several years, Pa informs Tom of their plans to move out to California while they still can.  Having seen handbills advertising fruit-picking jobs in California, they envision the trip as their only hope of getting their lives back on track. The Joad family,  now consisting of Tom, his brothers’ Al and Noah, Ma and Pa, Granma and Grampa, Rose of Sharon (who also goes by the nickname Rosasharn) and her husband Connie, Uncle Mullie, two children, Winfield and Ruthie, as well the ex-preacher Jim Casy, load their recently purchased  truck with what few belongings they can fit and  little money they could find, and thus begin their adventure.

         Along the way they encounter family after family, no different from their own, all heading west. Everywhere they go they encounter nothing but the result of the corruption and greed of man, as even those who act corrupt and greedy toward them are often forced to do so for their own survival by those above them. To make matters worse tragedy soon strikes, as first the family dog is horrendously mauled by a truck along the highway, followed by the death of Grampa and the quick deterioration and death of Granma. Powers within the family also change, as the Joads merge with another family, the Wilsons, along the way, and Ma, rather than Pa, assumes the role of head of the household. Unfortunately this book is far too in-depth to allow for a sufficient summation in this paper, so we shall jump to its climax and conclusion. The Grapes of Wrath ends with Casy dead and the family broken. Rosasharn, abandoned by her husband and giving birth to a still born child (which is floated in its casket down the river, much

like Moses), is transformed into a Madonna-esque figure as she suckles a starving man with her



breast milk. Tom has gone, having left to fight for the poor working man and running from the



law. Yet throughout it all the very forces that threaten to destroy the Joads only end up bringing



them closer together, bringing the promise of rebirth, as symbolized by a great storm in the final



chapter.          



         Throughout the book, the narrator takes on several different stances, ranging from a



character in the novel itself to the classic omniscient third person. The major themes and motifs



that the story relates are Mans inhumanity to Man, the unifying power of family (and sheer



strength through numbers), the multiplying effects of selfishness, and adversely, altruism, as well



as the power of change, which is perhaps the most important. Only through the power of



change, as best seen  by Ma’s assumption of family figurehead, are the Joads able to gain the



capacity to survive and strive on. It is through Tom’s change from a simple member of the



family to self proclaimed “bolshevisky” fighter for the working man that we see the possibility of



hope for the migrants. And it is through Rosasharns’ change from a simple and naive expectant



mother to the unlikely savior of a dying man that new life is found throughout the squander and



despair of the age.



         In all, The Grapes of Wrath is an essential read for anyone seeking an insight into the



psyche of one who has lived through the Dust Bowl era. The book relates quite beautifully



everything that we learned of the region in class, and gives an amazing glimpse into the lives,



lifestyles, and cultures of the time. Even the language used in the dialogues between characters



relays a sense of what life was like in the American Midwest during the 1930's. And perhaps



most importantly of all, it is the powerful account of struggling through the harshest of



conditions that gives one hope for mankind, even if the Joad family themselves found little in the end.