The+Grapes+of+Wrath

=**Title of the Work**=

__The Grapes of Wrath__
=Author= John Steinbeck =Nationality/Ethnic Background= United States =Genre and Sub-genres= Novel; Epic; Realistic Fiction; Social Commentary =Pertinent Biographical Information= =Literary Historical Period/Movement and Pertinent Background= =Major Characters, Their Relationships, Their Conflicts= __Tom Joad__ __Ma Joad__ __Pa Joad__ __Jim Casy__ __Rose of Sharon__ __Grandpa Joad__ __Grandma Joad__ __Al Joad__ __Ruthie Joad__ __Winfield Joad__ __Connie__ __Uncle John__ =Brief Plot Summary= During the Great Depression of the 1930's, Tom Joad is released from prison on parole after serving 4 years for manslaughter. Tom makes his way back to the family farm and on the way runs into Jim Casy, a former preacher and family friend. Tom and Casy catch up on news and then decide to make the trek to the Joad's home together. When they arrive, Tom's family is not there. Muley Graves comes into contact with the two men and informs them that all the families have been tractored off the land. Muley then tells the men that the entire Joad family has picked up and moved to Uncle John's house a few miles away. In the morning, Tom and Jim walk to meet the family. After greeting the family, Tom realizes Ma and Pa Joad are packing up the family once again to move to California. In California, rumors say that there are plenty of jobs as fruit pickers and opportunity for a better life. Grandpa Joad does not want to go because he doesn't want to leave his home. By leaving his home state, Tom has broken his parole and is now a wanted criminal. Shortly after the Family's departure Grandpa Joad dies of a stroke and is buried illegally with an improvised funeral. As the Joad's journey to California continues the family meets Ivy and Sairy Wilson who, because of car trouble, join them on their journey to California. Near the border of California, Sairy Wilson cannot continue on the journey as he falls very ill. As the Joads near California rumors of the depleted jobs in California surface. Later, Noah, the eldest son of the Joads, deserts, as does Connie, who is the husband Rose of Sharon. Once the Joads reach California, they meet the harsh reality that has been foreshadowed throughout the book. Jobs and food are scarce. In one of the Hoovervilles the family stays at, Tom Joad stands up for a man who is being terrorized by a sheriff by tripping the sheriff. Jim Casy immediately knocks the sheriff unconscious and volunteers to take the blame because Tom has broken parole and his punishment will be dreadful. The camp is burned down and the Joads have to move yet again. Jobs are almost non-existent, and the ones they do come across are extremely low paying. The Joads end up moving to a series of government run camps. These camps provide stability, which is needed for the family to regroup and decide on what to do next. They eventually get jobs picking fruit with a decent wage because they are working as scabs. Casey, in the meanwhile, has made many enemies among landowners because he is organizing the strike of the migrant workers. While the police are in pursuit of Casy, Tom, in an effort to help his friend, kills a police officer. Tom then has to go into hiding to avoid the police. The Joads then leave and move into a boxcar to escape the trouble. Soon the child, Ruthie, leaks out that Tom is hiding with them and has killed two men. Ma fears for Tom's safety, so she sends him away. At the end of cotton season, the jobs halt and no more jobs can be found for months. The rainy season arrives, in which, Rose of Sharon gives birth to a stillborn baby. Ma tries to help the family survive the rainstorms and floods by moving them into an empty barn. In it, they find a dying man of starvation and a young child. Ma leads the family away so that Rose of Sharon, who is lactating, can nurse the man. =Motifs (Recurring Images, Ideas, Figures of Speech, Symbols, Colors) & Their Thematic Significance= =Other Significant Thematic Elements (Significant Character's Names, Significant Quotations, Significant Actions/Events)= Casy represents morality and righteousness within the novel. He can be compared to Jesus Christ. They both share the same initials (JC). Jesus serves mankind by leading by example and offering moral support; very similarly, Jim Casy is constantly supporting the Joads, often in prayer, to persevere in their endeavors to reach California, obtain gainful employment, and succeed in a society dominated by those who were born into success.
 * Steinbeck was born and raised in California
 * While beginning his writing career, he helped support himself by farming
 * His home state was the end destination for many migrant workers during the Great Depression (1929-late 1930s) because of the fertile farmland
 * Steinbeck's novel was written about his first hand experience with the Great Depression.
 * When he decided to write a novel covering the life of the migratory farmers, he actually moved in with a family of farmers in Oklahoma and then traveled with them as they made their way to California. He had lived the life of the Joad family, and therefore, his story is very accurate and life-like.
 * During the Great Depression, Depression era literature was the main type of writing. This kind of literature  was blunt and direct in its social criticism.
 * Common motifs of this period are: poverty, despair, corruption, power conflicts, and working together.
 * The protagonist
 * Favorite son of the Joad family
 * Wanted criminal because he broke his parole by leaving Oklahoma
 * “street-smart” guide able to steer the family away from dangerous situations and con-artists.
 * Mother of Joad family
 * Originally serves the family as a mother should, being the emotional support and following the leader of the family (Pa), but as time goes on she takes over the role of making decisions.
 * Father of the Joad family
 * Tenant farmer who has been evicted, he serves as a simple man, plain-hearted and blunt.
 * Pa is the leader of the family after his father's death.
 * Pa is supported emotionally by Ma, eventually becoming ashamed because of his inability to support his family.
 * Former preacher (moral leader)
 * Ffriend of Joad family
 * When Tom trips a sheriff, Casy knocks him unconscious. Instead of allowing Tom's arrest as a wanted criminal, Casy steps up and says he attacked the sheriff so Tom would not be arrested.
 * He reappears near the end of the story as an organizer of migrant farmers.
 * He ends up being murdered by a police officer because he is the leader of the strikers
 * Eldest daughter of Joad family
 * Mmarried to Connie
 * Pregnant
 * Rose is romantic, impractical, and ignorant of true society.
 * She is obsessed with getting to California because she believes Connie will go to school, and that they will raise their family in a little house.
 * When Connie vanishes her dreams are shattered.
 * By the end of the novel she sees the importance of helping others and not being selfish.
 * Grandfather of Joad family
 * Once a wrath-filled man, he is now an elderly being, capable of wrath only by tongue.
 * He served as comedic relief to the family.
 * He was the leader of the Joad family until his passing.
 * Grandmother of Joad family
 * She thrives off of her dissension towards her husband
 * After her husband's death, her health weakens, eventually failing her completely upon reaching California. Her death deeply affected Ma.
 * Tom's younger brother
 * Though arrogant, rude, and always looking for girls, Al serves the family well along the road as the mechanic.
 * He had the job of driving the car, maintaining the car, and finding replacement parts when it breaks down.
 * Youngest Joad daughter
 * Competitive and ignorant
 * She forces Tom to flee after bragging about him killing two men.
 * Youngest of the Joads
 * Only 10 years old
 * Plays around with Ruthie and always tries to prove himself better than her.
 * Rose of Sharon's husband
 * He has unrealistic dreams of California, causing him to eventually leave Rose of Sharon due to his selfishness, immaturity, and lack of hope.
 * He is Tom's uncle who feels guilty after his pregnant wife's death years ago because of his refusal to take her to see a doctor.
 * He has a drinking problem, but he refuses to use the families hard-earned money on alcohol.
 * __Improvisation in leadership structures:__** During this period, the stereotypical role of the oldest man is to take over the leadership role and take control of the family. Originally, Grandpa is the leader of the family and makes most of the decisions until he dies on the road. After his death, Pa steps up as leader. However, as the novel and journey continue, Pa's increasing failures in leadership and constant setbacks prompts Ma to step up. Throughout the rest of the novel Ma takes the role of a leader, which is not typical of a family in this time. Because of Ma's quick wit and fast thinking, she is able to take care of her family reasonably well. This motif contributes to the theme that a tight-knit family can overcome many challenges.
 * __Family and togetherness:__** Throughout the novel the Joads are a united structure. At the beginning of the story, Grandpa did not want to leave his home. Ma ended up drugging him into a deep sleep so they could take him with the family. Throughout the rest of the story when the family was separated, the family members were always striving to be together. All the family members put the family before themselves. Jim Casy and other supporting characters also share this characteristic, putting the group before oneself. This idea highlights how people come together and bond strongly in hard times.
 * __Wrath:__** At first, Tom Joad is in prison for killing a man with a shovel. Later in the novel, Tom hits the sheriff after getting in an argument with him, but Jim Casy takes the blame. At the end of the novel, Tom attacks a sheriff after the sheriff kills Jim Casy. The wrath is showing that desperation can lead to illogical actions.
 * __Greed:__** The banks are taking everyone's homes to save money. The rich landowners don't want the okies staying on their land or anywhere near them. The farm owners pay extremely low wages because the farmers know how desperate the okies are for work. Even the Joad family, a very giving family, is unwilling to share their food because they need it.
 * __False Promises:__** At the beginning of the novel, the readers learned that Rose of Sharon is pregnant, and that she and Connie have plans to go to California. Rose's pregnancy starts out enjoyable; however, she ends up having a still birth. The Joads attempt to go to California to find jobs because of a promise they found in papers, but when they got there, they had issues finding and keeping the jobs they found.
 * __Jim Casy__**:

"I got thinkin’ how we was holy when we was one thing, an’ mankin’ was holy when it was one thing. An’ it on’y got unholy when one mis’able little fella got the bit in his teeth an’ run off his own way, kickin’ an’ draggin’ an’ fightin’. Fella like that bust the holi-ness. But when they’re all workin’ together, not one fella for another fella, but one fella kind of harnessed to the whole shebang—that’s right, that’s holy."--Jim Casy

The migrants can succeed in their fight for employment equality against the wealthy "planters" and farm managers with only one strategy: power in numbers. The migrants must unite against a smaller population of prosperous landowners. The Joads, during their trip to California and in their time there, never thought only for themselves. For example, in meeting a couple along the road whose car eventually fails, the Joads search for a part to fix the internal error and send the two along their way. Even in California's labor camps, the Joads distribute the meager proportions of food that they possess to their less fortunate neighbors. The Joads do not see their mission as to succeed, but to aid in the general success of the migrant workers as an entirety. =Major Themes=
 * __There is hope even in the most devastating of times:__** The Joads face many hardships throughout the novel including many family members leaving the troupe and many deaths including Grampa, Granma, and Rose of Sharon's stillborn baby. Even with Rose's greatest disaster, losing her baby, she found hope. She was able to save a starving man's life by nursing him with the milk that would have been for her baby. Another example was when a father and his two sons stopped at a truck stop. They wanted to buy a loaf of bread for 10 cents, and the lady working there, Mae, said that it wasn't a grocery store. Even if it was a grocery store she wouldn't sell them the bread for anything less than 15cents. Her coworker, Al, persuaded her to be nice. She sold the father the loaf of bread for 10cents, then she noticed that his two children were eyeing the 5cent candy. She also sold him 2 pieces of the candy for a penny. The truck drivers who were watching the act of kindness left an extra large tip. The whole series of actions was one act of care and hope after another.
 * __A tight-knit family can overcome many obstacle:__** The Joad family relies on each other constantly when they are in tight spots. For example, Tom always relies on Ma and the family when he gets in trouble to help him out, and they always come through and change their plans to help him. In spite of all their hardships, the Joads still have the integrity and dignity to help out those in need. When they find Ivy and Sairy Wilson broken down on the side of the road, they stop and help them. For awhile, the Joads adopt the Wilsons as they travel together.
 * __Man will become inhumane because of selfishness and greed:__** The whole novel surrounds this theme. The Joads had to move because the rich people were selfish and wanted to farm the land at a lower cost, with machines, so they kicked all of the tenants off the land because they could not pay for the land. The selfishness of everyone for themselves accounts for the reason jobs were sparse and people, dreaming of jobs, moved to California. Throughout the novel this theme is resurfacing such as when the man in the gas station hesitates to help families with gas as the higher up people are pressuring him to give them money. Their greed for money illustrates their inhumanity.