The Grapes of Wrath Group at eNotes

At the start of the journey westward, the Joad family is intact:...

Wed, 8 Oct 2008 04:37:41 PST

At the start of the journey westward, the Joad family is intact: Grandpa, Grandma, Pa, Ma, Tom, Rose of Sharon and her husband, Noah, Al, Ruthie, and Winfield are all there. Before they are out of the state of Oklahoma, Grandpa dies. Soon, Noah decides he doesn't want to leave the river and he stays behind. Then Grandma dies. Rose of Sharon's husband takes off when he realizes things in California aren't as good as they'd hoped they be....

How does the economic decline correspond to the disintegration of the...

Tue, 7 Oct 2008 15:46:39 PST

How does the economic decline correspond to the disintegration of the Joad family in "The Grapes of Wrath"?

Many students are confused about the turtle until they read the novel....

Wed, 24 Sep 2008 19:13:35 PST

Many students are confused about the turtle until they read the novel. The turtle is actually a symbol for the Joads, and some say, for Tom. Notice that the turtle is a land turtle, as the Joads are tied to the land. In addition, the turtle moves slowly but continuously to get to the other side of the road. The Joads will also move slowly on their way to California, on the other side of the country, and encounter many obstacles. The truck...

In Chapter Three of "Grapes of Wrath" by John Steinbeck The narrator...

Wed, 24 Sep 2008 18:56:13 PST

In Chapter Three of "Grapes of Wrath" by John Steinbeck The narrator describes a turtle. Why it is in the book?

This encounter shows that the best people to help the Joads and families...

Sun, 7 Sep 2008 22:07:05 PST

This encounter shows that the best people to help the Joads and families like them are people like themselves. Ma Joad comes to this realization when the clerk at the company store loans her a dime for sugar she couldn’t pay for: “I’m learnin’ one thing good,” she said. “Learnin’ it all the time and ever’ day. If you’re in trouble or hurt or need--go to poor people. They’re the only ones that’ll help--the only ones.”

In "The Grapes of Wrath", what does Ma's encounter in the...

Sat, 6 Sep 2008 21:53:26 PST

In "The Grapes of Wrath", what does Ma's encounter in the store show about the plight of migrant workers?

When Muley is talking to Tom and Casy outside of Tom's old home, they...

Mon, 25 Aug 2008 20:12:42 PST

When Muley is talking to Tom and Casy outside of Tom's old home, they keep watching the lights of the deputy sheriff come closer. Muley says,"When you're huntin' somepin you're a hunter, an' you're strong. Can't nobody beat a hunter. But when you get hunted- that's different. Somepin happens to you. You ain't strong. I been a hunter for a long time. I ain't a hunter no more." Muley is referring to the time before his eviction from his own...

In "The Grapes of Wrath", what is the difference between the...

Mon, 25 Aug 2008 17:49:18 PST

In "The Grapes of Wrath", what is the difference between the hunter and being hunted?

When the novel was first published, it was openly criticized for being a...

Sat, 23 Aug 2008 23:07:50 PST

When the novel was first published, it was openly criticized for being a "communist novel". Many people did not want to face the social injustices described in the book. The idea of strike-breaking, which occurs in the novel, was very unpopular. Large landowners and the manufacturing industry, both of which benefited from keeping wages oppressively low, scorned the book as a communist plot. The entire idea of Casy's "oversoul", the belief that...

At the beginning of the novel, Tom is a hot headed young man with no...

Sat, 23 Aug 2008 20:33:18 PST

At the beginning of the novel, Tom is a hot headed young man with no real philosophy for dealing with the future. He has just be paroled from jail for impetuously killing a man in a bar fight, a crime for which he feels no remorse. However, as the novel continues, Tom matures as he sees his people being exploited and mistreated by society. He is still acting impetuously when he kills the man who killed Casy. However, by Chapters 27 and 28,...

In what ways does "The Grapes of Wrath" promote hatred between classes...

Sat, 23 Aug 2008 14:51:11 PST

In what ways does "The Grapes of Wrath" promote hatred between classes of people, and even go beyond that?

What is young Tom's philosophy for dealing with the future in "The...

Sat, 23 Aug 2008 08:27:55 PST

What is young Tom's philosophy for dealing with the future in "The Grapes of Wrath"?

What is young tom's philosophy for dealing with the future?

Sat, 23 Aug 2008 08:22:41 PST

What is young tom's philosophy for dealing with the future? What chapter is this mentioned in?

The family has already seen what happens to people like Muley Graves who...

Fri, 22 Aug 2008 19:58:45 PST

The family has already seen what happens to people like Muley Graves who refuse to deal with reality. Muley has lost his entire family and, by self admission, turned into "a graveyard ghost", as his last name implies. Then at the beginning of their journey, the family must deal with two blows that force them to unify as a group. First, the death of granpa, who had stubbornly refused to leave the farm, unites the Joads in their grief and in the...

In "The Grapes of Wrath", what happens to solidify the family...

Fri, 22 Aug 2008 14:26:23 PST

In "The Grapes of Wrath", what happens to solidify the family as they drive along?

The banks do not own the land. The tractors may move the dirt around,...

Sun, 10 Aug 2008 22:30:48 PST

The banks do not own the land. The tractors may move the dirt around, but the winds and rains move the dirt back to where it was to begin with. The banks are merely caretakers of the lands, and a tractor is a tool. But the power that the small farmers have is that they live, die, and bleed on the land. Therefore, the land truly belongs to them.

The small farmers are tenant farmers, they do not own the land where...

Sun, 10 Aug 2008 04:38:07 PST

The small farmers are tenant farmers, they do not own the land where they live and work. So, technically, they are powerless to fight against the tractors and the banks.The owners of the land evict, or throw the tenants off the land, in an effort to survive themselves. The owners must pay their mortgages to the banks, and in the absence of payment the bank takes back the property.The small farmers have no choice but to leave the land...

In "The Grapes Of Wrath", what power do the small farmers...

Sat, 9 Aug 2008 17:16:56 PST

In "The Grapes Of Wrath", what power do the small farmers have against the banks and the tractors?

I would add that Steinbeck intentionally wanted the Joads to be...

Fri, 8 Aug 2008 09:18:11 PST

I would add that Steinbeck intentionally wanted the Joads to be representative of the crisis of the Dust Bowl. While we develop great empathy for the Joads, Steinbeck deliberately interrupts the narrative to pull us away from their individual crisis and refocus on the larger American tragedy, as mrerick points out.

Steinbeck uses an alternating chapter format to relate the events of the...

Thu, 7 Aug 2008 20:34:55 PST

Steinbeck uses an alternating chapter format to relate the events of the novel to the actual historical events of the US at that time. The historical chapters are called intercalary chapters.It's an effective method because it forces the reader to see every aspect of this novel. It's a strong piece of historical fiction, but it's also a plain good work of fiction. The use of intercalary chapters allows the reader to see that what...