The Grapes of Wrath Questions and Answers
by John Steinbeck

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• The Grapes of Wrath
  How would one get better wages for work if in the same situation as the Joads family in The Grapes of Wrath?
  In The Grapes of Wrath, John Steinbeck shows the difficulties that impoverished workers such as the Joads faced in the 1930s. During the Great Depression, so many people were desperate for work...

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• The Grapes of Wrath
  I need help writing an informative four-paragraph essay with the following prompt: How did the individuals in the books The Circuit and The Grapes of Wrath face and deal with the obstacles and difficulties they encountered?
  Writing an informative essay on The Grapes of Wrath and The Circuit would benefit from careful planning, brainstorming, and comparing/contrasting the two works. It helps to begin with an outline...

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• The Grapes of Wrath
  Why aren't there more government camps in The Grapes of Wrath?
  In The Grapes of Wrath, the Joads are very fortunate to come across a migrant camp run by the federal government. The Weedpatch camp, as it's called, is a well-run, clean, decent facility where the...

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• The Grapes of Wrath
  What figure of speech is used in the following quote from The Grapes of Wrath?: “A man can hold land if he can just eat and pay taxes; he can do that. Yes, he can do that until the crops fail one day and he has to borrow money from the bank....
  In this famous excerpt from The Grapes of Wrath, we're presented with the unforgettable metaphor of banks and land-holding companies as monsters. They're not literally monsters, of course, insofar...

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• The Grapes of Wrath
  What will happen to the Joads when there are no more crops to be harvested in California in The Grapes of Wrath?
  The Joads are facing a desperate situation of hunger, homelessness, and possible starvation as winter comes, and there are no more crops to be harvested. They make decent money harvesting cotton,...

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• The Grapes of Wrath
  in what way is poverty and the struggle to make a living explored
  Poverty and the struggle to make a living are the factors which force the Joad family to leave their home in Oklahoma and head for California. They were poor to start with, and Oklahoma's gradual...

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• The Grapes of Wrath
  What literary devices are used in John Steinbeck's book The Grapes of Wrath?
  The list of literary devices used in Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath is a long one, but here are just a few examples. Literary devices are forms of figurative language, also known as figures of...

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• The Grapes of Wrath
  What would be a strong summary of "class conflict" for the book "The Grapes of Wrath"? a summary statement that relates "class conflict" for the book The Grapes of Wrath.
  Possibly the best summation you will find comes from Ma after borrowing a dime from the shop keeper in order to buy sugar. She says that the only people who will help out poor people are other...

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• The Grapes of Wrath
  Can someone tell me why the gas station attendant resented the big company stations in town? i need the answer to understand the book.   Thank you in advance
  John Steinbeck was an ardent socialist when he wrote Grapes of Wrath. He believed the rich people were turning America into an oligarchy, notably through the power of corporations. The big company...

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• The Grapes of Wrath
  What are some similarities between The Grapes of Wrath the grapes of wrath and Class Matters?
  Both The Grapes of Wrath (1939) and Class Matters (2005) deal heavily with the notion of class in contemporary America. However, they vary greatly in terms of form and approach. The Grapes of Wrath...

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• The Grapes of Wrath
  In The Grapes of Wrath, why does the man insist on paying for the loaf?
  The Grapes of Wrath takes place during the Dust Bowl, when a drought, combined with the ways that conventional farming practices had devastated the soil ecosystem, led to massive dust storms that...

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• The Grapes of Wrath
  Why does the man not use more money from his pouch to get more food that the family wants or needs?
  The Grapes of Wrath, by John Steinbeck, is set during the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl. There is a famine because of poor agricultural techniques and a long drought, and there isn't much food...

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• The Grapes of Wrath
  What does the tenant farmer mean when he says "Joe Davis's boy" is acting against his own people?
  In chapter 5 of John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath, Joe Davis’s boy becomes a symbol of the changing times. Before, many men would be hired in order to work the land; however, now a tractor can...

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• The Grapes of Wrath
  What does Tom discover about Casey in John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath?
  Tom Joad finds out that Casy, whom he always thought was just a preacher, is actually a union organizer. Though Casy was indeed a preacher at first, he found it increasingly difficult to carry out...

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• The Grapes of Wrath
  In The Grapes of Wrath, how does the hitchhiker convince the trucker to give him a ride, even though he’s not supposed to?
  The hitchhiker in question is Tom Joad, the protagonist of the story. At the beginning of the story, he is freshly paroled and is returning to his family and his father's 40 acres of land. While...

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• The Grapes of Wrath
  What themes related to family are in The Grapes of Wrath?
  The challenges of keeping a family together during the Great Depression is one of the most important themes in John Steinbeck’s novel. The Joad family often fails in this goal, but their...

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• The Grapes of Wrath
  How does Steinbeck begin his story and keep it flowing in correct chronological order while maintaining the reader's interest?
  Steinbeck begins The Grapes of Wrath with a chapter that describes the land, the time period, and the way the people are displaced during the Great Depression. This opening chapter, like many of...

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• The Grapes of Wrath
  How do literature and history supplement each other in The Grapes of Wrath?
  To supplement effectively means to complete or add to, and in The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck, history and literature most definitely work together to create or complete the story being...

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• The Grapes of Wrath
  Who is telling the story in The Grapes of Wrath and what is the value of having alternating voices in the narration? Does it help you understand the novel's plot and themes more easily, or does it interfere with your comprehension?
  In The Grapes of Wrath, John Steinbeck employs a third-person, omniscient narrator to relay the story of the Joad family as they are forced to abandon their home in Oklahoma due to the Great...

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• The Grapes of Wrath
  How does The Grapes of Wrath define "family" and how does the novel describe the significance of different kinds of families, both according to the biological definition of family as well as other kinds of family, and how does it relate to...
  Family is extremely important in The Grapes of Wrath and other novels by John Steinbeck. He is deeply concerned with the issues of individual alienation from society and of the harm caused by...

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  In The Grapes of Wrath, how and why does Steinbeck use a mixture of sensory images from multiple metaphors to introduce an idea, such as in this passage describing the Hudson River? The ancient Hudson, with bent and scarred radiator screen,...
  It should first be said that this passage does not refer to the Hudson River which, as it located in the eastern United States, is not prominent within the narrative. The "Hudson" in this passage...

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• The Grapes of Wrath
  What is the importance of Muley Graves in The Grapes of Wrath?
  Muley Graves is not one of the major characters in the novel, but he is a significant character nonetheless. He is significant because he helps to drive a part of the plot and because he helps to...

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• The Grapes of Wrath
  "The ancient Hudson, with bent and scarred radiator screen, with grease in dusty globules at the worn edges of every moving part, with hub caps gone and caps of red dust in their places--this was the new hearth, the living center of the family."...
  There are two metaphors in the given quotation which describe the Hudson truck. The first metaphor describes the truck as “the new hearth,” and the second describes it as “the living center of the...

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• The Grapes of Wrath
  In The Grapes of Wrath, how does Steinbeck support the idea that despite being a convicted murderer, Tom Joad is emerging as a likable, decent, and moral man?
  When the novel begins, Tom Joad Jr. has served four years of a seven-year sentence and returns to his family’s farm. His conviction was for manslaughter committed in self-defense, not homicide; he...

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• The Grapes of Wrath
  What does the land mean to the tenant farmers in The Grapes of Wrath? Why can't the tenant farmers fight the monster in chapter 5?
  John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath is a social or protest novel following the journey of protagonist Tom Joad and his family on a trek to California after being forced to abandon their farm in...

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• The Grapes of Wrath
  In chapter 7 of The Grapes of Wrath, how does Steinbeck describe the used car salesman? Which quote foreshadows the nature of the California dream?
  In chapter 7, the car salesman is characterized by a running monologue. It in, he reveals that he will do anything to close a sale. He does not mind cheating and emotionally manipulating people if...

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• The Grapes of Wrath
  Which quote in chapter 7 of The Grapes of Wrath foreshadows the nature of the California dream?
  Most of chapter 7 in The Grapes of Wrath is comprised of internal monologues of used car salesmen frenetically selling jalopies to Oklahoma families wishing to drive to California. Capitalizing on...

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• The Grapes of Wrath
  Where did Steinbeck come up with the title for the book The Grapes of Wrath?
  The title of Steinbeck's novel comes from the biblical book of Revelation, chapter 14:19–20: And the angel thrust in his sickle into the earth, and gathered the vine of the earth, and cast it into...

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• The Grapes of Wrath
  What details about Casy show him to be thoughtful in chapter 4 of The Grapes of Wrath?
  When Joad runs into Casy, they get into a conversation in chapter 4 that shows Casy to be a thoughtful man. Casy was once a preacher, but he tells Joad that now the "sperit" is not so strong in him...

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• The Grapes of Wrath
  What are some pieces of detailed information about chapters 1 and 2 of The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck?
  The first chapter begins with some extended, detailed imagery of increasing drought conditions that gradually settle over Oklahoma's farmland, with particular emphasis on the corn crop. Dust...

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• The Grapes of Wrath
  How is the theme of isolation explored in The Grapes of Wrath?
  The theme of isolation in The Grapes of Wrath is developed through the predicament of the book's characters. All the characters, for one reason or another, are to some extent isolated from each...

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• The Grapes of Wrath
  In The Grapes of Wrath, how does Steinbeck support the idea that despite being a convicted murderer, Tom Joad is emerging as a likable and moral man? (chapter 6.)
  In chapter 6 of The Grapes of Wrath, Steinbeck reveals that despite being a convicted murderer, Tom Joad emerges as a likable and moral man. Steinbeck illustrates these traits through Tom’s actions...

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• The Grapes of Wrath
  How is the theme of isolation explored in The Grapes of Wrath?
  John Steinbeck’s novel The Grapes of Wrath deals with social issues in the United States during the Great Depression. Like American writer Ralph Waldo Emerson, Steinbeck argues the philosophy of...

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• The Grapes of Wrath
  In chapters 9-12 of The Grapes of Wrath, can you identify 5 figures of speech such as similes, metaphors, or personification, and evaluate them in terms of their effectiveness in helping you understand the text?
  The beginning of chapter nine is an extended metaphor about the pain of the farmers selling off their belongings to the junk man at horrendously low prices. It is mostly farming implements, an...

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• The Grapes of Wrath
  Are the Joads ultimately able to overcome the hardships they face in The Grapes of Wrath?
  One can only admire the Joads for their dogged persistence in doing whatever they can to find a better life for themselves. Forced to leave their Oklahoma farm after it was repossessed, the Joads...

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• The Grapes of Wrath
  What is Steinbeck saying about the American Dream in the novel?
  Author John Steinbeck (1902-1968) writes this novel in the midst of the Great Depression. As a result, his personal views of American life are filtered into the book. The concept of the American...

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• The Grapes of Wrath
  In chapter 20 of The Grapes of Wrath, Casy takes the blame for Floyd and Tom after the fight with the deputy. What does this tell you about Casy's character?
  In chapter 20 of The Grapes of Wrath, a contractor arrives at the squatter camp looking to hire laborers to pick fruit in Tulare County. Immediately, Floyd demands that these workers are given a...

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• The Grapes of Wrath
  Give two examples from chapters 17 through 19 of how Ma Joad demonstrates strength when faced with many losses on the long road of California in The Grapes of Wrath.
  In chapters 17–19, the Joads finally reach California but must decide when to cross the desert. Ma Joad makes several decisions independently from the men, as she understands her role in motivating...

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• The Grapes of Wrath
  Compare Uncle John and the one-eyed man from The Grapes of Wrath.
  Though both Uncle John and the one-eyed man are going through a tough time in their lives, they deal with their problems in different ways. Uncle John tries his best to live a life of selflessness...

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• The Grapes of Wrath
  Why does Ma feed the little ones in chapter 20 of The Grapes of Wrath? How does the other mother react? 
  When the family arrives at their first Hooverville, Ma decides to make a stew with potatoes and a chicken neck. Other children in the camp come and stand around the stew pot. Ma finds out that none...

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• The Grapes of Wrath
  Which era in American history is The Grapes of Wrath set in?
  John Steinbeck's novel The Grapes of Wrath takes place in America during the 1930s. This was a tumultuous and terrifying time for many Americans. People all around the country were dealing with the...

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• The Grapes of Wrath
  What are the major forces that drove the tenant farmers out of their ancestral farmland in The Grapes of Wrath?
  The big problem that tenant farmers such as the Joad family faced was land ownership. Despite having lived on the same piece of land all their lives, the land did not belong to them. The land, and...

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• The Grapes of Wrath
  Why does Casy cover for Tom when the police come back in The Grapes of Wrath?
  In chapter 20 of The Grapes of Wrath, a contractor arrives at the camp looking to recruit fruit pickers for a farm in Tulare County. A young man called Floyd Knowles demands a contract and a set...

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• The Grapes of Wrath
  What type of figure of speech is used in the following passage from chapter 1 of The Grapes of Wrath? ''During a night the wind raced faster over the land, dug cunningly among the rootlets of the corn, and the corn fought the wind with its...
  There are actually two options here. First, you could say that this is a basic example of personification. Personification is achieved when writers give human characteristics to things that are not...

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• The Grapes of Wrath
  What made Tom's mother worry that Tom might be crazy mad because of his time in prison in The Grapes of Wrath?
  Tom Joad has been let out of prison on parole. His family doesn't know about it, and he plans to give them what he hopes will be a nice surprise. After Tom and his good friend, the radical preacher...

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• The Grapes of Wrath
  What type of figure of speech is used in the following passage from chapter 5 of The Grapes of Wrath? “A man can hold land if he can just eat and pay taxes; he can do that.  Yes, he can do that until his crops fail one day and he has to borrow...
  This excerpt employs a metaphor to describe the bank. A metaphor describes something by comparing it to something different that has similar characteristics. In this case, the bank is compared to a...

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• The Grapes of Wrath
  What type of figure of speech is used in the following passage from chapter 6 of The Grapes of Wrath? “A Sedan driven by a forty-year-old woman approached. She saw the turtle and swung to the right, off the highway, the wheels screamed, and cloud...
  The above quote, taken from John Steinbeck's novel The Grapes of Wrath, uses two different kinds of figures of speech. A phrase at the end of the quotation, "the wheel screamed" is an example of...

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• The Grapes of Wrath
  What is the significance of the turtle in chapter 3 of The Grapes of Wrath?
  The turtle can be seen as a metaphor for both the Joads and the migrants in general: the turtle is tough, tenacious, and unstoppable. Steinbeck writes, "All over the grass at the roadside a land...

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• The Grapes of Wrath
  Please explain Tom Joad's change in thinking from the beginning to the end of The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck.
  We meet Tom Joad at the beginning of John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath, just as he is coming home to his family after being released (on parole) from prison. Because of the Great Depression and...

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• The Grapes of Wrath
  How does each member of the Joad family feel about going to California and leaving home in The Grapes of Wrath?
  For the most part, the members of the Joad family seem resigned to their fate in regards to their feelings toward leaving home and moving to California. None of them particularly want to leave, but...

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