The Grapes of Wrath

1. The Grapes of Wrath By John Steinbeck enotes.com. The Grapes of Wrath. Summary and Study Guide, enotes.com, Inc., n.d. Web. 21 Feb. 2010.

2. Analysis: Ch. 1-6 • The format Steinbeck uses is to tell two stories that are intertwined. • The larger story is about the mass migration of refugees from the southwestern “Dust Bowl” toward the promise of a better life. • The “smaller,” more personal story is about the Joads, one family that makes the journey.

3. The story of the Joads is a traditional fictional narrative. • The larger story is told in a variety of styles using a literary device called intercalary chapters. • These are chapters that come in between the chapters that tell the story of the Joads in their struggle to find relief in the West. • The intercalary chapters give background to what happens to the Joads. • Sometimes they provide a preview of what is about to happen.

4. The unconventional structure of The Grapes of Wrath, in which the narrative chapters are interspersed with intercalary chapters of general comment or information, has frustrated and annoyed readers right up to the present day. • Many complain that the chapters are interruptions in the story proper, or that they split the novel into two distinct sections only loosely related.

5. Steinbeck claimed that the structure of the novel was indeed carefully worked out. • Employing a variety of literary styles and techniques, Steinbeck is able to cross-reference details, interweave symbols, and provide outside commentary on narrative events in such a way that the two types of chapters blend together, unifying and enhancing the social and humanist themes of the novel. • Like it or not, Steinbeck’s novel is a story about a family as well as a commentary about social injustice.

6. Chapters 1, 3, 5 and 7 are intercalary chapters. • They establish the story’s conflict between man and his physical and social environments. • The first chapter describes the forces which created the “Dust Bowl” and the troubles of the farm families there.

7. Chapter 3 is an allegory in which a land turtle symbolizes the common man laboring and struggling to make his way in the world beset by natural and social forces. • Chapter 5 is concerned with the economic and social forces that push the Joads off their land. • It contrasts with Chapter 1 which deals with the forces of nature affecting the Joads.

8. Eventually, the central themes of social injustice and the family as a source of strength are told through the story of the struggles of the Joads. • The family theme expands as the Joads travel westward. • Thematically, one strong family (the Joads) transforms into the strength of a group or “family of families.” • Steinbeck is expressing the belief in the unity of the entire “family of mankind” gaining the strength to overcome social injustice.

9. Another “family” theme appears in many scenes in the novel and is later expressly stated by Ma Joad. • It is the theme that when a poor person wants something, he had best go for help to one of his own kind.

10. This theme is introduced by Tom getting the ride from the truck driver and Muley Graves sharing his meager food. • The truck driver is pictured as one of the “good guys” who will help those in need as opposed to the “rich bastards” who are out to destroy the poor. • Muley feels there is no choice but to share what little he has with those even less fortunate.

11. The character of Jim Casy represents another major theme…that what people actually do is more important than our notions of how society expects them to behave. • He has renounced his preaching of religious principles because of his own actions, which he saw as sinful according to religious teachings. • After a long, lonely, and laborious meditation he has decided that there is no such thing as sin or virtue, just what people do. This is the only true reality.

12. To illustrate this, Ma and the Joads are not pictured by Steinbeck as abstract concepts (symbols) but as real people, living human beings struggling to survive in a harsh society. • Casy also expresses the idea of the unity of mankind in one “oversoul” of which each person is a part. • This is a religious example of the theme of the “family of man,” a universal rather than an individual concept, which is consistent with Steinbeck’s social conscience.

13. Casy, in contrast to the somewhat self-centered Tom Joad we meet in this unit, is trying to formulate something that will help all mankind. • As we will later see, meeting Casy is pivotal to Tom’s eventual development. • For now, the story shows us the solitary Tom joining forces with another person on his personal journey toward membership in the larger community of mankind.

14. Chapter 6 is the real beginning of Tom’s personal journey. • Unlike Casy’s deep and meaningful personal mission, Tom simply wants to go home to his old life but finds his home destroyed. • Consequently, he is forced to hide to avoid being arrested for trespassing on the land which had belonged to his father.

15. Though angry at this, he is made to realize his actions and natural instincts will be restricted in the future because of his parole. • As his journey progresses, he will become more resentful of his inability to fight back against oppressive conditions he and his family encounter.

16. Chapter 7 is an intercalary chapter serving to point out that the plight of the Joads is not unique to them alone but affects a whole society. • Their plight is symbolic and must be generalized. • This chapter sets the stage on which the drama of the Joads is played out and foreshadows events to come later in the story. • It shows the uprooted tenant farmers being taken advantage of by shrewd sellers as they try to buy a car for their journey west and sell their personal belongings for a fraction of their value.