The Grapes of Wrath

The book begins with a long narrative by John Steinbeck, the author, with the famous opening lines of "To the red country and part of the gray country of Oklahoma, the last rains came gently, and they did not cut the scarred earth..." It takes place in Oklahoma in the midst of the Dust Bowl. The main character, Tom Joad, is released after four years in prison on parole. On his way home, he realizes what kind of shape the town is in, and has to hitch a ride from a trucker in town. After the trucker drops him off, Tom runs into his old preacher, Jim Casey. After talking, Tom realizes that Casey is different now, having given up preaching, and deciding to just "love people." Joad invites Jim to come home with him and eat, and the two men leave on their way. Every other chapter, there is usually a narrative with awesome uses of imagery and symbolism by John Steinbeck, which describes the coming up chapter. On Tom's way home, there's a turtle trying to cross the road. One woman driving see the helpless turtle and swerves out of the way, on the side of the road to avoid it. The turtle continues. Another trucker comes by and intentionally tries to run over the turtle, and succeeds in knocking it off the road. The turtle, beginning it's long journey across the road is picked up by Tom and he carries it to his house. This is very symbolic of the whole story, and Tom's part in it. When Tom and Casey arrive at his house, they realize that it is empty, there is a crushed-in side of the house, and cotton is growing everywhere it could be planted. Tom runs into an old friend, Muley, who explains the situation to the two men. Because of the Dust Bowl, many banks have foreclosed on the farms and force families off of their land. To make money, the banks are planting cotton, which all the farmers know will ruin the soil. The Joads had been kicked off a few weeks ago, and went to live with Tom's uncle, eight miles away. Tom, Muley, and Casey spend the night on the abandoned farm. Tom learns that Muley's family was kicked off their land also, but he refuses to leave, living off of the land and jack rabbits, he hides from the banks. Casey and Tom head to his Uncle's house and arrive by the morning. The entire family is surprised to see Tom there, considering he was supposed to be in prison for seven years for killing a man. He tells them he's on parole, and they let him out early. The family eats, and informs Tom that they are leaving in a few days for California, where there is promise of work and pretty white houses surrounded by orange trees. Al, Tom's brother, takes charge of the car, and they begin to pack up. Although Tom is on parole, he technically cannot leave the state, and holds off on telling that to his family. The family leaves, and when they stop for gas after awhile, they pull over. While they're getting gas, the dog gets run over. At another stop they make, the Grampa dies from a stroke, and a couple the Joads have met up with help them bury him. With a "fartin'" car, and many other troubles, the two families both go together, to their promised land of California. An important thing to note is that Grampa constantly talked about wanting to eat grapes from California, and how he would let the juice drip off his face. While in the car, the daughter, Rose of Sharon, who is also pregnant, reveals to her mother that she and her husband want to live in a town with the baby, and not live on a farm again.

Pa Joad talks with a man while they are migrating about jobs in California and finds out that the man's entire family died of starvation and that there are no open jobs in California. Pa, doubting this to be true, continues on with the family. Noah, another one of Tom's brothers, decides to stay behind, claiming his parents don't really love him, and leaves the family. After the grampa died, Granma now is sick also. She has hallucinations and sleeps on a mattress most of the time. Police also come and tell the Joads that they have to leave, and can't sleep there. The Joads are forced to leave the couple they helped behind, due to the wife's ill health. The police pull them over to do an agricultural exam on the car, while Ma Joad begs the police to let them go get medical attention for the Granma. Afterwards, they find that Granma is dead, and Ma lays with her in the back of the truck. Lacking the money to pay for a burial, the Joads are forced to leave Granma at a Coroner's office, and continue on their journey.

After being warned many times by returning migrants, the ideas of California life begin to cloud with doubt in the Joads' minds, as the family falls apart. They meet back at a Hooverville, full of starving people, and learn how things really are in California. Without any jobs, Tom asks why there aren't any people rebelling against the farmers, and is told that he could become blacklisted.

A farmer comes to the Hooverville looking for workers, and a man demands that the farmer give the families contracts and certain wages. The police are called, for a bogus charge, and shoot the man, and hurt a woman. Tom joins in the scuffle and hits a policeman to stop him, and Casey knocks him unconscious. The police arrest Casey and he is sent to prison. The sheriff declares that the Hooverville is going to be burned down. Uncle John, who believes his wife's death of appendicitis is his fault, is upset that Casey dies, and insists the family give him money for alcohol. After he leaves, the men wonder where Connie, Rose of Sharon's husband is, and some say they saw him walking south by the river. To keep out of trouble the family must continue on, and Tom has to knock his Uncle out to get him to come along, and they head for work. The Joads are turned down by some organized farmers with shotguns, are told to leave, and called "Oakies." Large property owners are afraid of the Oakies, and try to put them in their place. They also run the smaller farms out of business, making people unable to provide for their families.

Tom comes across a migrant-run camp where there are no police officers, and it is kept clean. The family moves there and tries to find work. We learn about the Farmer's Association that tries enforcing a minimum wage of 25 cents, and the man that tries to hire Tom tells him about it. Meanwhile, in the camp Rose of Sharon is told by a lady that she needs to be aware of the dancing at the camps, and that babies of sinners are born dead and bloody. Also, to escape the downs of a migrant life, the camp plays music and when they have money, buys alcohol, so that they can distract themselves from the lifestyle they are living. Many preachers give sermons that move people to grovel on the ground, and mass baptisms, which helps the migrants find escape.

The grapes of wrath begins to have an even more symbolic meaning, when the author talks about the vineyards of small farmers going bad and them being angry at the bigger producers. The Joads find work at a peach farm, and head out to work there. When they arrive, they find that they will only get paid 5 cents per crate of peaches, and end up making a dollar in a day. Tom sneaks into the peach orchard and comes across Jim Casey in a tent. Casey explains how prison was and that the farmers cut the wages to 2.5 cents, and that the people went on strike. Tom and Jim are caught by police, and one policeman recognizes Casey, calls him a communist, and ends up killing him. Tom is so mad, he kills the policeman that killed Jim, and runs off with a few bruises. The family decides to leave again and find work on a cotton farm and Tom has to hide from the police because his injuries would bring up questions. The Joads find good work on this farm, however they have to buy their own picking bags, and are cheated by the farmer's weighted scales.

The family makes enough money, and are able to live in a boxcar sharing it with the Wainwrights. One of the younger Wainwrights gets into an argument with Ruthie, a young Joad, and Ruthie reveals that Tom has killed to men. Ma Joad runs to tell him that his cover is blown and Tom tells her that he's going to organize the people like Casey. He wants to be part of "the big soul." Al, Tom's brother, also announces to the 2 families, that he and one of the Wainwright girls are getting married.

After days of rain and no work, Rose of Sharon goes into labor. Everything is beginning to flood, and her she is giving birth. Sadly she gives birth to a stillborn baby, and Uncle John is sent into the rain to bury it. After another day of non-stop rain, the family is forced to seek dry land, and comes across a barn. Inside the barn is a little boy and his father. The boy explains to them that his father is starving and needs food. Ma Joad and Rose of Sharon look at eachother, as Rose of Sharon makes everyone leave, and despite the man's protests feeds him her breast milk.

Throughout this entire book, Steinbeck uses a lot of symbolism and irony. He uses symbolism in the chapters of narration. For example, with the turtle. The lady that swerves out of the way could be the people not helping the migrants, but not trying to hurt them either, maybe the police. Also, the trucker represents the corporations and bigger farmers that are kicking out the little farms and migrants, intentionally hurting them by giving them smaller wages. He also uses a lot of irony in the book. The first lines begin with "the last rains came gently, and did not cut the scarred earth..." There was a HUGE drought and famine, people were out of work, and no one knew what to do. They hear about California and travel there, and the irony is, is that the end finishes with a flood. This whole journey has brought the Joads nothing but separation and loss, and the only positive thing that happens is rain comes. He also used irony to represent Rose of Sharon, nursing someone to health with the milk for her stillborn baby. It fit so perfectly with Ma Joad's ideals of poor people are the only ones that will help. A poor person, Rose of Sharon, is needed to help the dying man. No one else could have because he wasn't able to eat solid food. Overall, Steinbeck used a lot of symbolism and irony throughout his book, and these are only a few examples.