Grapes of Wrath
The Epic in the Grapes of Wrath
This paper discusses how the idea of the epic can be found in The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck. The novel itself is an enormous work of approximately 500 pages. And in the words of Howard Levant, it is "an attempted prose epic, a summation of national experience of genre" (Levant 91). Because Steinbeck is depicting more than just a "slice of life" but rather an entire range of life at a given time in America, the book may justly be called "epic" in terms of art and scope. Indeed, The Grapes of Wrath contains epic ideas and themes (the struggle to be good and/or to survive evil times), epic similes (examples of the struggle that go on at length), epic characters (larger than life types who seem bigger than ordinary men), and an epic journey (the travel from Oklahoma to the "Promised" Land of California). By including all of these aspects, Steinbeck sets up his novel as work that is indeed an epic.
The epic simile is an important one for any epic and one chapter in particular serves as a good example of how it is used to illustrate the novel's epic proportions. Epic works typically contain symbols like road signs that help to guide the reader through the length of the work. Steinbeck devotes all of Chapter 3 to a turtle and its effort to cross from one side of the road to the other. It is plainly a symbol of the effort of the Joads to cross from one side of the country to the other. That effort in and of itself is epic and relates to the epic journey of the novel. Epics are often centered on journeys, and The Grapes of Wrath maps a physical journey but also a spiritual journey as well.
The epic journey is another typical aspect of the epic, and in The Grapes of Wrath there is not one but two epic journeys underway. First, there is the physical journey, which, of course, is the journey from Oklahoma to California during the Great Depression. But that journey is accompanied by an ever-present danger -- the danger of starvation. As Steinbeck himself noted when researching the lives of the migrant laborers, his characters are based on real people who "move, frantically, with starvation close behind them" (Demott xxxv). The second journey is the spiritual journey, which can be seen throughout in the various characters who look within themselves in order to learn deeper lessons about themselves, about their community, and about the need for human kindness. This spiritual journey begins with Jim Casy's remarks about the soul and ends when Rose of Sharon feeds the starving old man with the milk from her own breast. The giving of human milk, itself a symbol of human kindness, is a sign that the characters' spiritual salvation is at hand. The ultimate journey is completed. The young are helping the old. A sense of community, which has long been lost, is restored by Rose of Sharon's gift of self.
The need for a spiritual journey is identified through the character of Jim Casy. Casy represents the heart of the epic when he tells Tom Joad about his own spiritual failings. Casy's failings mirror the economic failings of the nation. America in the 1920s thought it was rich and prosperous in a way that it really was not. 1929 it realized that much of its fortune was based on dreams. When the market collapsed, many people were left without the ability to pay the bills. When the Dust Bowl hit, farmers had to abandon their land in order to find work elsewhere. It was a time of great upheaval in America. In Jim Casy's soul, it is also a time of great upheaval. But because he is an honest man, he is able to take a good look at himself, just as Steinbeck takes a good look at what is happening in America at this time. Casy can see his own faults and in seeing them he is able to consider a possible cure.
The epic theme or nature of the novel focuses on finding this "cure." Casy hits upon the cure early on when he talks to Tom and tells him that maybe all men share one big soul (Steinbeck 23). If this is true, it means that in order to survive, in order for the soul to live, everyone must look after each other rather than just after himself. This is what Eric Carlson argues in his essay on the novel: "kindness breeds kindess" in the "naturalistic and humanistic" world that Steinbeck has created (Carlson 172). Carlson objects to the
For two years prior to the publication of the Grapes of Wrath, Steinbeck spent his time with a group of migrant workers making their way towards California. Travelling and working with the laborers, Steinbeck found the heartfelt material in which to base his book." (Cordyack, 1) This shows in his gritty but sympathetic portrayal of the American working class. This is an idea which illuminates perhaps the most important of
But the value and meaning of life and love described by Casy is manifested by the outsiders, the Okies, the rejects, the wanderers, the strangers, and the oppressed. They are the socially marginal characters of a self-satisfying culture. They are the ones Steinbeck admires in his novel for they are the ones who "wander through the wilderness of hardships, seeking their own Promised Land" (Shockley 87). They await the
Grapes of Wrath John Steinbeck's novel, "The Grapes of Wrath," described the economic divide that existed in America during the Great Depression of the 1930's and the tragedies that occurred as a result. A native Californian, Steinbeck used his home state as the backdrop for a story of a family of migrant farm workers; derisively called "Okies" for their area of origin: Oklahoma. Devastated by a natural disaster commonly referred to
Grapes of Wrath John Steinbeck's novel, "The Grapes of Wrath," described the economic divide that existed in America during the Great Depression of the 1930's and the tragic result that occurred as a result. A native Californian, Steinbeck used his home state as the backdrop for a story of a family of migrant farm workers, derisively called "Okies" for their area of origin, Oklahoma. The troubles the family faced, although originally
Grapes of Wrath Social Welfare The Great Depression affected everyone throughout the United States, but there is no denying the fact that those in the general Midwest were almost destroyed as a result. The complete social and economic consequences to a few years of drought, financial distress, and the growing applications of technology -- which led towards a social change in job placements -- all affected the farmer's plight. Based on John
Grapes of Wrath There ain't no sin and there ain't no virtue. There's just stuff people do," Jim Casy tells Tom in Chapter Four of The Grapes of Wrath. This quote from Steinbeck's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel illustrates the author's ability to celebrate humanity and embrace human faults with compassion. A former preacher who learns through experience that judging human beings according to strict moral doctrine is no way to cultivate compassion,
Our semester plans gives you unlimited, unrestricted access to our entire library of resources —writing tools, guides, example essays, tutorials, class notes, and more.
Get Started Now