Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath

The Choice of a Lifetime - Literally

Steinbeck, therefore, leaves his audience with the harsh reality that during the 1930’s families could either remain on their land becoming helpless and lifeless or leave behind generations of memories and hopes for a chance, however slim, at creating a new life for themselves.

http://blogs.setonhill.edu/AlyssaSanow/2009/02/the_choice_of_a_lifetime_-_lit.html

Why did the turtle cross the road?
http://blogs.setonhill.edu/RachaelSarver/2009/02/why_did_the_turtle_cross_the_r.html

“. . . Tom said, ‘Well, I see you been busy.’
She looked down. ‘You do not see, not yet.’
‘Ma tol’ me. When’s it gonna be?’
‘Oh, not for a long time! Not till nex’ winter.’
Tom laughed. ‘Gonna get ‘im bore in a orange ranch, huh? In one a them white houses with orange trees all aroun’.’
Rose of Sharon felt her stomach with both her hands. ‘You do not see,’ she said, and she smiled her complacent smile and went into the house.”
~pages 134-35

http://blogs.setonhill.edu/JenniferPrex/2009/02/rose_knows_all.html

A Turtle in Disguise
http://blogs.setonhill.edu/AjaHannah/2009/02/a_turtle_in_disguise.html

Intercalary Chapters

http://blogs.setonhill.edu/RosalindBlair/2009/02/pardone_the_interuption.html

"Granma, not following the conversation, bleated, 'Pu-raise Gawd fur vittory.'"

http://blogs.setonhill.edu/MatthewHenderson/2009/02/granma_not_following_the_conve.html

"Chapter 1"

http://blogs.setonhill.edu/JoshuaWilks/2009/02/what_a_setting.html

http://blogs.setonhill.edu/NikitaMcClellan/2009/02/insight_into_the_past.html

Has Tommy gone mad?
What about Ma?

http://blogs.setonhill.edu/ChelsieBitner/2009/02/i_got_to_know_tommy.html

"The coffee machine spurted steam, and the waitress, without looking, reached behind her and turned it off."
http://blogs.setonhill.edu/AliciaCampbell/2009/02/more_options_but_still_limited.html

"Joad dug at his rolled coat and found the pocket and brought out his pint...He unscrewed the cap and held out the bottle. 'Have a little snort?' Casy took the bottle and regarded it broodingly. 'I ain't preachin' no more much. The sperit ain't in the people much no more; and worse'n that, the sperit ain't in me no more.'"

Steinbeck, page 20

And so the preacher no longer has much spirit? It would seem as though he's taken an occassional liking to another vintage.

http://blogs.setonhill.edu/ChristopherDufalla/2009/02/spirits_within.html

"'I ain't gonna baptize. I'm gonna work in the fiel's, in the green fiel's, an' I'm gonna be near to folks. I ain't gonna try to teach 'em nothin'. I'm gonna try to learn. Gonna learn why the folks walks in the grass, gonna hear 'em talk, gonna hear 'em sing.... His eyes were wet and shining. 'Gonna lay in the grass, open an' honest with anybody that'll have me...'" (Steinbeck, 82)

http://blogs.setonhill.edu/AndrewAdams/2009/02/okie_tendencies.html

"Well, Pa wasn't no hand to write for pretty, or to write for writin'. He'd sign up his name as nice as anybody, an' lick his pencil. But Pa never did write no letters. He always says what he couldn' tell a fella with his mouth wasn't worth leanin' on no pencil about."

Okie tendencies in this book seem to border on the edge of being stereotypical

"..Your grandpa stood out there with a rifle, an' he blowed the headlights off that cat', but she come on just the same. Your grandpa didn't wanta kill the guy drivin' that cat', an, that was Willy Feeley, an, Willy knowed it, so he jus' come on, an' bumped the hell outa the house..." Muley explained to Joad.

http://blogs.setonhill.edu/JustinIellimo/2009/02/to_stay_or_to_drive_into_your.html

"Now, look here. I'm givin' you my shirt, an' you took all this time. I might a made three sales while i been talkin' to you. I'm disgusted. Yeah, sign right here. All right, sir."
Even eighty years ago, those used car salesman knew what they were doing.

http://blogs.setonhill.edu/JustinIellimo/2009/02/used_cars_for_sale.html

Extensions of a Monster

http://blogs.setonhill.edu/JustinIellimo/2009/02/extensions_of_a_monster.html

http://blogs.setonhill.edu/CarlosPeredo/2009/02/when_a_man_is_broken.html

"yellowing, dusty, afternoon light put a golden color on the land. The cornstalks looked golden" (Steinbeck 26)

http://blogs.setonhill.edu/JulianneBanda/2009/02/golden.html

"I got thinkin' how we was holy when we was one thing, an' mankin' was holy when it was one thing."
http://blogs.setonhill.edu/JessicaBitar/2009/02/holy.html

"Joad carefully drew the torso of a woman in the dirt, breasts, hips, pelvis."
The female figure is a symbol of fertility.
http://blogs.setonhill.edu/AprilMinerd/2009/02/hebrew_scripture.html

"As the embankment grew steeper and steeper, the more frantic were the efforts of the land turtle. Pushing hind legs strained and slipped, boosting the shll along, and the horny head protruded as far as the neck could stretch."

The wind grew stronger, whisked under stones, carried up straws and old leaves, and even little clods, marking its course as it sailed across the fields. The air and the sky darkened and through them the sun shone redly, and there was a raw sting in the air. 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 weakened leaves until the roots were freed by the prying wind and then each stalk settled wearily sideways toward the earth and pointed the direction of the wind. (5)

http://blogs.setonhill.edu/RebeccaMarrie/2009/02/biblical_imagery_in_the_grapes.html

The tractors came over the roads and into the fields, great crawlers moving like insects, having the incredible strength of insects." Steinbech pg 47

http://blogs.setonhill.edu/NathanHart/2009/02/insects.html

http://blogs.setonhill.edu/SueMyers/2009/02/mr-turtle-goes.html

http://blogs.setonhill.edu/SueMyers/2009/02/mr-turtle-goes.html

"The monster isn't men, but it can make men do what it wants."
They say the monster is the bank, but is it really greed?
http://blogs.setonhill.edu/MarieVanMaanen/2009/02/the_monster_is_greed.html

The Concrete Highway...
http://blogs.setonhill.edu/QuinnKerno/2009/02/the_concrete_hi.html

chapter 20
bull-simply