Symbolic Characters In John Steinbeck's The Grapes Of Wrath
The Grapes of Wrath: Symbolic Characters
Struggling through such things as the depression, the Dust Bowl summers, and trying to provide for their own families, which included finding somewhere to travel to where life would be safe. Such is the story of the Joads. The
Joads were the main family in John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath, a book which was written in order to show what a family was going through, at this time period, and how they were trying to better their lives at the same time. It wouldn't be enough for Steinbeck to simply write this story in very plain terms, as anyone could have simply logged an account of events and published it.
Critics have argued, however, that Steinbeck was too artificial in his ways of
trying …show more content…
Nature then knows that the house is no longer useful to the Joads and
"reclaims it as its own" (Owens, 79). One of the most interesting parts of this work is what is known by
Steinbeck as the "interchapters." Steinbeck includes several chapters throughout the novel which simply act as a symbolic reference to some other idea, that at first glance, have no meaning to the story, but these stories symbolically prove a point for Steinbeck. The first, and most famous, of these is the journey of the turtle. Steinbeck opens a chapter by simply describing a turtle that is struggling to cross a highway. Steinbeck goes through great detail to explain much about the turtle and its own little journey, but he really doesn't say much about the purpose. That is because it is so clear. The turtle is simply heading somewhere and must cross the road. It struggles and struggles and when it finally gets close to the other side a truck comes by and knocks it across the road anyway, unharmed. The moral is that the turtle made it across, but if it had tried any less, it might have been hit by the tire instead of just being brushed aside by it. Another story symbolic of the plight of the farmer is the ant lion trap which is analogous to the fact that …show more content…
However, Henry Moore states that the shining examples of good symbolism and truth in The Grapes of Wrath come in the interchapters, such as the turtle and tractor tales. The problem though, as he states it, is that "the contrapuntal chapters about the Joad family don't always have the continuous strength to carry them" (Moore, 60). Basically Dr. Moore is saying that if Steinbeck really wanted to use symbolism in this story to show the trials and tribulations of the migrants in the 1930's, he should have kept the story more realistic and down- to-earth in its approach to the topic. Overall, John Steinbeck did appeal to the Midwesterners through his book
The Grapes of Wrath. He won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1962 while The
Grapes of Wrath won the Pulitzer Prize in 1939. He managed to explain many events of the current time period through his use symbolism, and obviously, many readers enjoyed it. By using characters, nature and events for forms of symbolism, Steinbeck keeps the reader interested and at the same time conveys his thoughts and
Struggling through such things as the depression, the Dust Bowl summers, and trying to provide for their own families, which included finding somewhere to travel to where life would be safe. Such is the story of the Joads. The
Joads were the main family in John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath, a book which was written in order to show what a family was going through, at this time period, and how they were trying to better their lives at the same time. It wouldn't be enough for Steinbeck to simply write this story in very plain terms, as anyone could have simply logged an account of events and published it.
Critics have argued, however, that Steinbeck was too artificial in his ways of
trying …show more content…
Nature then knows that the house is no longer useful to the Joads and
"reclaims it as its own" (Owens, 79). One of the most interesting parts of this work is what is known by
Steinbeck as the "interchapters." Steinbeck includes several chapters throughout the novel which simply act as a symbolic reference to some other idea, that at first glance, have no meaning to the story, but these stories symbolically prove a point for Steinbeck. The first, and most famous, of these is the journey of the turtle. Steinbeck opens a chapter by simply describing a turtle that is struggling to cross a highway. Steinbeck goes through great detail to explain much about the turtle and its own little journey, but he really doesn't say much about the purpose. That is because it is so clear. The turtle is simply heading somewhere and must cross the road. It struggles and struggles and when it finally gets close to the other side a truck comes by and knocks it across the road anyway, unharmed. The moral is that the turtle made it across, but if it had tried any less, it might have been hit by the tire instead of just being brushed aside by it. Another story symbolic of the plight of the farmer is the ant lion trap which is analogous to the fact that …show more content…
However, Henry Moore states that the shining examples of good symbolism and truth in The Grapes of Wrath come in the interchapters, such as the turtle and tractor tales. The problem though, as he states it, is that "the contrapuntal chapters about the Joad family don't always have the continuous strength to carry them" (Moore, 60). Basically Dr. Moore is saying that if Steinbeck really wanted to use symbolism in this story to show the trials and tribulations of the migrants in the 1930's, he should have kept the story more realistic and down- to-earth in its approach to the topic. Overall, John Steinbeck did appeal to the Midwesterners through his book
The Grapes of Wrath. He won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1962 while The
Grapes of Wrath won the Pulitzer Prize in 1939. He managed to explain many events of the current time period through his use symbolism, and obviously, many readers enjoyed it. By using characters, nature and events for forms of symbolism, Steinbeck keeps the reader interested and at the same time conveys his thoughts and