Grapes of Wrath
Focus questions
Prepare a discussion of your assigned chapter while making use of the following guide to analyzing prose passages. Your discussion
should begin with an assertion of a thesis (treat your assigned chapter as an essay-what is the author's argument) and a discussion of
the author's use of rhetorical and literary devices in support of his thesis.
1. Typically, the four purposes of academic nonfiction prose are:
· Describe
· Explain
· Inform
· Persuade
2. Persuasion stems from three sources
· Ethos - an author may rely upon his own reputation to move an audience
· Pathos – an author may rely upon an audiences’ feelings
· Logos – an author uses reason to persuade an audience
3. Is the passage an excerpt from fiction?
· These passages tend to be a description of character or location, seldom a philosophical commentary
Organization
1. If the passage is descriptive, is it organized spatially or by order of importance? What is the overall effect?
2. If the passage is narrative, is the chronological order of events interrupted by flashback, foreshadowing, episodic events?
3. If the passage is expository, are any of the following devices or methods used: definition, cause and effect, comparison/contrast,
classification, examples, analogy?
4. If persuasion is used, what methods does the author use to bolster the argument? Does the author deal with opposing evidence?
Does the author fall into any logical fallacies?
Tone and Mood
1. What is the mood (effect upon the reader)?
2. What is the tone (author’s attitude)?
Language and Style
1. What is the word choice? Is it colloquial, idiomatic, scientific, Latinate, formal, concrete, abstract, scholarly, allusive?
2. To what senses does the author appeal?
3. What literary devices of sense does the author use (personification, metaphor, simile, allusion)?
4. What literary devices of sound does the author use (alliteration, assonance, consonance, repetition)?
5. Does the language have rhythm?
6. Are the sentences long or short? Where does the author use short sentences or fragments for special emphasis? Where are there
long sentences or run-ons for special effect?
7. Are the sentences simple, compound, complex, or compound-complex? Where does the author use sentence variety to emphasize
an idea?
8. What specialized sentence structure does the author use? Balanced, freight-train, inverted, parallel, periodic? Anaphora, antithesis,
asyndeton, chiasmus, negative-positive restatement, polysyndeton? (see rhetorical devices handout on www.dothgrin.net )
9. Do any sentences begin or end with a significant word or phrase? Do any sentences have the main idea hidden in the middle, in an
interrupter, so as to create surprise or suspense?
10. Does the author use colors to enhance moods or characterize someone?
11. What are the best-worded phases or best chosen words?
Chapter 1 Outline
Steinbeck uses biblical allusions and metaphors of season to show the rising conflict that plagued Midwestern society. A directional
shift from agrarian lifestyle to urban cities disrupted the profession, lifestyle, and family structure and threatened the survival of the
nation of the twenties and thirties.
· Describe: "The surface of the earth crusted, a thin hard crust, and as the sky became pale, so the earth became pale, pink in the red
country and white in the grey country." This sentence uses imagery to portray a barren, almost lifeless, scene that sets the stage of the
book.
· Explain: The chapter explains how the average southern family is during the depression. The families are centered on the man, or the
father. The women and even the children know that if there is “no break” then everything will be ok. They can tell if the break is coming
through the man’s anger, if he doesn’t get angry then the families know he has given up. If the men give up then there is no hope of
survival for the rest of the family.
· Inform: “The women knew it was all right, and the watching children knew it was all right. Women and children knew deep in
themselves that no misfortune was too great to bear if their men were whole.” The women and children relied on “their men” or their
fathers and husbands. The men of this age were the main support for almost every family and if they were to crack or to break then the
family would go to ruin.
Organization:
- Chronological
a. " In the last part of May, the sky grew pale..."
" ...as the sharp sun struck day after day..."
" Then it was June, and the sun shone ..."
" When June was half gone..."
- Chapter 1 is written in order of importance. The effect of this shows the climax of the overall situation. In this case, the dust is
immensely covering Oklahoma, resulting to the farmers to leave their home and find elsewhere or stay there and live in in their barren
environment of dust.
- Tone and Mood
b. The tone and mood is serious and matter of fact; basically melancholy.
" And the children came out of the houses, but they did not run or shout as they would have done after a rain."
" Men and women huddled in their houses, and they tied handkerchiefs over their noses when they went out, and wore goggles to
protect their eyes."
" The men sat still---thinking---figuring."
- Steinbeck uses a style of writing called naturalism, which is a "deterministic theory of writing in which it is held that a writer should
adopt an objective view toward the material written about, be free of preconceived ideas as to form and content, and represent with
clinical accuracy and frankness the details of life."
He uses an example of Oklahoman farmers to set up the rest of the novel for the Joads' migration to California.
Language and Style
Steinbeck started off using concrete words. But later uses literary devices (i.e. personifications, similes) to add few descriptive
abstractions.
“The last rains lifted the corn quickly and scattered weed colonies and grass along the sides of the roads so that the gray country and
the dark red country began to disappear under a green cover.” (page 1)
“For the stars could not pierce the dust to get down, and the window lights could not even spread beyond their own yards.” (page 3)
*Although a lot of the dialog later in the book is colloquial dialog, the first chapter keeps the slang lingo on the DL.
The first chapter is about setting the stage for the rest of the novel and Steinbeck chose to just keep the language straight forward and
to the point.
Steinbeck’s appeal to sight can be found in, “The surface of the earth crusted, a thin hard crust, and as the sky became pale, so the
earth became pale, pink in the red country and white in the gray country.”
By describing the color changes of the countries, sky, and earth, he paints a visual.
Before and after of the land is like the before and after of society. It started off in spring, a place of
Steinbecks Use of Literary Devices
“An automobile boiled a cloud behind it.” Personification- automobiles cannot really boil clouds.
“Gray plumes into the air like sluggish smoke.” Simile- compares the plumes to smoke using “like”.
“Corn fought the wind.” Personification- corn cannot really fight the wind.
Shows corn (corn a symbol for the agrarian lifestyle) violently trying to fight the wind (the wind is the "stunting" or the place where the
transition into modernity occurs). This shows the resistance of society against the capitalist/industrialist/urban influences that are
begining to rupture America as an agrarian society.
“the earth crusted, a thin hard crust” repeats crust, somewhat showing a sort of detestation for the crust (crust could also represent the
affect that the shift in society has on the people, they detest it).
“the sky became pale, so the earth became pale” repeats pale, giving it a sort of meloncholy feel
Contains many run-on sentences as well as short sentences.
“Houses were shut tight, and cloth wedged around doors and windows, but dust came in so thinly that it could not be seen in the air,
and it settled like pollen on the chairs and tables, on the dishes. The people brushed it by their shoulders. Little lines of dust lay at the
door sills.” Not only are the people trying to keep out the dust, they are trying to keep out the new and hold on to their old way of life.
But the dust still came in and and sat on their dishes. The people brush it off but the new way of life still lay outside of their doors.
Sentences vary in length, giving it a “stop and go” feel.
“The men sat still—thinking—figuring.”
This short sentence uses the verbs “sat”, “thinking” and “figuring” to illustrate the clockwork of the men’s thinking process during their
disparity.
"The children stood near by, drawing figures in the dust with bare toes, and the children sent exploring senses out to see whether the
men and women would break.” Longer sentence.
He uses a longer sentence to show the process of what the children did in sequence.
“Houses were shut tight, and cloth wedged around doors and windows, but dust came in so thinly that it could not be seen in the air,
and it settled like pollen on the chairs and tables, on the dishes.” Run-on sentence.
Uses conjunctions at first to connect the ideas (“and cloth”, “but dust”, “and it settled”) and then abruptly ends the chain with a
preposition (“on the dishes”). The dust coming in thinly shows that the times are creeping up on them.
Chapter 3 Outline
Thesis:
This chapter foreshadows the struggles that the Joad family will face, and symbolizes all of all of the harships and dangers that people
of this era had to trudge through every day.
The mood is dark because the turtle is in a harsh environment with many dangers and obstacles. The tone is realistic because it
explains the events that unfold are realistic to the life of the farmers.
The language is allusive because it references future events and gives the allusion to the time period. The author uses allusion, simile
and personification.
Symbols:

The concrete road with the tangled dry grass represents the road of life and the difficulties along the way.

The grass and oat beards that catch on the dog’s coat represent the elements that pull down the people who are struggling to
survive on the road of life.

The different pieces that make up the turtle's shell represent all the things that the farmers had to keep them together on their
journey.

The turtle's hard shelled outside and soft inside represtents the agrarian people who tried to be strong even though they were
just ordinary people trying to survive.
Allusions:


The journey of many American farmers(The turtle struggling across the road)
The relationship between the poor and the wealthy(The car purposely trying to hit the turtle)
Simile“The back legs went to work straining like elephant legs”
Personification“Sleeping life waiting to be spread and dispersed”
“The sun lay on the grass and warmed it”
Structure of the Chapter
-The sentences are very long and descriptive to relay the feeling of an endless journey.
Chapter 5 Outline
The purpose of this chapter was to explain to the reader the situation at hand and the plight of the common man in 1930’s America.
Steinbeck uses pathos, an appeal to the reader’s emotions to convey the message clearly and get the reader to sympathize with the
Joad family and the rest of the tenant farmers. By doing this Steinbeck conveys the message that we are better as a whole, like the
turtle shell from chapter 3, than as individuals. Also, this chapter helps to impress the depth and power of the problem at hand in
American agrarian society at this time.
Organization
Steinbeck uses a cause and effect style of organization in this chapter. Put simply, he states that because the farmer’s did not do
produce the owner men were taking the land back. The cause, “The owner men sat in their cars and explained. You know the land is
poor. You’ve scrabbled at it long enough” and the effect, “You’ll have to get off the land.”
Tone & Mood
The mood of this chapter is depression, sadness, disappointment and sorrow. The tenant farmers are depressed and sad because they
are losing their farms and disappointed in their neighbors for plowing their homes down. Steinbeck’s tone in this chapter reflects great
sympathy for the farmers and their terrible situation.
Language & Style
The language used in this chapter is formal and concrete. Steinbeck gets to the point in his sentences without using excess baggage or
making them fluffy. Even thought the language is simple, Steinbeck retains a rhythm in his writing contained in the pauses and
sentence structure. He appeals mainly to the visual senses of the reader in this chapter, “The tractors came over the roads and into the
fields, great crawlers moving like insects, having the incredible strength of insects.”
Literary Devices
To convey the image and theme of this chapter Steinbeck uses several literary devices. To improve on the idea of the bank as evil, he
uses personification, “A Bank or a company can’t do that, because those creatures don’t breathe air, don’t eat side-meat.” He also uses
some repetition and anaphora in the chapter to better describe the situation of the owner men, “Some of them hated the mathematics
that drove them, and some were afraid and some worshipped the mathematics because it provided a refuge from thought and feeling.”
Chapter 7 Outline
During the beginning of the Great Depression poverty and despair flooded towns and rural areas.
Many faced repossession and foreclosure which led them to think of other places to live. People
began a mass exodus from the Dust Bowl to the "great lands" of California, which they thought would
be brimming with jobs needing to be filled. Chapter seven of The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
examines the greed and selfishness which exists within the used car industry. This chapter also
reveals the ignorance of the travelers who want to escape their problems by moving to a new place.
Because everyone is caught up in the depression they are forced to become less human and more
like cogs in a machine.
The chapter begins with a general explanation of the Dust Bowl used car lots and their characteristics. It then moves on to more
specific language and examples to further the reader's understanding of the time period. Most of the chapter is stated from the
salesman's point of view. Near the end the language returns to a more general account and describes more of the car lot.
The tone throughout chapter seven remains expository and descriptive, only a small amount of emotion is present. However the mood
is full of guilt stemming from the salesmen taking advantage of the buyers. The people need cars and will eventually, after some
convincing, will pay anything for them. The salesmen observe the buyers and see how much they can pay for a car, they use this
knowledge to increase their profits.
Word choice is very simple and straightforward. The buyers talk in short sentences which demonstrates their ignorance. The salesmen
use pressuring and intimidating approaches to "force" the sale of a car.
"Maybe we better look around.
Look around! You come in when we're busy, an' take up our time an
then walk out!" (Pg. 64)
The author appeals to the reader's sense of vision when descriptions of cars are given. Emotional appeals are also spread throughout
as the buyers are taken advantage of.
Rhythm is quick, due to the salesmens' aggressive language and contributes to keeping the buyers on their toes. The sentences are
short and follow the salesmens' dialogues and their sales approaches. "Cheap transportation, three trailers. '27 Ford, clean. Checked
cars, guaranteed cars. Free radio. Car with 100 gallons of gas free. Come in and look. Used Cars. No overhead." (Pg. 61) The use of
short sentences emphasize the fast paced sales techniques employed by the salesmen. This technique rushes the ignorant buyers into
quick and uneducated decisions. Simple and balanced sentence structure is used throughout and allows flow and consistency.
"I don't know --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 there. All right, sir." (Pg. 64) This example clearly represents the techniques and language used throughout the
chapter. The salesman is rushing the buyer and putting him into a position of guilt. The simple language and words show the
uncertainty of the buyer, the salesman uses these keys to exploit the man and make more money.
Steinbeck expresses his opinions of society throughout The Grapes of Wrath. In this chapter he uses a large metaphor to show the
greed contained within society. The car salesmen can represent anybody who is at least partially educated and the travelers represent
uneducated people. Steinbeck's view is that the greed and selfishness in society is created by uneducated people who can easily be
taken advantage of.
Chapter 9 Outline
In the late 1920's the Stock Market crashed causing millions of people to lose money. During the Great Depression of the 1930's in
America that ensued, people all across the country struggled for survival. Later that same year, banks ran out of money and closed
creating panic throughout the buisness and agricultural world. These panics caused many farm owners to evict tenants that were living
on their land causing a mass migration to California. The Grapes of Wrath, by John Steinbeck, illustrates the economic depression and
migration on families in America. Steinbeck shows the problems of Americans as they faced great economic difficulties during the
depression, and also shows how man's inhumanity to man causes problems by using symbols and literary devices in a sequence of
events from farmer to broker.
Mood plays a large role in showing the farmers' dilema. In the chapter the primary mood throughout is deppressed and hopeless. The
reader can feel the depressed and hopless mood while Steinbeck describes the farmers hardly getting anything for their no longer
needed possessions. After the farmers were defeated by their fellow men(brokers), "Some bought a pint a pint and drank it fast to
make the impact hard and stunning. But they didn't laugh and they didn't dance. They didn't sing or pick the guitars. They walked back
to the farms, hands in pockets, and heads down, shoes kicking the red dust up."(pg. 87) The frustrated farmers, unhappy with their
profit, no doubt felt defeated by their own species. They had just sold their life for $18.
Steinbeck also uses metaphor to show the inhumanity of men and the difficulties in a depression. He uses metaphors in the chapter to
show what certain possessions mean to the tenant farmers. As the tenant farmer tries to sell his horses he remembers "a little girl
plaiting the forelocks, taking off her hair ribbon to make bows, standing back, head cocked, rubbing the soft noses with her cheek.
You're buying years of work, toil in the sun; you're buying a sorrow that can't talk." (pg. 87). The tenant farmer remembers great times
that he had with all of his possessions and how selling them will be like selling his life. This metaphor shows the farmers bitterness
towards men that are buying his possessions for such a low price during a time when men should support each other.
In chapter nine, Steinbeck also uses a variety of sentence types to create different effects. Short sentences, long sentences, and
question based sentences are all used to illustrate his main point. Short sentences and question based sentences are used to portray
bussiness negotiations during that time while long sentences are typically used to show emotions such as disapointment or dispair.
"Fifty cents isn't enough to get for a good plow. That seeder cost 38 dollars. $2 isn't enough. Can't haul it back-- Well, take it, and a
bitterness with it."(Pg. 86) Short sentences like the one above clearly show the tense bussiness relationship between the brokers and
farmers. The farmers know they are going to get ripped off by the salesmen, but try to remain calm and polite at the same time. Long
sentences tend to dig deeper into the souls of the people of that era. "This land, this red land, is us; and the flood years and the dust
years and the drought years are us. We can't start again. The bitterness we sold to the junk man--he got it all right, but we have it still.
And when the owner men told us to go, that's us; and when the tractor hit the house, that's us until we're dead."(Pg. 87-88). Lengthy
sentence structures like the previous vividly illustrate the frustrations of the farmers against those in power and the brokers for for the
loss of their life's possessions and their lives.
Rhythm is also used by steinbeck to unveil his main point to the reader. In chapter nine, the rhythm goes from long to short all
throughout in order to ceate looser rhythmic effects that will help Steinbeck reveal the point that he is ultimately trying to get accross.
"Off horse is eight, near ten, but might of been twin colts the way they work together. See? The teeth. Sound all over. Deep Lungs.
Feet fair and clean. How much? Ten dollars? For both? And the wagon-- oh, Jesus Christ! I'd shoot 'em for dog feed first."(Pg. 87) In
the previous quote, lines and are both long and short and are meant to be stressed differently while reading. These stressed words
help show emotion in the characters' voices and help to go further into how farmers feel about being backstabbed by the junk yard
salesmen. The reader is able to feel and sense the emotion better through rhythm and grasp main point easier this way.
Steinbeck uses devices of sense to illustrate his main point in this chapter. One of the devices he uses is personification. He uses this
device to show how sorrow and dispear haunt the farmers. "And some day-- the armies of bitterness will all be going the same way.
And they'll all walk together, and there'll be dead terror from it."( Pg. 88). In this line, Steinbeck uses personification to give bitterness
human qualities when he says they walk and form armies. This line states that one day all of the bitterness that the farmer has will
come together and the result will be terror. This shows what farmers felt about the difficulties they were experiencing during this time
and how they were sad that the brokers were taking advantage of their problems. The farmers are being treated inhumainly by the
brokers during a time of great financial difficulty causing dispear across the farmer population.
This chapter shows how there are many difficulties, including men being inhumane to each other, during an economic depression. This
depression that started in the late 1920's and caried on for many years is the worst in American history. Years later, when Roosevelt is
president and WWII breaks out, the economy realigns itself putting an end to the depression.
Chapter 11 Outline
Overall Plot:
In chapter 11 Steinbeck explains how the vacant town is dying. All the houses are vacant because the families were forced off the land.
The bank corporations (aka government) forced anyone who owned a farm in the midwest. They paid people to drive tractors through
the farms to get them to leave. Their own people were driving them off their land for the sake of getting money to feed the children.
They decide to travel west to the orange fields in California to get away from the threat of their homes being demolished.
Overall Argument:
-He argues that the governement and society should have done something to prevent this from happening to families all across the
midwest.
-He underlines that the government was responsible for the families across the midwest who were homeless and forced to travel west
to get work to provide for their family
-The government should have done something to prevent the country from living in lawlessness and corruption between eachother for
jobs
Rhetorical Structure and Analysis:
-He sets up the subject of the chapter by explaing how the farm houses and land are collecting dust and falling apart and the
connection between a man and his land
-The families have lived on these farms their whole lifes and now they are being forced off by their own people
-The families can't understand how their own people could drive them out for money. This portrays how the country in the 1930's was
so poor they would do anything for money and food for their children
-His descriptions help to convey the foreshadowing of the events to come in the rest of the novel
-He clarifies the connection between a man and his land, and how the land is a part of the man. If the man dies, so does the land. By
explaining this connection he foreshadows the death of Grampa
-Grampa's Death-since he was forced to leave the land Grampa is slowly dying as they vacant land is slowly dying with the lack of
humanity
Sensoring Details in the Text:
-"For nirates are not that land, nor phosphates and the length of fiber in the cotton is not that land. carbon is not a man, nor salt nor
water nor calicum. He is all these, but he is much more, much more; and the land is so much more than its analysis." (Page 115)
-The land is not just elements of nature and man is not just elements of chemistry; the land and man are much more than their exterior
-"When the corrugated iron doors are shut, he goes home, and his home is not the land." (Page 116)
-The men that are working on the land have no connection to land or their work, every day they come to drive tractors through the land
and then go home, the seperation between work and life causes the men to loose wonder for their work
-"A dust settled on the floors, and only mouse and weasel and cat tracks disturbed it." (Page 116)
-The houses were so vacant and dead, only the little animals disturbed its peaceful decaying; the human elements of the town slowly
floated away in the wind
-"Fella gets use' to a place, it's hard to go, Fella gets use' to a way a thinkin', it's hard to leave. I ain't a preacher no more, but all the
time I find I'm prayin', not even thinkin' what I'm doin'." (Page 51)
-It was difficult for the family to leave the land their family has been living on for generations
-"But when the motor of a tractor stops...the heat goes out of it like the living heat that leaves a corpse." (Page 115)
-He uses literal descriptions of death to portray the deterioration of the town. He uses literal descriptions of death to portray the
deterioration of the town.
Mood and Tone:
-Thetone is sympathetic and the mood is dark and mournful
-Its effect upon the reader is to give them a relaxed feel, the feeling of the land slowly dying and withering away
-The author wants the reader to understand the death of the vacant town; once the family left the town began to die
-He also wants the reader to understand the choater is foreshadowing events that will happen in the next chapter
-"There is a warmth of life in the barn, and the heat and smell of life...the heat goes out of it like the living heat that leaves a corpse."
(Page 115)
-The mood of the chapter is very dark and mournful, becuase it foreshadows sarrow and hardships for the families
-"And on windy nights the doors banged, and the ragged curtains fluttered in the broken windows." (Page 117)
-The tone of the chapter is sympathetic, becuase the town is empty and slowly dying
-The tone expresses the sympathy the author has for the town thats dying and the families who are leaving and will endure those pains
along their journey
Chapter 12 Outline
This passage is an expository essay because it explains Highway 66, which is the road that leads to California from the East.
*Steinbeck defines Highway 66 as "the main migrant road" and includes a detailed list of all the places it passes through.(118)
*Steinbeck compares "Cars limping along 66 like wounded things, panting and struggling. Too hot, loose connections, loose bearings,
rattling bodies" (122).
*Steinbeck classifies Highway 66 as "the path of a people in flight, refugees from dust and shrinking land, from the thunder of tractors
and shrinking ownership...66 is the mother road, the road of flight" (118).
*Steinbeck also tells a story of hope to contrast the previous examples of despair. He portrays a family of twelve who had no car to get
to California and had to rely on the generosity of others to get them there. At the end of the passage, Steinbeck writes, "But how can
such courage be, and such faith in their own species? Very few things would teach such faith" (122).
The main argument Steinbeck is trying to convey in Chapter 12 is that the road traveled by the farmers to start their new life in
California is difficult and it's a matter of luck whether or not the families make it. In a broader sense, everyone must use their innate
resources to survive the unforseen circumstances that they encounter throughout their life.
*Steinbeck uses repetition and appeals to your senses to exaggerate the feeling that the journey is long and tiring. "Listen to the motor.
Listen to the wheels. Listen with your ears and with your hands on the steering wheel; listen with the palm of your hand on the gearshift lever; listen with your feet on the floor boards" (119).
*Steinbeck uses questions to show the uncertainty of success of the families in flight..."Wreck along the road, abandoned. Well, what
happened to them? What happened to the folks in the car? Did they walk? Where are they? Where does the courage come from?
Where does the terrible faith come from?" (122).
*Chapter 12 is also used to foreshadow the events that the Joads will endure along their journey:
-"We got to get a tire, but, Jesus, they want a lot for a ol' tire." (120) This foreshadows the car troubles the Joads will have to overcome
on their way to California.
-"Ever hear of the border patrol on the California line? Police form Los Angeles-stopped you bastards, turned you back." (120) This
description of the police foreshadow the anti-migrant behavior of the officers that control the government camp the Joads live in for a
part of the novel.
-The final story in the chapter about the family of twelve who relied on the kindness of others to get to California alludes to the Joads
and the Wilsons helping each other through the struggles that life on the migrant road can cause.
Tone and Mood
*Mood-Steinbeck creates a discouraging mood with his descriptions of the hard journey ahead of the migrants on Highway 66..."And
the men driving the trucks and the overloaded cars listened apprehensively. How far between towns? It is a terror between towns. If
something breaks-well, if something breaks we camp right here while Jim walks to town and gets a part and walks back and-how much
food we got?" (119). At the end of the chapter however, Steinbeck expresses hope saying, "The people in flight from the terror behindstrange things happen to them, some bitterly cruel and some so beautiful that the faith is refired forever." (122)
*Tone-The chapter is written in a very matter of fact way because it gives realistic examples of things that might happen to the
travelers. It is also broken down into a sequence of events starting with describing the road and where it goes, then explaining possible
mishaps that the families might face.
Chapter 14 Outline
During the Great Depression, the United States begins to change. The “great owners” blame other things like the growing labor
movement and new taxes, but these things resulted from the struggles of the Great Depression. The purpose of Chapter 14 is to show
the social shift from independent laborers to unionized laborers.
Steinbeck uses pathos to invoke feeling within the reader to gain sympathy for the characters in the novel. “The baby has a cold. Here,
take this blanket. It’s wool. It was my mother’s blanket-take it for the baby.” (pg. 152) This quote not only gives an example of a
common problem facing the people of this time and region (illness), but it also makes the reader feel compassion for these people.
Steinbeck uses cause and effect to show what is happening to the farmers. Awful things continually plagued the farmers’ lives; “the
causes are a hunger in the stomach.” (pg. 150) The farmers realized that they needed to help each other out, give up their personal
desires and unite. “If you could separate causes from results, if you could know that Paine, Marx, Jefferson, Lenin, were results, not
causes, you might survive.” (pg. 152) Steinbeck also alludes to great figures in history to show that the farmers are uniting as a result of
the depression.
The mood is very depressing and hopeless at first, “The Western States, nervous as horses before a thunder storm.” (pg. 150) This
would cause the reader to feel sympathy for the farmers. Once the farmers start uniting together, the mood changes to being more
scared, not knowing what is going to happen. “For the quality of owning freezes you forever into ‘I,’ and cuts you off from the ‘we.’” (pg.
152) The farmers have no idea if uniting is better than owning as much as one possibly can.
Steinbeck uses a lot of repetition in this chapter to stress that the changes the nation is going through is forcing the farmers to unite.
“…results, not causes. Results, not causes; results, not causes.” (pg. 150) Steinbeck wants to get his point across the changes, such
as labor unity and new taxes are not causes of the hard times, but results of their circumstances.
Steinbeck uses similes and personification to emphasize his purpose to show that there is a social shift to a more unionized working
party. “This you may know when the bombs plummet out of the black planes on the market place, when prisoners are stuck like pigs…”
(pg. 151) This simile shows how the “prisoners” (which represent the great owners) can do nothing if the laborers and farmers unite
together and strike. “A single tractor took my land.” (pg. 151) Steinbeck personifies the tractor as something that can actually steal
someone’s land to show how changes are coming and that many farmers are forced to leave their land.
Steinbeck also uses sensory detail to show that times were rough for the farmers. “…this rusty car creaking along the highway to the
west.” (pg. 151) This statement uses the visual and hearing senses to let readers picture how hard it was for the farmers. Farmers were
doing very poorly on their own and can’t afford anything.
Chapter 17 Outline
By creating such communities, the farmers are expressing their desire for something normal. When they create their own laws and
rules, they are setting up a sort of government. This government, like the United State’s government, has the power to punish those
who do not obey its laws. The migrants do not know how to exist without such structure, so they bring it into their own lives. However,
these communities are only created in the night and the next morning they dissipate. Night is a time of darkness and unknown, and the
travelers look for security. They are able to find this by creating such communities amongst themselves.
"The families learned what rights must be observed..." (Page 194)
"And the families learned, although no one told them, what rights are monstrous and must be destroyed..." (Page 194)
"And as the worlds moved westward, rules became laws..." (Page 194)
----The migrants created laws and restrictions for themselves as an attempt at normalcy. They need the stability, even though the
temporary communities were not able to provide much.
Organization
This passage describes the lives of the farmers as they journey westward. It is organized to demonstrate to the reader the tediousness
of their daily lives as migrant farmers. The author describes what the farmers are seeing and experiencing in their small communities
that they create. The purpose of this passage is to allow the reader to visualize the long journey to California.
Tone and Mood
The mood of the passage is serious and nostalgic. The narrator describes the farmer’s situation with sympathy, as he is able to convey
to the reader a sense of solemnity.
Language and Style
Steinbeck uses abstract language in this chapter to describe communities. There is the usual concept of what a community entails,
such as a town with stores, homes, neighbors, etc. However, when Steinbeck uses the word community in Grapes of Wrath, he is not
referring to this type of normalcy. Instead, the word community, for the travelers, refers to their constructed laws and rules that every
farmer is somehow aware of. Also, their communities change daily, unlike a normal one, which usually remains fairly constant. Nightly,
their neighbors change and new people are met.
"Every night a world created, complete with furniture-friends make and enemies established."
"...and every morning the world torn down like a circus." (Page 194)
"In the morning the tents came down, the canvas was folded, the tent poles tied along the running board, the beds put in place on the
cars, the pots in their places." (Page 194)
----These quotes exemplify Steinbeck's use of the word community and how it differs from our concept of a community. The migrants'
communities were temporary and had to be created quickly and destroyed by the following morning.
The sentences that Steinbeck uses tend to be extremely descriptive sentences. He uses sentence variety when introducing a new idea
or when further describing an idea that has been previously introduced. Steinbeck includes information on an idea or subject in the
middle of sentences to give the reader further knowledge on the subject.
Chapter 19 Outline
Quote
"They imported slaves, although they did not call them slaves: Chinese, Japanese, Mexicans, Filipinos. They live on rice and beans,
the businessmen said. They don't need much. They wouldn't know what to do with good wages. Why, look how they live. Why, look
what they eat. And if they get funny---deport them."
Use of Language
Steinbeck uses a threatening sort of tone to show how powerful the Americans felt and to show how badly the foreigners were
suppressed.
Discussion
The American dominating class uses foreigners to do a lot of work for little money. The US is able to suppress them by giving them the
little money and threatening their existence in the US, which is how they can keep their control.
Quote
"The kids are hungry. We got no place to live. Like ants scurrying for work, for food, and most of all for land."
Use of Language
The simile used to compare the struggling class with ants shows how oppressed they were and how little of importance they were
given. They were seen as only a tiny part of society
Discussion
Because they are so desperate for land, the struggling class must take whatever is available for them. In order to survive this
challenge, the struggling class has to worry only for themselves.
Quote
"The owners hated them. And in the towns, the storekeepers hated them because they had no money to spend. There is no shorter
path to a storekeeper's contempt, and all his admirations are exactly opposite. The town men, little bankers, hated Okies because there
was nothing to gain from them. They had nothing. And the laboring peple hated Okies because a hungry man must work , and if he
must work, if he has to work, the wage payer automatically gives him less for his work; and then no one can get more."
Use of Language
The sentence variety within this long paragraph show how complex the relationships within society were.
Discussion
Here we can see how the struggling classes fight to remain on the level they are currently on because they feel like they can go to a
lower level, where even the poor will look down on them. No wealth is trickling down causing the entire pyramid to be lowered.
Therefore, no one gets to gain any wealth.
Quote
"We got to keep these here people down or they'll take the country. They'll take the country. Outlanders, foreigners."
Use of Language
By choosing the specific words we and they separations are established between different groups. We immediately refers to the police
and they to outlanders and foreigners but the police represent the entire dominating class who doesn't have to compete for jobs, food,
and shelter and the outlanders and foreigners represent the struggling class.
Discussion
We is used to show that in order for the dominating class to not compete for jobs, food, and shelter they must combine against classes
subordinate to them in order to not be in their same situation. Although, through a more general view
the dominating class does compete with the struggling class because in order for them to continue being comfortable economically
they must continuosly supress the struggling class. Who do you think should be collaborating against who?
Quote
"Got to keep 'em in line or Christ only knows what they'll do! Why, Jesus, they're as dangerous as niggers in the South! If they ever get
together there ain't nothin' that'll stop 'em."
Use of Language
Alluding to the emancipation of slaves in the US, slaves are meant to symbolize the struggling class and the white people are meant to
symbolize the dominating class. By alluding to this event in history the relationship between the two groups is shown almost as a war
and definitely as a competition between the two.
Discussion
Two ideas are refered to from this allusion. Just as the slaves were extremely supressed for many years the struggling class was also
supressed. Slaves were supressed by the government and the dominating class (white people), was the struggling class supressed by
the government and/or the dominating class? This allusion also refers to a possible result for the dominating class. The white men
during slavery eventually stopped supressing the slaves until they got out of hand which could happen to the dominating class with the
struggling class if they don't continually supress them.
Quote
“Our people are good people;our people are kind people. Pray God some day kind people won't all be poor. Pray God some day a kid
can eat. And the association of owners knew that some day the praying would stop.”
Use of Language
Repeating pray God, the situation of the struggling class reveals how desperate they feel. When their most crucial needs cannot even
be met, such as starving children they turn to the most powerful solution possible.
Discussion
By asking for help for survival from somebody so distant this repetition shows how it is not the men who are being looked upon for help
but God. By stating that the people will eventually step praying either the people will lose hope or their prayers will be answered and
again the question is brought up, how long will it take for the men to break and the struggling class they respresent?
Chapter 21 Outline
Argument:
During the Great Depression, numerous impoverished families migrated to the western United States. These families went in search of
a new life that would begin with the financial stability that the western farmlands had to offer. In chapter 21 of The Grapes of Wrath,
John Steinbeck chooses to depict both the living condition and state of mind of both the ordinary displaced farmer and the entire United
States during this difficult time. When the Great Depression was beginning to take it's toll on the farmers, the farmers were forced to
change with the time. Because of so many years of isolation from the rest of the United States, the farmers had to slowly grow
accustomed to the "new" and modern world by leaving behined their old way of life.
ORGANIZATION:
Chapter 21 is an expository chapter. The chapter deals with the overall change which the farmers undergo during their migration to
California as well as the responses they received from the established workers of California. Steinbeck uses cause and effect in
Chapter 21 to prove his argument.
Steinbeck uses imagery in his paragraphs to illustrate the negative effects that the mass migration has had on the local people. He
shows the hostility of the people by using descriptive language.
“Squads with pick handles, clerks and store keepers with shotguns, guarding the world against their own people.”
Steinbeck also provides evidence of suffering on the behalf of the migrants. He structures his paragraphs with long descriptive
sentences to further illustrate the negative impact of the mass migration; this time on behalf of the farmer migrants.
“The granaries were full and the children of the poor grew up rachitic, and the pustules of pellagra swelled on their sides.”
TONE and MOOD:
Steinbeck’s uses a monotonous voice which creates a serious and matter-of-fact tone. Throughout the chapter, Steinbeck consistently
maintains a negative tone which puts an emphasis on the negative effects that the mass migration has had on both the migrant farmers
and the Californian's.
Steinbecks main point in this chapter is to show that both the locals and the migrants suffer as a result to the migration. The whole
chapter maintains a serious and matter-of-fact tone which creates a serious mood. He achieves this mood by using negatives of words
like lived and died, eaten or starved.
“Those families which have lived on a piece of land, who had lived and died on forty acres, had eaten or starved on the produce of forty
acres, had now the whole west to rove in.
The literary devices that Steinbeck chooses to use to use are metaphores to create a image about how the farmers had to live.
Farmers at this time would be moving from place to place in search for money and food to be able to survive and frred their families.
Farmers al so moved in groups of people because since the Depressin was so great so many of them were moving and ended up
together. An example of that would be:
“On the highway the people moved like ants and searched for work, for food.”
5. Does the language have rhythm?
Yes, overall the chapter 21 follow the same rhythm and bases itself on showing the reader the pain the farmer were going throught.
Most of the sentences have a few words that show the emotional state of the farmers. Two examples of this would be:
“And the migrants streamed in on the highway and their hunger was in their eyes, and their need was in their eyes.”
“They had no argument, no system, nothing but their numbers and their needs.”
6. Are the sentences long or short? Where does the author use short sentences or fragments for special emphasis? Where are there
long sentences or run-ons for special effect?
Most of the sentences tend to be long with a few short ones here and there. The long sentences are used in order to show the reader
the long and difficult time journey that the farmers were going through. They demonstate the difficulty of their journy and the stuggle
they have to deal with because of the Great Drepression.An example of this could be:
“The movement changed them; the highways, the camps along the road , the fear of hunger and the hunger itself, changed them”
When looking at the sentence structure in chapter 21, one immediately sees the various compound sentences that Steinbeck chooses
to use in order to make his point much stronger. Later on though, he decides to switch to much stronger yet shorter sentences.
Steinbeck chooses to use these kinds of sentence structures in order to “inform” the reader, then almost instead of going around things
he decides to go straight to the point and almost force the idea upon the reader by almost being stern.
“Those families which had lived on a little piece of land, who had lived and died on forty acres, had eaten or starved on the produce of
forty acres, had now the whole west to rove in.”
(EXAMPLE OF A COMPOUND SENTENCE)
Steinbeck also chooses to make his point through the use of repeating certain words in order to emphasize the point that he is trying to
make in phrases such as:
--“The prices stayed up” (pg 283)
--“Changed them” (pg 282)
--“Work” (pg 284)
Also, Steinbeck uses repetition in order to inform the reader about the farmers/ United States current condition. He does this by
repeating the word "had" a total of six times and the word "changed" a total of five times.
Argument:
During the Great Depression, numerous impoverished families migrated to the western United States. These families went in search of
a new life that would begin with the financial stability that the western farmlands had to offer. In chapter 21 of The Grapes of Wrath,
John Steinbeck chooses to depict both the living condition and state of mind of both the ordinary displaced farmer and the entire United
States during this difficult time. When the Great Depression was beginning to take it's toll on the farmers, the farmers were forced to
change with the time. Because of so many years of isolation from the rest of the United States, the farmers had to slowly grow
accustomed to the "new" and modern world by leaving behined their old way of life.
Chapter 25 Outline
Argument:
In the early 1920’s, America was experiencing a boom in industry and prosperity; but
this all came to an end with the Wall Street Crash in 1929. In Chapter 25, John
Steinbeck argues that because of the wealthy (like the Bank) and their need to make
profits, their attention to power will eventually help them create the demise of society
by overlooking the individuals need for the 'greater' need (say, the prosperity of the
Bank). When the wealthy raise the prices in the economy and make the agricultural
values decrease, migrants suffer unduly.
Due to large amounts of fruit produced, prices begin to decrease. This cuts into
profits made by those who own the land, who also find this unacceptable. The land
owners thus decide to destroy the abundant crops with kerosene, even though poor
people are starving. This waste is witnessed by the migrant workers, who become
angry against the wealthy and start thinking about their situation and how they got
there. Not only did they(the rich and the Bank) destroy food needed by the starving,
they also managed to increase crop prices, which cannot now be afforded by the poor. Anger is created, which further divides everyone
and can only makes the problem worse.
Steinbeck is giving us this information of the working class' feelings to show the reader the changes on an emotional level. Previous
chapters explain the physical changes of the Joad family, like in the beginning when all the family worked. Chapter 25 shows how the
family starts to think and react differently once they've reached California, where "in the eyes of the hungry there is a growing wrath. In
the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy..." -pg 363. This shows the family's discontentment with the
actual California instead of the California they had built up in their minds.
This waste of produce, life and effort is evident in America during the 1920’s. Businesses and companies made surplus items in order
to sell more. However, the problem arose when demand fell. As demand fell, so did the need for workers. People were laid off, thus
helping procure the Wall Street Crash of 1929.
"The smell from the ferment is not the rich odor of wine, but the smell of decay and chemicals" -pg 362. With more produce that lacks in
taste and where less money is coming in, farmers are forced into debt and their vineyards soon belong to the bank, "...because the
food must rot, must be forced to rot" -pg 363. The overall meaning of the chapter is to explain why the farmers and laborers are in the
position they're in and how they're unable to escape the death of the land because, like their fathers before them, the only skill the
workers have is the knowledge of farming. Once the land fades, they fade.
1. The mood at the beginning is serene and peaceful because of the tone of imagery. As the chapter continues, it becomes depressing
and frightening as the land rots away and withers into nothingness. The start of the chapter describes the beauty of the state of
California, where fruit blossoms are fragrant and the hills are full and green. There are all kinds of things being grown; cherries, apples,
peaches, pears, figs, oranges and grapes. Flowers grow everywhere and the men have learned to make new kinds of fruit like
"nectarines and forty kinds of plums, walnuts with paper shells...and always they work" -pg 361. This quote is about how the migrants
can take an object like a dying crop, make a few alterations, and create a new species of a number of things(like nectarines).
2. Descriptive language included is not just the kinds of food, but the colors and tastes associated with the produce.
"Fragrant pink and white waters" -pg 360
"Full green hills" -pg 360
"Pale green lettuce" -pg 360
"Grey-green unearthly artichoke" -pg 360
"Leaves turn dark green" -pg 361
"Little sour apples... grown large and sweet" -pg 361
"Red and black, green and pale pink, purple and yellow" (varieties of grapes) -pg 361
"Black cherries and red cherries" -pg 361
All of these give the reader a picture of how the crops look and grow, not just something that used to be appreciated and then turned
worthless overnight. The colorful details also symbolize the changes taking place.
Symbolism:
Pink and white waters- Happiness
Full green hills- Productivity
Purple and yellow- Change and options
Black- Death
Red- Anger and hardship
3. Sentence and Paragraph Structure
The tone of the first two pages of the chapter is almost biblical. With the long sentences describing California, the words flow smoothly.
"Along the rows, the clutivations move, tearing the spring grass and turning it under to make a fertile earth, breaking the ground to hold
the water up near the surface, ridging the ground in little pools for the irrigation, destroying the weed roots that may drink the water
away from the trees". This sentence gives a biblical tone because it talks about what happens at the orchards without actually saying
what is going on. It is more of a visual sentence, rather than a factual sentence. To come to a conclusion, you must first have a visual
of it.
The last two pages of the chapter have short sentences. These short sentences are straight and to the point. The paragraphs are also
a lot shorter than the first two pages. "A million people hungry, needing the fruit- and kerosene sprayed over the golden mountains. And
the smell of rot fills the country" -pg 363. These sentences are straight forward to show the destruction of the fruit that the workers need
to survive. The first sentence shows how the fruit is sprayed with kerosene so that the hungry people cannot get to it. These short
sentences and short paragraphs tell of the harsh reality that the migrants had to face.
Compared to the first two pages, the last two pages give a sense of harsh reality. The first two pages give a biblical sense, but that is
shortly destroyed by the last two pages. This is to show how the migrants came to California with dreams that it would be the answer to
all of their problems. However, once they got to California and lived there for a while, the migrants learned that California was nothing
more than a dead end for them.
Chapter 29 Outline
In Chapter 29, Steinbeck uses extremely vivid descriptions to depict the harsh rainy months that the general population of migrants had
to face. By doing so he created a universal theme to all that as long as there is a hopeful future one can get through the toughest times
and situations. While doing so, he tends to use a variety of sentence structures, to enhance the readers overall understanding, and to
grasp the readers attention on specific matters that he feels are important.
“They splashed out through the water, to the towns, to the country stores, to the relief offices, to beg for food, to cringe and beg for
food, to beg for relief, to try to steal, to lie. And under the begging, and under the cringing, a hopeless anger began to smolder.”
– Page 433
This quote demonstrates the following uses of language:

Descriptive Language- Especially appealing to visual imagery universal to many.

Emotional Appeal- Uses a persistent powerful choice of words to embrace the reader’s feelings and create a sense of
knowledge, that leaves on in a contemplative state.

This quote contains the words “cringe” and “smolder”, which are both extremely affective in grasping ones attention and
intensifying the situation.
"The rain began with gusty showers, pauses and downpours; and then gradually it settled to a single tempo, small drops and a steady
beat, rain that was gray to see through, rain that cut midday light to evening.”
–Page 432
This quote clearly demonstrates the following uses of language:
 Personification- Gives human like qualities to the rain and its “motions”.

Complex Structure- Although there are a variety of structures throughout, the complexity of this sentence proves that
Steinbeck is trying to emphasize every aspect of the situation in order to allow the reader to visualize the intensity of the
situation.
“And when the puddles formed, the men went out in the rain with shovels and built little dikes around the tends.”
-Page 432
This third quote clearly demonstrates the following uses of language:

Repetition and Symbolism: Steinbeck uses repetition of single words frequently throughout, but in this quote he mentions a
puddle. This puddle is brought up several times throughout the chapter in order to symbolize the growing anxiety of the people
and to create a contrast in the severity of the situation.
Steinbeck uses several colors to direct ones perception and to intensify the readers mood.
The following are some examples found in this chapter:

Black= Death/ Desperation
o “black stems” (Dried up cotton fields.)-Page 432

Gray=Depression/Hardship

o
“gray clouds”-Page 432
o
“lakes, broad and gray”-Page 432
o
“gray tents”-Page 433
Pale Green=Hope
o “hills were pale green with the beginning of the year.”-Page 434
Organization:
The organization is in chronological order as well as reflective because Steinbeck keeps an ongoing description of the environment and
then explains how the situation affects the people. This eventually ended the chapter with accordance between the two as times got
better.
"The clouds came in brokenly..." -Page 432
"The rain began with gusty showers..."-Page 432
"For two days the earth drank the rain..."-Page 432
"The muddy lakes rose higher..."-Page 432
"The water poured over the highways..."-Page 432
"When the rain first started the migrant people..."-Page 433
"When the puddles formed..."-Page 433
"Then the sickness came...."-Page 433
"And the rain pattered relentlessly down...."-Page 434
"The rain stopped."-Page 434
"Tiny points of grass came up through the earth..."Page 435