Name: _____________________________________________ Date: ______________ Period:_______
The Grapes of Wrath
Essay Timeline
You are to create a carefully thought out timeline that will provide you with all the necessary
detail and organization for you to write an effective creative/narrative essay. The length
requirement for this essay is a minimum of, seven events with which Tom Joad is involved to
advance the plot. If each event is fully set up and explained, it will form at least one full
paragraph in your essay (and could easily involve more than one paragraph). Your timeline
begins in 1938 and ends somewhere in 1942. The United States entered World War II in
September of 1941, so the war can, and probably should, have some impact on your story.
I am providing you with a Timeline to fill in. The idea is not only to help you develop the
plot points of the story, but to develop the details you will need to effectively tell this story. In
order to complete this, you will need to fill in the setting for each event. The setting consists of
when and where this event is taking place. You need to fill in the year and a specific place for
each event. Depending on what you choose to have happen, the places may change with each
event as Tom is moving around or several events may occur in the same place, but the time may
change. As you decide on each setting, you need to keep in mind that you must provide some
transition explaining how one event led to the next and/or how and why the setting has changed.
You will also need characters for Tom to interact with. These characters must be introduced
logically into the story and not just randomly dropped into the story. Depending on what you
have happen in the story, the characters may be new characters or you may re-introduce some of
the characters from, The Grapes of Wrath. For each character, you will have to explain who they
are, what they are like (both in terms of appearance and personality) and what they are doing in
your story. This timeline will give you the opportunity to think about all this as you add your
characters to the plot.
One of the advantages of this exercise is it will allow you to plot out your story in advance so
that each, event and its new characters and setting will make sense and have been set up by prior
events. Too often, students who try to write stories just begin writing and then introduce
characters and settings that seem to have come out of the blue with no set up or explanation as to
who they are and why they are there. This will allow you to plot out the story, anticipate what
will happen and figure out what the reader needs to know before the next event happens so that
the story makes sense.
You will have one day in class to work on this and then two days out of class to complete it
and turn a copy of it in to me for a grade. The next step will be to write the rough draft.
How You Will Be Graded:
The minimum requirement for this essay is nine paragraphs, with seven in the body.
Therefore, for the outline, the highest grade you can get for turning in a seven plot/event outline
is an 80% or B. The assignment is worth 30 points
1. Seven fully developed events that advance a story with
Appropriate characters and setting
________ (24/30)
2. Eight to ten fully developed plot events which advance
The story with appropriate characters and setting
________ (26/30)
3. Eleven to Twelve fully developed plot events which advance
The story with appropriate characters and setting
________ (30/30)