The Grapes of Wrath
By
John Steinbeck
enotes.com. The Grapes of Wrath. Summary and Study
Guide, enotes.com, Inc., n.d. Web. 21 Feb. 2010.
Analysis: Ch. 1-6
• The format Steinbeck uses is to tell two stories
that are intertwined.
• The larger story is about the mass migration of
refugees from the southwestern “Dust Bowl”
toward the promise of a better life.
• The “smaller,” more personal story is about the
Joads, one family that makes the journey.
• The story of the Joads is a traditional fictional
narrative.
• The larger story is told in a variety of styles
using a literary device called intercalary
chapters.
• These are chapters that come in between the
chapters that tell the story of the Joads in their
struggle to find relief in the West.
• The intercalary chapters give background to
what happens to the Joads.
• Sometimes they provide a preview of what is
about to happen.
• The unconventional structure of The Grapes of
Wrath, in which the narrative chapters are
interspersed with intercalary chapters of
general comment or information, has frustrated
and annoyed readers right up to the present
day.
• Many complain that the chapters are
interruptions in the story proper, or that they
split the novel into two distinct sections only
loosely related.
• Steinbeck claimed that the structure of the
novel was indeed carefully worked out.
• Employing a variety of literary styles and
techniques, Steinbeck is able to cross-reference
details, interweave symbols, and provide
outside commentary on narrative events in
such a way that the two types of chapters blend
together, unifying and enhancing the social and
humanist themes of the novel.
• Like it or not, Steinbeck’s novel is a story
about a family as well as a commentary about
social injustice.
• Chapters 1, 3, 5 and 7 are intercalary chapters.
• They establish the story’s conflict between
man and his physical and social environments.
• The first chapter describes the forces which
created the “Dust Bowl” and the troubles of
the farm families there.
• Chapter 3 is an allegory in which a land turtle
symbolizes the common man laboring and
struggling to make his way in the world beset
by natural and social forces.
• Chapter 5 is concerned with the economic and
social forces that push the Joads off their land.
• It contrasts with Chapter 1 which deals with
the forces of nature affecting the Joads.
• Eventually, the central themes of social injustice
and the family as a source of strength are told
through the story of the struggles of the Joads.
• The family theme expands as the Joads travel
westward.
• Thematically, one strong family (the Joads)
transforms into the strength of a group or “family
of families.”
• Steinbeck is expressing the belief in the unity of
the entire “family of mankind” gaining the
strength to overcome social injustice.
• Another “family” theme appears in many
scenes in the novel and is later expressly stated
by Ma Joad.
• It is the theme that when a poor person wants
something, he had best go for help to one of
his own kind.
• This theme is introduced by Tom getting the
ride from the truck driver and Muley Graves
sharing his meager food.
• The truck driver is pictured as one of the
“good guys” who will help those in need as
opposed to the “rich bastards” who are out to
destroy the poor.
• Muley feels there is no choice but to share
what little he has with those even less
fortunate.
• The character of Jim Casy represents another
major theme…that what people actually do is
more important than our notions of how
society expects them to behave.
• He has renounced his preaching of religious
principles because of his own actions, which
he saw as sinful according to religious
teachings.
• After a long, lonely, and laborious meditation
he has decided that there is no such thing as
sin or virtue, just what people do. This is the
only true reality.
• To illustrate this, Ma and the Joads are not
pictured by Steinbeck as abstract concepts
(symbols) but as real people, living human
beings struggling to survive in a harsh society.
• Casy also expresses the idea of the unity of
mankind in one “oversoul” of which each
person is a part.
• This is a religious example of the theme of the
“family of man,” a universal rather than an
individual concept, which is consistent with
Steinbeck’s social conscience.
• Casy, in contrast to the somewhat self-centered
Tom Joad we meet in this unit, is trying to
formulate something that will help all
mankind.
• As we will later see, meeting Casy is pivotal to
Tom’s eventual development.
• For now, the story shows us the solitary Tom
joining forces with another person on his
personal journey toward membership in the
larger community of mankind.
• Chapter 6 is the real beginning of Tom’s
personal journey.
• Unlike Casy’s deep and meaningful personal
mission, Tom simply wants to go home to his
old life but finds his home destroyed.
• Consequently, he is forced to hide to avoid
being arrested for trespassing on the land
which had belonged to his father.
• Though angry at this, he is made to realize his
actions and natural instincts will be restricted
in the future because of his parole.
• As his journey progresses, he will become
more resentful of his inability to fight back
against oppressive conditions he and his family
encounter.
• Chapter 7 is an intercalary chapter serving to
point out that the plight of the Joads is not unique
to them alone but affects a whole society.
• Their plight is symbolic and must be generalized.
• This chapter sets the stage on which the drama of
the Joads is played out and foreshadows events to
come later in the story.
• It shows the uprooted tenant farmers being taken
advantage of by shrewd sellers as they try to buy
a car for their journey west and sell their personal
belongings for a fraction of their value.