English 4- Mr. Kirby
Name: Addison Peek
LITERARY ANALYSIS DATA SHEET
Significant biographical details about the author:
Title: The Grapes of Wrath
Author: John Steinbeck
Date of Publication: 1939
Sources: nobelprize.org sparknotes.com
thebestnotes.com shmoop.com
Information about the period (literary, historical, artistic,
philosophical, etc.):
This work was written just after the Great Depression. Where the
balance of wealth in America was completely out of balance. The
book takes place during the late 1930s when few were extremely
wealth and the rest were rather poor. Many farmers began to be
taken over by large corporations and losing everything. Forcing
the former farmers to move to the larger cities and work in
factories.
John Steinbeck was born in Salinas, California in 1902 from a family of
moderate means. HE attended Stanford University but never graduated
and spend time in New York but ultimately failed as a writer. He moved
back to California and had some success from a series of humorous
stories. He eventually started writing more serious work, among the
most popular being Of Mice and Men, and The Grapes of Wrath.
Steinbeck won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1962 and later died in
1968.
Identify the genre and specify how this work fits its characteristics:
The Grapes of Wrath is a novel that focuses on the corruption and
poverty in America, mainly concerning tenant farms. Banks and
massive corporate farms worked together to buy out smaller farms and
further expand their own wealth while leaving the small farmers with
nothing but the clothes of their backs.
Provide a brief synopsis (include exposition, main conflict(s), climax, resolution, and major plot points):
The opening chapter deals with the drought in Oklahoma and describes the dust storm and its effect on the people. In chapter two,
Tom Joad hitchhikes home with a talkative truck driver. He has just spent four years in McAlester, an Oklahoma state prison, for killing a man
in a drunken brawl. Chapter three describes a box turtle crossing a highway with great difficulty. In the fourth chapter, Tom meets Jim Casy,
an ex-preacher. They discuss his loss of faith and the problems that have reduced the homesteaders to sharecroppers. Chapter five describes
the landowners and tractors forcing the sharecroppers off the land. Casy and Tom reach the Joad farm in chapter six, but find it deserted and
damaged. Muley Graves, a neighbor, explains that the Joad family was evicted by the landowners, and is now living at Uncle John's place as
they prepare to move to California. Chapter seven describes second-hand car dealers and reproduces the monologue of a dealer who sells
second-hand cars to the migrant families. Tom is reunited with his family in chapter eight and learns of the plans to leave for California. The
ninth chapter describes the migrants, in general, selling everything that could be sold and burning the rest of their belongings in preparation
for the journey to California. In chapter ten, the Joads make their own preparations for the journey to California. They slaughter and salt down
pigs in order to have food along the way. They decide to take Casy along with them. They drug Grampa, who refuses to leave the farm.
Finally, they depart for California. Chapter eleven describes the deserted houses of the sharecroppers.
Chapter twelve depicts the movement of the migrants on Highway 66 as they travel westwards to California. In Chapter thirteen,
the Joads are seen traveling on Route 66 and spending the first night of their journey. Along the way, Grampa dies of a stroke and is buried by
the roadside. Tom and Al repair the Wilsons' car, and the two families agree to travel together. Chapter fourteen outlines the potentiality for
social change inherent in the migrants' poignant situation. The next chapter focuses on roadside cafes and truck drivers. In chapter sixteen
the Wilsons' car breaks down again, and Al and Tom repair it after buying the spare part cheaply from a one-eyed wrecking yard assistant
who hates his boss. At the roadside camp, the Joads learn of the deplorable working conditions and the scarcity of work available in
California from a man who is returning home after watching his wife and kids die from starvation. Chapter seventeen describes the roadside
camps established every night by the migrants and the development of communal rules. In chapter eighteen, the Joads cross Arizona and
reach the Colorado River. Noah leaves the family after a baptismal bath in the river. The Wilsons also discontinue their journey because Sairy
is too ill to travel any further. Thus, the Joads cross the dreaded Mojave Desert alone. During the crossing, Granma dies; but Ma does not
reveal her death to anybody because she wants the family to get across safely.
Chapter nineteen deals with the pattern of land ownership in California and contains Steinbeck's views on the strife between the
landowners and the migrants. In chapter twenty, the Joads stop at Hooverville, a camp for migrants on the fringes of town, where hungry
children surround Ma who is making a stew. The Joads are exposed to the reality of the pitiable conditions in California. A labor contractor
and a Deputy Sheriff arrive and, when the deputy arrests Floyd Knowles on a false charge, Tom trips the deputy and Casy knocks him
unconscious. Casy takes all the blame on himself, thus saving Tom. Uncle John is overwhelmed by Casy's sacrifice and gets drunk to drown
his sorrows. Rose of Sharon is deserted by her husband. The Joads leave the camp on learning that angry mobs plan to burn it down during
the night. Chapter twenty-one provides a generalizing comment on the resentment and repression of the migrants. In Chapter twenty-two, the
Joads arrive at Weedpatch Camp and are happy to learn that it is managed by the migrants themselves. Tom finds work, but it lasts only for a
few days. Mr. Thomas, the small farmer who employs him, tells him about some troublemakers who will disrupt the Saturday night dance so
as to enable the police to interfere on grounds of rioting. Chapter twenty-three describes the migrants' leisure activities. In chapter twentyfour the committee governing the camp is successful in frustrating the attempt of the troublemakers to disrupt the camp. In chapter twentyfive Steinbeck describes the scientific skill, which results in abundant crops, which are then wasted. In chapter twenty-six the Joads have to
leave Weedpatch as they have run out of money, as well as food and are without any work. They find work picking peaches at the Hooper
ranch. Here Tom meets Casy who tells him that the Joads are breaking the strike to demand higher wages. Deputies disrupt their meeting,
and Casy is killed in a Christ-like manner. Tom kills Casy's murderer and is recognizably wounded. Ma hides him in a cave of mattresses, and
the family leaves the camp to protect him. Chapter twenty-seven describes the work of cotton picking. In chapter twenty-eight the family
finds work picking cotton, and Tom hides in a nearby cave. Ruthie reveals to a big girl that her brother, who has killed two men, is hiding
nearby. Tom tells Ma about his plans to translate Casy's ideas into action. Chapter twenty-nine depicts the migrants' despair during the long
wet season when there is no work. In the final chapter the rains flood the boxcar camp where the Joads have been living while picking cotton.
The Joads and the other families build an embankment out of mud to prevent the water from flooding them. A fallen tree breaks the
embankment and water floods the camp. Rose of Sharon gives birth to a stillborn child. Ma insists that the family find a dry shelter. Al stays
back with Agnes Wainwright. The Joads find a barn on high ground in which to shelter. They find a boy and a starving man whom Rose of
Sharon nourishes with the milk intended for her baby.
Literary Analysis Data Sheet
page 2
Identify and explain the use and effect of three literary
techniques:
Cite and quote one example of each:
1. "Just Jim Casy now. Ain't got the call no more. Got a lot of
sinful idears – but they seem kinda sensible." (Chapter 2) Casy
seems to fight against the black-and-white, good-or-bad nature
of religion. He likes to swim in the grey areas in between.
1. Biblical Allusions
2. Symbolism of the grapes
Steinbeck uses the grapes as symbols of plenty. The grapes
correspond to the cluster of grapes which Joshua and Oshea
bring back from their first trip into the rich land of Canaan as
told in The Bible. Grampa alludes to this meaning of the grapes
when he says that he is going to sit in a tub full of grapes in
California.
2. "In the daylight [the migrant people] scuttled like bugs to the
westward; and as the dark caught them, they clustered like
bugs near to shelter and to water...But along the highway the
cars of the migrant people crawled out like bugs..."(Chapter
17) This describes the need of the people to seek out the
companionship of other families like themselves, where they
were able to find a sense of camaraderie and community.
Significant Quotes
Cite and quote three significant passages:
1. We can't depend on it. The bank – the
monster – has to have profits all the time. It
can't wait. It'll die. No, taxes go on. When the
monster stops growing, it dies. It can't stay one
size. (5.11)
Explain the significance of each passage or explain how it relates to the work
as a whole:
1. By attributing blame to a monster, to an inhuman thing, it makes it easier for
the landowners to do inhuman things.
2. What do you want us to do? We can't take
less share of the crop – we're half starved now.
The kids are hungry all the time. We got no
clothes, torn an' ragged. If all the neighbors
weren't the same, we'd be ashamed to go to
meeting. (5.13)
2. The tenant farmers try to reason to the landowners. There's no money to be
had anywhere in the community. Everyone is down and out. If everyone is
down and out, it's no one particular family's fault. There's a larger problem that
can't be blamed on the individual tenant families
3. "Times are changed, don't you know?
Thinking about stuff like that don't feed the
kids. Get your three dollars a day, feed your
kids. You got no call to worry about anybody's
kids but your own. You get a reputation for
talking like that, and you'll never get three
dollars a day if you worry about anything but
your three dollars a day." (5.53)
3. How exactly have times changed? The tractor driver indicates that "modern"
America is one that favors the individual over the community.
4. [a disgruntled migrant worker:] "Fella in
business got to lie an' cheat, but he calls it
somepin else. You go steal that tire an' you're a
thief, but he tried to steal your four dollars for a
busted tire. They call that sound business."
(12.31)
4. What do you call the business of selling a busted tire for four dollars? Sound
business or robbery?
5. [Tom Joad:] "Oh, awright. You eat regular,
5. Prison sounds glorious compared to the dismal places that the Joads must
live. In fact, it almost seems like Weedpatch.
an' get clean clothes, and there's places to take
a bath. It's pretty nice some ways. Makes it hard
not havin' no women […] They was a guy
paroled," he said. "'Bout a month he's back for
breakin' parole. A guy ast him why he bust this
parole. 'Well, hell,' he says. 'They got no
conveniences at my old man's place. Got no
'lectric lights, got no shower baths. There ain't
no books, an' the food's lousy.'" (4.67)
Literary Analysis Data Sheet
page 3
Characters
Record information for each significant major character in the work
Name
Role in the story
Significance or Purpose
Adjectives
1. Tom Joad
1. Protagonist
1. Even though he killed a man and has been
separated from his family for four years, he
does not waste his time with regrets. He lives
fully for the present moment, which enables
him to be a great source of vitality for the Joad
family. A wise guide and fierce protector, Tom
exhibits a moral certainty throughout the
novel that imbues him with strength and
resolve: he earns the awed respect of his
family members as well as the workers he
later organizes into unions.
1. good natured and
thoughtful, ex con
2. Ma Joad
2. Tom's mother
2. Ma is introduced as a woman who
knowingly and gladly fulfills her role as “the
citadel of the family.” She is the healer of the
family’s ills and the arbiter of its arguments,
and her ability to perform these tasks grows
as the novel progresses.
2. comforting and helpful
3. Pa Joad
3. Tom's father
3. a Joad is an Oklahoma tenant farmer who
has been evicted from his farm. A
plainspoken, good-hearted man, Pa directs
the effort to take the family to California. Once
there, unable to find work and increasingly
desperate, Pa finds himself looking to Ma Joad
for strength and leadership, though he
sometimes feels ashamed of his weaker
position.
3. goodhearted and
plainspoken
4. Moral voice of novel
4. A former preacher who gave up his
ministry out of a belief that all human
experience is holy. Often the moral voice of
the novel, Casy articulates many of its most
important themes, among them the sanctity of
the people and the essential unity of all
mankind. A staunch friend of Tom Joad, Casy
goes to prison in Tom’s stead for a fight that
erupts between laborers and the California
police. He emerges a determined organizer of
the migrant workers
4. staunch friend
4. Jim Casy
5. Rose of Sharon
5. Jane’s close friend at the
Lowood School
5. The oldest of Ma and Pa Joad’s daughters,
and Connie’s wife. An impractical, petulant,
and romantic young woman, Rose of Sharon
begins the journey to California pregnant with
her first child. She and Connie have grand
notions of making a life for themselves in a
city. The harsh realities of migrant life soon
disabuse Rose of Sharon of these ideas,
however. Her husband abandons her, and her
child is born dead. By the end of the novel,
she matures considerably, and possesses, the
reader learns with surprise, something of her
mother’s indomitable spirit and grace.
5. impractical petulant and
romantic
6. Connie
6. Husband of Rose of
Sharon
6. Rose of Sharon’s husband, Connie is an
unrealistic dreamer who abandons the Joads
after they reach California. This act of
selfishness and immaturity surprises no one
but his naïve wife.
6. unrealistic and immature
Literary Analysis Data Sheet
page 4
Describe the setting(s) and explain its/their significance:
Identify and explain the theme(s) of the work:
The territory of The Grapes of Wrath is of epic proportions and is
described in great detail. The setting includes a large part of
Oklahoma, portions of other states, and a large area of California.
The early narrative chapters focus on land near Sallisaw, in the eastcentral part of Oklahoma. The westward journey of the Joad family
covers some eighteen hundred miles through portions of seven
states: Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Arkansas, New Mexico, and
California. The huge territory covered in chapters twelve to
eighteen is described in great detail. Steinbeck lists names of
places, state roads, and highways, as well as describing the national
Highway 66, "the path of a people in flight," and the main route
westward. The poetic descriptions of the land through which
Highway 66 passes create a sense of expansiveness and
spaciousness.
Man's inhumanity to Man: Steinbeck consistently and woefully
points to the fact that the migrants’ great suffering is caused
not by bad weather or mere misfortune but by their fellow
human beings. Historical, social, and economic circumstances
separate people into rich and poor, landowner and tenant,
and the people in the dominant roles struggle viciously to
preserve their positions. In his brief history of California in
Chapter 19, Steinbeck portrays the state as the product of
land-hungry squatters who took the land from Mexicans and,
by working it and making it produce, rendered it their own.
Now, generations later, the California landowners see this
historical example as a threat, since they believe that the
influx of migrant farmers might cause history to repeat itself.
In order to protect themselves from such danger, the
landowners create a system in which the migrants are treated
like animals, shuffled from one filthy roadside camp to the
next, denied livable wages, and forced to turn against their
brethren simply to survive. The novel draws a simple line
through the population—one that divides the privileged from
the poor—and identifies that division as the primary source of
evil and suffering in the world.
Identify and explain key metaphors, symbols, or motifs:
According to Steinbeck, many of the evils that plague the Joad
family and the migrants stem from selfishness. Simple self-interest
motivates the landowners and businessmen to sustain a system that
sinks thousands of families into poverty. In contrast to and in conflict
with this policy of selfishness stands the migrants’ behavior toward
one another. Aware that their livelihood and survival depend upon
their devotion to the collective good, the migrants unite—sharing
their dreams as well as their burdens—in order to survive.
Throughout the novel, Steinbeck constantly emphasizes self-interest
and altruism as equal and opposite powers, evenly matched in their
conflict with each other. In Chapters 13 and 15, for example,
Steinbeck presents both greed and generosity as self-perpetuating,
following cyclical dynamics. In Chapter 13, we learn that corporate
gas companies have preyed upon the gas station attendant that the
Joads meet. The attendant, in turn, insults the Joads and hesitates to
help them. Then, after a brief expository chapter, the Joads
immediately happen upon an instance of kindness as similarly selfpropagating: Mae, a waitress, sells bread and sweets to a man and
his sons for drastically reduced prices. Some truckers at the coffee
shop see this interchange and leave Mae an extra-large tip.
When the novel begins, the Joad family relies on a traditional family
structure in which the men make the decisions and the women
obediently do as they are told. So invested are they in these roles
that they continue to honor Grampa as the head of the family, even
though he has outlived his ability to act as a sound leader. As the
Joads journey west and try to make a living in California, however,
the family dynamic changes drastically. Discouraged and defeated
by his mounting failures, Pa withdraws from his role as leader and
spends his days tangled in thought. In his stead, Ma assumes the
responsibility of making decisions for the family. At first, this shocks
Pa, who, at one point, lamely threatens to beat her into her so-called
proper place. The threat is empty, however, and the entire family
knows it. By the end of the novel, the family structure has undergone
a revolution, in which the woman figure, traditionally powerless, has
taken control, while the male figure, traditionally in the leadership
role, has retreated. This revolution parallels a similar upheaval in
the larger economic hierarchies in the outside world. Thus, the
workers at the Weedpatch camp govern themselves according to
their own rules and share tasks in accordance with notions of
fairness and equality rather than power-hungry ambition or love of
authority.
The saving power of family and friendship: The Grapes of
Wrathchronicles the story of two “families”: the Joads and the
collective body of migrant workers. Although the Joads are
joined by blood, the text argues that it is not their genetics but
their loyalty and commitment to one another that establishes
their true kinship. In the migrant lifestyle portrayed in the
book, the biological family unit, lacking a home to define its
boundaries, quickly becomes a thing of the past, as life on the
road demands that new connections and new kinships be
formed. The reader witnesses this phenomenon at work when
the Joads meet the Wilsons. In a remarkably short time, the
two groups merge into one, sharing one another’s hardships
and committing to one another’s survival. This merging takes
place among the migrant community in general as well:
“twenty families became one family, the children were the
children of all. The loss of home became one loss, and the
golden time in the West was one dream.” In the face of
adversity, the livelihood of the migrants depends upon their
union. As Tom eventually realizes, “his” people
are all people.
Write at least three questions or topics for class discussion:
1. What is Jim Casy’s role in the novel? How does his moral philosophy govern the novel as a whole?
2. Many critics have noted the sense of gritty, unflinching realism pervading The Grapes of Wrath. How does Steinbeck achieve this
effect? Do his character portrayals contribute, or his description of setting, or both?
3. Half of the chapters in The Grapes of Wrath focus on the dramatic westward journey of the Joad family, while the others possess a
broader scope, providing a more general picture of the migration of thousands of Dust Bowl farmers. Discuss this structure. Why might
Steinbeck have chosen it? How do the two kinds of chapters reinforce each other?