THE GRAPES OF WRATH
And other Transcendentalist readings..
Reader Response Journal
You mean I have to read a book? THAT BOOK? Yes, as students of Language and Composition,
we need to develop an awareness and appreciation of existing works of art, in this case, a
classic American novel about an uncertain time perhaps due to short sited government
policies, questionable financial practices and extreme public and private debt…sounds like
now…hmmmmm… interesting…and other classic Transcendentalist readings.
So, what do I have to do with it? After you have read each chapter or essay, you will write a
response to what you have read. Of course, you may write more…  These entries are the
ONLY way of demonstrating to me that you have a) read the text and b) understood it and c)
you have thought about what you have read and wrote something meaningful. They will be the
basis for individual discussions and whole group Socratic seminars. These are how you qualify
to talk. If you don’t write, you don’t speak.
What am I supposed to write? What the book is about? Not quite. That is not RESPONSE. A
response is a written exploration of the reading; not a plot summary or your opinion of the
book, but what it makes you think about and why. This is analysis. It is up to you to make
meaning out of the book. It is not always going to be obvious. See the attached examples of
acceptable and unacceptable responses and read the handout entitled, Literature as
Conversation.
How are you going to grade these things? In general, there are three things I will be looking
for: comprehension (how well you have attempted to understand the text), analysis (
remember those levels of questions and SOAPSTone and your cards…) and extension/risk (
what kind of connections did you make regarding this text). Usually, the more you write, the
better all of this is as more writing usually indicates more thinking…meaning as you write, you
eventually find out what you think. See the AP assessment rubric for these. Do not be
surprised if I simply pick up a chapter’s response at any time. In other words, if you should
have read something by a certain date, any reader response prior to that is fair game…this also
stops you from trying to write all of these the night before something is due. Hmmm. That kind
of thing has never happened here at Central. We shall also conference regularly using these as
the basis for our discussions. If I ask to see your work for a chapter or essay and you don’t have
it, you lose points. Forever. There is no floating deadline on this portion of the class. We will
also use these sheets as the basis for whole group Socratic seminars. These responses are how
you qualify to participate. If you don’t write, you don’t speak.
What if I do this wrong? The only way you can be really “wrong” is to a) not do this at all and
b) write anything that you did not support with textual references. There are, however, some
things you definitely should not do:
1. Fall behind on the reading. I will pick up responses at random. We will conference
using these for our discussions. We will have whole group discussions. You want to
visit with us, don’t you?
2. Decide not to write at all because you don’t like the book/essay; it is too long, it is
boring. That is too bad. Besides it is not boring. Remember, it is one of my favorites.
Go find out why.
3. Write plot summary. I have read the book/essays 22 times to be exact. I do not
need you to tell me what happens. Your job is to analyze the book not regurgitate
the events.
4. Use Spark notes or other sources for short cuts or rent the movie. I also look at
those sites regularly and I have seen the film. Such resources are to enhance your
personal reading experience…not substitute for them.
5. Copy, plagiarize, and borrow in any way from anyone or anything for any reason in
your reader response journal or anywhere else in the class for that matter. If you
choose to do so, we will then have a meeting in which we discuss what we call a
“career ending decision” on your part. Do your own work or see me before you lose
your mind.
What if I still really don’t like the book? Then you must still really read it and justify why you
don’t think it is so great. It is your job as a reader to find interest in a text; it is not the book’s
job to interest you…
THE GRAPES OF WRATH
And other Readings!
DIRECTIONS:
In your reader response journal, you will have three sections: DO NOT LOSE THIS JOURNAL. You will need it
everyday.
Daily writing lesson work: This will be on your daily objective sheets and done when you walk in each day.
Transcendentalist essay: For each essay you read, please choose ONE of the following to write about. Label and
date each entry with the name of the essay. Include textual evidence to support your findings.
For your novel, please answer the questions under each chapter.
1. Quotations
Choose a quote from this chapter and explain its significance to the chapter as a whole.
2. Literary Analysis
Identify and explain how one device used by the author works to create meaning in the text.
3. Structural analysis
Discuss any of the following: tone, diction, syntax, organization or point of view in terms
of how it works to create meaning in the text.
4. General Response
What are you thinking right now about what you have read? Make
connections/interpretations. Pose questions.
5. Character analysis/Land analysis/Item analysis FOR YOUR NOVEL ONLY
You will be divided into groups of five and given an issue to track. This will be done at random.
A culuminating activity will be for your group to hold a small group symposium in which you
discuss your issue.
Chapter One
1. What does the setting of the opening scene suggest about the rest of the novel? What
does it suggest about family structure?
2. Write about the diction regarding the land and the sun. What is the result of this?
Chapter Two
1. Comment on Tom Joad and the driver. What kind of people are they?
Chapter Three
1. Animals play an important symbolic role throughout this novel. What important
qualities doe the land turtle have as described in this chapter?
2. The turtle is often interpreted as a parable or symbol. How would this work, if true?
3. Why does the author devote such an elaborate account to such a mundane event?
Chapter Four
1. What opinions does Casey, the former preacher, have about sin and using “bad
words”?
2. Compare and contrast the characters of Jim Casey and Tom Joad as revealed in their
first conversation.
Chapter Five
1. How do the tractors operate? What role does the bank play? What power do the small
farmers have against the banks and the tractors?
Chapter Six
1. Explain the three-fold symbolism of giving the name Muley Graves to the dispossessed
farmer.
2. Of what importance is Muley in this story? What is the difference between being the
hunted and the being the hunter?
Chapter Seven
1. What does chapter 7 imply about used-car salesmen?
2. Write about how this chapter is written. Can you hear this spiel?
3. Compare the behavior of the used car salesmen and the buyers of the belongings fo
the dispossessed farmers.
Chapter Eight
1. What do the faces of the Joad family reveal about them? What are the most important
characteristics of Ma and Pa and the grandparents?
Chapter Nine
1. Compare the behavior of the used car salesmen and the buyers of the belongings of
the dispossessed farmers.
2. What would you take if you had to leave your home? How do you determine
meaning? Value? How do most dispossessed peoples?
Chapter Ten
1. Write about what the family council meeting, before they set out, tells about the
way of life and culture of the Joads.
2. How does each member of the family feel about going to California? How does each
feel about leaving home?
3. What is young Tom’s philosophy for dealing with the future?
4. What does Ma’s burning of the old stationary box illustrate?
Chapter Eleven
1. How does the author make you “see” and “feel” and “smell” this landscape?
2. Who is this tractor man? What does he symbolize?
Chapter Twelve
1. What is the first unpleasant event that occurs on the Joad’s journey? What does that
event portend about what lies ahead?
2. Again, how does the author put you right in that car making that trip?
Chapter Thirteen
1. What happens to solidify the family as they drive along?
2. Of what significance is Grampa Joad’s death?
3. How does Granam take it?
4. What is Ma’s philosophy of “holdin’ on”?
5. What is the value of Casey’s prayer?
Chapter Fourteen
1. How does the author capture the feeling of the Western states as this time?
Chapter Fifteen
1. What is the function of Chapter 15? What does it imply about businessmen, waitresses, and truck
drivers?
Chapter Sixteen
1. When the car breaks down, what is significant about Ma’s reaction? How does the
mechanical difficulty affect the relationship between Tom and Al?
2. Write about the emerging changes in Tom Joad’s character as shown in his behavior with
the gas station man, the one-eyed man, and the camp proprietor.
Chapter Seventeen
1. Describe the different ways the migrants banded together along the highway and in the
camps and became a cohesive society. What point might the author be trying to make
through this?
Chapter Eighteen
1. What information does the ragged man give to Pa about California? What effect does
this information have on the Joads?
Chapter Nineteen
1. How do the dispossessed “live”? Describe the social and economic conditions the
migrant families encountered in the California farm country with the conditions in the
places they left.
2. How has farming changed? Why do the local people fear the migrants?
3. What are the “three facts of history” and what do they imply about the outcome of the
events in this novel?
Chapter Twenty
1. Why is it so difficult to obtain work in California? Why do wages fall? What keeps the men
from uniting?
2. What advice does Floyd Knowles give?
3. How is Rose of Sharon affected by all of this?
4. What does Ma mean when she says “Why, we’re the people-we go on”?
Chapter Twenty One
1. In what ways does the hostility of the local people change the migrants? How are the
government camps different from the Hoovervilles? What is effective about the way
they are run? What is the author’s point here?
Chapter Twenty-two
1. How does Mr. Thomas treat the workers? How does Tom feel about working?
2. In what ways does Mr. Thomas represent the dilemma of the small farmer?
3. What do the events in Chapter 22 say about charity, religion, and hard work? What and who are
“reds”?
Chapter Twenty Three
1. How are these simple pleasures made more dear by the author?
Chapter Twenty four
1. What is Black Hat tapping into regarding the men, their families and their treatment?
Chapter Twenty five
1. How is it that people are starving when fruit is overabundant? Why do the owners destroy
the surplus?
Chapter Twenty Six
1. Why do the Joads leave the government camp at Weedpatch? How is life at the Hooper ranch
different? How is it typical of the lives of migrants? What does Ma’s encounter in the store show
about the plight of migrant workers?
2. What does Tom discover about Casy? How is Casy different from what he once was? How does
Tom react to the attack on Casy?
Chapter Twenty Seven
1. How does the author make you feel like you have been picking cotton and not just reading
about it?
Chapter Twenty Eight
1. What do the boxcars provide besides shelter? In hiding, what decision does Tom make?
How does Ma feel about that? What conclusion does Ma reach about the family? What keeps
them all from giving up?
Chapter Twenty Nine
1. How does the rain affect the lives of the migrants? Of what importance is building the dike,
even if it breaks? How does Ma know they will survive?
Chapter Thirty
1. What impact does the stillbirth of Rose of Sharon’s baby have? What does Uncle John do
with the dead baby, and what does this act signal about him and the other migrants?
2. Why is Rose of Sharon’s feeding the starving man an appropriate ending for this novel? Why
is she smiling “mysteriously”?
Final Thoughts/Issues ONLY ANSWER THREE!!!!
1. In the beginning, each character has personal reasons for wanting to go to California. In
what ways does each individual’s goal change? Which people grow to see a larger purpose
in life? What factors contribute to their changes?
2. The heroes of The Grapes of Wrath are on the bottom end of the social ladder, their language
is often vile, their behavior is sometimes as coarse as their language, and they freely discuss
bodily functions (which in the 1930s were seldom mentioned in literature). What was
Steinbeck’s purpose in portraying such unrefined and coarse people? What would be the
effect on readers if the Joads spoke “proper” English and did not curse?
3. According to statements made in this novel, of what importance is anger in overcoming
fear? What must be done with anger in order to make it productive? Do you agree or
disagree with that philosophy as expressed in this novel?
4. What is the effect of the chapters which come between the narrative about the Joads? How
would the elimination of those chapters affect the meaning and impact of the novel?
5. Identify as many Biblical references or parallels as you can find in the novel and discuss
their effectiveness as well as their meaning.
6. The political implications of this novel have been strongly attacked. In what ways is the
novel a criticism of capitalism? Does the novel advocate communism? Defend your opinions
with evidence from the novel.
7. In what ways is your definition of the term family similar to the meaning Ma Joad gives to
the term? In what ways is Ma Joad’s meaning different? What do the implications of her
meaning contribute to the author’s message in the novel?
8. If you had been an owner of a large California farm in 1939, how would you have felt about
people like the Joads? As the owner of that farm, how might this novel have changed your
feelings?
9. Steinbeck wrote to his editor about this novel: “I’ve done my damndest to rip a reader’s
nerves to rags, I don’t want him satisfied.” Did he succeed in doing that to you? If so, how
did he accomplish it? If not, why weren’t you affected in that way?
10. Some critics maintain that this novel promotes hatred between classes of people. In what
ways does it do that? In what ways does the novel’s effect go beyond that?
11. What has become of Noah? What does Connie do with the rest of his life? What will Tom
become, and will he be successful at it? What will Al do next? How will these events change
Rose of Sharon?