Power Of The Family In The Grapes Of Wrath By John Steinbeck

Throughout John Steinbeck’s novel The Grapes of Wrath, many concepts appear that were noted in How to Read Literature Like a Professor by Thomas C. Foster. However, the three chapters of Foster’s how-to guide that most apply to Steinbeck’s novel were “It’s All About Sex…,” “Every Trip is a Quest (Except When It’s Not),” and “It’s More Than Just Rain or Snow.” On more than one occasion these concepts are hidden within the book, and two of them actually seem somewhat linked together. After reading between the lines, The Grapes of Wrath has an extremely intricate plot and many ulterior meanings. Foster’s book helps to solve these meanings and make it so that the novel can be completely understood.

Each family has their own battles to face. Certain families may have greater battles than others. The Joad family and the Walls family face battles that will last a lifetime. Each family has certain characteristics and tactics that help them survive their difficulties in life. The Joad family encounters difficulties with nature and the government.

Do the needs of an individual family or group supersede the needs of the many? In The Grapes of Wrath written by the John Steinbeck, the readers see the strength that is needed to be a mother when outside forces rip a family apart. Ma Joad is the living representation of strength given her unique role in the family. Ma took an almost patriarchal role in the family and demonstrated that she was unique among other characters due to her strength, love, and family power.

One would say that on a literal level The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck is about the Joad family's journey to California during The Dust Bowl. However, it is also about the unity of a family and the concept of birth and death, both literal and abstract. Along with this, the idea of a family unit is explored through these births and deaths.

In John Steinbeck’s fiction novel The Grapes of Wrath, the dustbowl renders farmland useless, so the Joad family embarks on a journey across the country, leaving their farm behind in Oklahoma to attempt to find work in California. Along the way, they encounter several characters facing hardships not unlike their own. Gradually, they extend their compassion to include these characters, allowing for a “widening circle of compassion”.

The book The Grapes of Wrath follows the Joad family who are migrating towards the west because there is no hope to be found if they stay in Oklahoma. Steinbeck follows the Joads mostly through the book, but there are some chapters that don't fit in with the normal Joad family. They are choppy, fast paced chapters that don't seem to have any correlation with the Joad family, but these chapters provide steinbeck's view on what is happening. These chapters are usually referred to as intercalary chapters and they mostly talk about the other migrants apart from the Joad family, and what kind of struggles they were going through because of what the banks had done to them. Steinbeck had a purpose to these chapters and the book as a whole which was

    Throughout the book, the Joads must rely on people to help them, and in return help others on the journey to California. The first major example of this is when the Joads encounter

Literary-Based Definition Essay In F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath, and Arthur Miller's The Crucible, they share a common definition of power. Power can have a strong impact on a person determining who their true self is. Power can be deficient and faulty creating a negative impact on people’s life. With evidence from The Great Gatsby, The Grapes of Wrath, and The Crucible, it can be proven that power is followed by corruption.

Through James's journey, Dahl reminds us of the enduring power of kindness in the face of adversity, and the inherent capacity for goodness to prevail even in the darkest of times. Top of

Backbone of the Family “Her hazel eyes seemed to have experienced all possible tragedy and to have mounted pain and suffering like steps into a high calm and superhuman understanding’ (Steinbeck 74). These compelling words written by John Steinbeck immensely illustrate the type of woman Ma Joad is. She begins emerging as the center of strength for the family throughout the course of the novel. No matter how unpromising the circumstances seem, Ma Joad is able to overcome every obstacle that is hurled at her. Not only is she the emotional backbone of the Joad family, she is also the physical, never letting anything tear her kin apart.

   The emphasis on family in America is decreasing. Divorce rates, single-parent households, and children born out of wedlock are all increasing. Furthermore, instead of the network of aunts, uncles, grandparents, cousins, and other relatives that was prevalent in early America, Americans today are more distant from their extended family. As sociologist David Elkind said in a 1996 interview with Educational Leadership, "Instead of togetherness, we have a new focus on autonomy. The individual becomes more important than the family" (4). This means that one of the basic needs of humanity, belongingness and love, is very likely going unfilled in many people.

Similar to a cactus’ bloom in the heat of the desert, through adversity humanity prospers and processes. Society, as a whole, has experienced, at least once, hardships in their lifetime, and through these trying situations people acquire compassion. Being familiar with challenges, people more readily accepts the distress of others and offer required assistance during times of difficulty. Although adversity is seen as the creator of contempt and hatred because of its negative effects on mentality, adversity fosters compassion through the creation of empathy, morality, and association in a person with others in a calamity.

As each character involved in the situation reacts, we are able to see Steinbeck's respect for the poor shining through. The 'never say die' efforts of Uncle John to stop the rising flood water is one example of Steinbeck's unremitting struggle theme. The constant effort of the entire Joad family to find work, even though they are poor, oppressed and hungry, show us that Steinbeck wants to show their tremendous courage and dignity. In this way, Steinbeck is able to use the journey structure to describe these fine qualities he sees and respects in the poor.

Initially, the Joad's focus is on their own immediate family and their struggle to stay together. The

In the novel The Grapes of Wrath, we are shown many social issues within the story. Social issues are displayed through homelessness, adaptation, prejudice and more. The social issues bring the novel together as one, and they have a great effect on the Okies in the book. Also, adaptation plays a big part in the social issues. Steinbeck captures great struggles in migrant work on the farm and shows how workers needed to come together as one.