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Summary Of Chapter 11 Of The Grapes Of Wrath

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Why do they run, why do they flee, why do they leave the place they call home that holds their most sacred memories? In chapter 11 of Steinbeck’s hit novel, “The Grapes of Wrath,” Steinbeck conveys a sad and sympathetic tone of voice in his writing to express the message that machinery was stripping people of their jobs, dignity, and connection with their land, which he displays with his comparison of the horse and the tractor. Steinbeck begins to establish his credibility with his exceptional use of descriptive words that help convey his hidden message in his comparison between the horse and the tractor, which helps develop the theme of this chapter. Additionally, it also helps illustrate and paint the picture for the audience to help them better understand how the effects of the Great Depression impacted common households. In this …show more content…

Take for example, “that man who is more than his elements knows the land that is more than its analysis.” and “But the machine man, driving a dead tractor on land he does not know and love, understands only chemistry; and he is contemptuous of the land and of himself.” Admittedly he focused on describing the deep spiritual and physical bond that human beings share with the land in which they work and how that bond is slowly slipping away from us because tractors and mechanical machinery is a driving factor in why human beings as a whole are losing their power the lifelong connection we have to the land. This theme can be characterized by the sense of decay and betrayal that was suspended over the land by the fact of houses being abandoned, left to rot and decay in the weather by the farmers who moved out west, leaving their land in the hands and at the mercy of mother

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