Wow! This may be the most depressing book I've ever read, but I really liked it. Throughout the book, John Steinbeck is making the reader aware of the hardships and culture of this time. One of the main cultural differences I saw between our time and during the Dust Bowl, was how the families in this novel depended entirely on their farm to provide for them. When their farms can't support them and their crops won't grow they are lost. They don't have anything else to make a profit from, and it was almost impossible to find another job. I thought the best part of the story was how Tom Joad felt like he did not learn anything from his time in jail. I think in a way, this is ironic because going to jail is supposed to be a big eye-opener for a person.
I think that theme of the Grapes of Wrath, was that everyone goes through hard times, but when they are all over you have become a stronger person. I think the theme was represented throughout all of the characters in the book, but especially through Casy. He was an ex minister which I think made his struggles even harder for him to deal with. I noticed many uses of symbolism in the Grapes of Wrath. One of them was the turtle that Joad found to give to his family. I think the turtle represents how simple things in life can sometimes be the best things. Even though no one in the book had many good things happening in their lives, the simple things like seeing a turtle cheered them up.
I think this book, really showed how much we, as American citizens, have overcome. The characters in this book overcame so much. For me the most depressing part of the Grapes of Wrath was when Rose of Sharon gave birth to a dead baby boy. When Casy becomes the protestor’s leader, he is just trying to fight for himself. I think this was a courageous action, even though it ended in his death. When the Joad’s try to make a living or at least earn money by putting peaches into boxes, they are simply trying to stay alive. Overall this book had a good morale, and even though it was depressing I thought it was pretty good.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I really like how you included details about Casy. You talked about his struggles being harder because he was a minister and how his courageous action to try and fight for himself only resulted in his death. This was another one of Steinbeck's ways of making the reader of aware of the hardships that led to great tragedy in that time period.
ReplyDelete