The Grapes of Wrath

In my opinion I really thought that this book, "The Grapes of Wrath" was alot better than " The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn". Granted "The Grapes of Wrath" was alot more depressing, but for me I could relate to it alot more. In the book it describes how people have to overcome the difficulties of financial and personal troubles. The book didn't cookie cut it either, it was completely raw and showed the real misery of what people were going through. It really amazed me how so many people were in starving and without jobs. It seemed like everyone who was trying to move to California were getting used to seeing others die on the roads. No one was shocked by the passing of human life at this point in the Depression of the 1930's.

Many of the struggles faced were presented by nature. For example the dust forced the Joads to leave their family farm. The farm was owned by the Joad family for many years and represented their roots and stability. They didn't want to leave, but because of nature (the dust) had completely wiped out their way of life. The dust is symbolic of emptiness and loss. Then they were unable to pay off their loan to the bank and were obligated to leave. Another force of nature that posed an obstacle for the family was the migrant workers that they came upon. The migrants were trying to frighten the Joads into staying in Oklahoma. The turtle in this case represents the Joads ambitions to keep moving on, even though forces try to prevent it from leaving.

One thing I really enjoyed about this book was the fact that John Steinbeck allowed the reader to form their own opinions about the characters. For example it showed the good and bad about the father. At the beginning Pa was a very strong leader of the family, but by the end of the book it showed he does have a weak side. Ma had to eventually take over and be the stronger one in the situation. Another example of how the characters have more than one dimension, is Rose of Sharon. She was foolishly in love with her husband Connie, while everyone thought he was a no good idiot. By the end of the novel she had to mature enough to handle the abandonment of her husband and the death of her baby. All in all I thought this was a decent book that taught me about the miseries of the Great Depression.
-mims♥