The Grapes of Wrath
The Grapes of Wrath is a work of fiction written by
John Steinbeck and published in 1939. The novel won the
Pulitzer Prize in 1940 but was not awarded the
Nobel Prize in Literature until
1962. When
The Grapes of Wrath was finally recognized by the
Swedish Academy, they described the book as "an epic chronicle". The work is frequently read in American high school and college literature classes. A celebrated
Hollywood film version was made in
1940, starring
Henry Fonda and directed by
John Ford.
Set in the
Great Depression, the popular
proletarian novel, in which descriptive, narrative, and philosophical passages succeed one another, tells the story of a family of
sharecroppers, the
Joads - '
Okie' farmers driven from their land by drought and the
Dust Bowl, and forced to endure the hardships of
migrant workers moving West.
Steinbeck wrote
The Grapes of Wrath and
Of Mice and Men at his home, 16250 Greenwood Lane, in what is now
Monte Sereno, California.
The family's name, "Joad", is similar to the first name of the Biblical figure
Job (pronounced "Jobe"), who suffered greatly when tested, but remained faithful. The novel details the nearly hopeless situation of the downtrodden American farmer in the years of the
Great Depression, and emphasizes cooperative solutions to the social problems brought about by industrialization.
The novel's title
Steinbeck had a tough time coming up with a title. "The Grapes of Wrath", suggested by his wife,
Carol, was deemed more suitable than anything the author himself could come up with. The title is a reference to
the Battle Hymn of the Republic, by
Julia Ward Howe:
"Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord:
He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored;
He hath loosed the fateful lightning of His terrible swift sword:
His truth is marching on."
|
Recent cover for The Grapes of Wrath |
The narrative begins from
Tom Joad's point of view just after he is
paroled from prison after serving four years for
manslaughter. On his journey home, he meets a preacher, Jim Casy, whom he remembers from his childhood and the two travel together. When they arrive at Tom's childhood farm home, they find it deserted. Disconcerted, he and Casy go to his Uncle John's residence a few miles away, where he finds his family loading a truck with everything they own for a move; he learns that his family's crops were destroyed in the
Dust Bowl and they were forced to default on outstanding loans. With their farm repossessed, the Joads seek solace in hope; hope enscribed on handbills that are distributed everywhere in Oklahoma, describing the beautiful country and high wages to be found out west. The Joads, along with Jim Casy, are seduced by this facade, and invest everything they have into the journey (although leaving Oklahoma would be breaking parole, Tom decides that it is a risk, albeit minimal, that he has to take).
En route, they discover that the roads and highways are saturated with thousands of other families making the same trek, ensnared by the same promise. As the Joads continue and hear stories from others, some coming back from California, they are forced to confront the possibility that their prospects may not be what they had hoped. This realization, bolstered by the deaths of Grandpa and Grandma, and the departure of Noah (the eldest Joad son) and Connie (the husband of the pregnant Joad daughter, Rose-of-Sharon), is forced from their thoughts: they must go on as they have no other choice.
Upon arrival, they find hordes of applicants for every job and little hope of finding a decent wage, due to the oversupply of labour, lack of rights, and the
collusion of the agrarian industry. The tragedy lies in the simplicity and impossibility of their dream: a house, a family, and a steady job.
In response to the exploitation of labourers, the workers begin to join
trade unions. The surviving members of the family unknowingly work on an orchard involved in a
strike that eventually turns violent, killing the preacher Casy and forcing Tom Joad to kill again and become a fugitive. He bids fairwell to his mother, promising that no matter where he runs, he will be a tireless advocate for the proletariat. Rose-of-Sharon's baby is stillborn; however, Ma Joad remains steadfast and forces the family through the bereavement. In the end, Rose-of-Sharon commits a selfless and beautiful act: she
breast feeds a starving and dying old man, laying all her societal inhibitions aside to save a life. This final act illustrates the depravity to which the 'Okies' are forced to submit, but also the endurance of humanity.
*Tom Joad – protagonist of the story
*Ma Joad – matriarch who helps the family keep together
*Jim Casy – a former preacher who becomes an advocate for the holiness of humanity
*Al Joad – the second youngest son who cares mainly for cars and girls; looks up to Tom, but begins to find his own way
*Rose-of-Sharon Joad – impractical, selfish daughter who develops as the novel progresses and grows to become a mature woman
The novel won the Pulitzer Prize in 1940
*A
film version was produced by
Darryl F. Zanuck in
1940.
John Ford won the
Academy Award for Directing, as did
Jane Darwell for
Best Supporting Actress (as Ma Joad). Other nominations were for Best Picture,
Henry Fonda for Best Actor,
Robert L. Simpson for Best Film Editing,
Edmund H. Hansen for Best Sound Recording, and
Nunnally Johnson for Best Screenplay Writing. This film has been selected for preservation in the United States
National Film Registry.
The Grapes of Wrath was banned immediately upon its publication in 1939 in Kern County, California, where a great part of the novel is set. The official reason given was the coarse language it contained, and the "nudity" (breast feeding) scene at the end of the book. However, the driving force behind the banning was the Associated Farmers of Kern County. The book is frequently banned in schools across the United States, and in 1986, in Graves County, Kentucky, an adult was arrested for possession of a copy.
*
Woody Guthrie wrote
The Ballad of Tom Joad the night he saw the film. He described the film in a column:
"Shows the damn bankers' men that broke us and the dust that choked us, and comes right out in plain old English and says what to do about it.:"It says you got to get together and have some meetins, and stick together, and raise old billy hell till you get your job, and get your farm back, and your house and your chickens and your groceries and your clothes, and your money back" (reprinted in
Woody Sez [New York, 1975], p. 133).
*In 1995
Bruce Springsteen released an album entitled
The Ghost of Tom Joad (featuring a song of the same name, which was later covered by
Rage Against The Machine, and most recently covered by José González of Junip).
*The English
Progressive Rock band
Camel recorded an album
Dust and Dreams inspired by The Grapes of Wrath in 1991.
*The
Grapes of Wrath movie.
*
T.C. Boyle's
The Tortilla Curtain (1995) for a novel with a similar subject matter.
*
Roman Charity, the story of Pero breastfeeding the ailing Cimon
*GOW - Grapes Of Wrath - Twisted Psy-Trance act from Hornslet - Monno Wurtz and Jaffa Skouborg
*
Steinbeck's myth of the Okies. For a more sympathetic assessment of the accuracy of Steinbeck's novel, see Carey McWilliams' "California Pastoral," which is included in the Viking Critical Edition of
The Grapes of Wrath. *
Death in the Dust: John Steinbeck's first-person account of the conditions he observed at a California squatter's camp.
*
The Grapes of Wrath Analytical essays of the novel
*
Syd Lexia's adaptation of The Grapes of Wrath into a children's book
