During chapter twelve, Steinbeck focuses on Highway 66, the long road that takes each struggling family out West. He says that, "66 is the path of a people in flight, refugees from dust and shrinking land, from the thunder of tractors and shrinking ownership, from the desert's slow northward invasion, from the twisting winds that howl up out of Texas, from the floods that bring no richness to the land and steal what little richness is there. From all of these the people are in flight, and they come into 66 from the tributary side roads, from the wagon tracks and the rutted country roads. 66 is the mother road, the road of flight" (160).
As the families leave their homes behind, they take this "road of flight" because it's, well, the only way to get to California. California is their last hope, their "the grass is always green on the other side". This chapter allows us to see how the families of the time saw it as; highway 66 was the last struggle to overcome before things could be better. Is Steinbeck trying to make the point to the reader that humans are always looking for the better way? Or is he saying that highway 66 is providing the families with a sense of false hope, and that whoever gave that sense of false hope is to blame?
Later in the book during chapter 17 the Tom and Pa Joad meet a man who's on his way back from California who warns them about what really goes on there. Steinbeck gives us a foreshadow of what's to happen to the Joads in California, but also shows how this one man had so much hope while travelling on Highway 66, but realized while in California that it hadn't been worth it. The character also mentions the man who put out the flyer for pickers; is that who is to blame for this false illusion of California?
There definitely seems to be a sense of culpability in Steinbeck's writing. As you said, it seems he may be pointing out that there was someone who gave them the false hope, whoever created those fliers. In chapter fourteen he talks about families joining and how it goes from 'I lost my land' to 'We lost our land' and he says '...a cell is split and from its splitting grows the thing you hate' (206). He definitely seems to be aiming it at someone, whoever is trying to keep families isolated and keep them from joining together and possibly having a direction which could lead to problems for whoever this 'you' is that Steinbeck is talking about.
ReplyDeleteYes - this is the big question to consider. Who is the "you"? Steinbeck seems to not only be writing ABOUT the "you" but writing directly TO him/her/them in this chapter.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if Steinbeck isn't exactly sure who was to blame since it's not exactly pin-pointable in this chapter, or if he will slowly reveal more about who he's directing it towards as the book progresses? I also wonder, if he reveals it, will he reveal it through another intercalary chapter, or will he plant it in as a read between the lines in the narrative side? It may be interesting if we're able to find out this him/her/them by using clues from the narrative and intercalary chapters.
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