Mrs. Sandry

Mrs. Sandry was the woman in the government camp that told Rose of Sharon that if she sinned, her baby would die. "'You take heed. I warned you. You take heed a that poor chile in your belly an' keep outa sin.' And she strode away titanically, and her eyes shone with virtue" (424). After their first conversation, Rose of Sharon panics because she and Connie 'hug-danced', and according to Mrs. Sandry, that is a sin and Rose of Sharon's baby would die for it. Of course, Ma assures her that Mrs. Sandry is just a trouble maker and that the baby would be fine. 

Then Rose of Sharon has her baby and it dies. And even though I should feel sympathy for Rose of Sharon because I just lost her child, I mostly just feel angry at Steinbeck for proving that awful woman right. I know technically it isn't proof of what she said, it was just a coincidence because Rose of Sharon didn't get enough food, just like the other girls, but the person that it matters most to is Rose of Sharon, and in her mind that will count as proof that God killed her baby because of her sin. So not only does Rose of Sharon have that horrible guilt on her, now there is one more person in the world that thinks like Mrs. Sandry. Not that Rose of Sharon would ever go and purposely upset pregnant girls like Mrs. Sandry did, but she will still believe that God would kill an innocent child because of another person's sins. I just don't understand why Steinbeck would prove that awful woman 'right'. In my mind, he either should have had the baby live to prove her wrong, or not include her in the book and then have the baby die. 

Adrian - TGOW Essay

Topic: Character Development
Thesis: As the story progressed, Tom Joad's character and personality changed more than that of any other character and became stronger because of it.

Holly- TGOW essay

Topic: How does the novel deal with gender? What are the different roles of men and women? Do these roles intersect? Are they separate? What do these roles illustrate about the relationships between men and women, particularly in the context of the Dust Bowl and the Great Depression?

Working thesis: In the beginning of the book, the roles of men and women are very separated, but the challenges they face force the characters to slowly start to disregard these roles.
Kind of.
It's a working thesis. Keep that in mind.

Mary-Kate-TGOW essay

TOPIC: Discuss Steinbeck's inclusion of religious/biblical allusions. What religious symbols does he use and why? What point is Steinbeck making through the use of these allusions?

WORKING THESIS: Through the use of biblical allusions in characters and religious symbols throughout the narrative, Steinbeck shows the Okies source(origin?derivation?) of strength from which they drew.

Does this thesis make sense? Wording? Trying to say that Steinbeck is saying that people relied on themselves and God, even if they didn't know it, and that was how they had the ability to live the way they did. God/religion is source of strength.

Eliza- TGOW Essay

Topic: Family and community
Thesis: Throughout The Grapes of Wrath, the poor families fleeing the Dust Bowl formed strong communities that were key in their survival of the Great Depression.

An Odd Ending

After I finished reading the book, I was surprised at how Steinbeck ended the novel. Really, there is no resolution for the Joads. You don't know where Tom is or if he's alive, and you don't know if the other Joads will survive. The book ends with Rose of Sharon feeding the starving stranger her milk so he can survive. The last sentence of the book is, "She looked up and across the barn, and her lips came together and smiled mysteriously" (619).

I wonder why Steinbeck ended the book like this. It kind of reminded me of the circle of life, and, as I mentioned in a comment to one of Holly's posts about Rose of Sharon, why Steinbeck named her character Rose of Sharon, and how maybe it's a symbolism of new life. Grandpa and Grandma Joad died towards the beginning of the book, and maybe Steinbeck wanted to end the book in this small hope that Rose of Sharon would save the man's life by giving him something to live on, which would also explain the biblical metaphor of Rose of Sharon's name. But, why would Steinbeck choose this moment to be the last we see of the Joads? Why is it important? Why wouldn't Steinbeck resolve the family issues? Is it because he didn't know how the Joads should come out of the Depression, or if they should come out?

Hard work leads to nothing

In the final chapter of the book, the men work tirelessly for hours to try to build a dam against the water rising towards the boxcars as it pours rain. Rosasharn is having her baby, so Pa is motivated to work even harder to protect her, and he gets the other men to stay and help him.

Unfortunately, it doesn't work, and a tree falls, knocking down the wall they have built and flooding the camp site. "The weary men watched, their mouths hanging open... The tree moved and tore the bank... And then the bank washed quickly down" (601-602). Despite all of the hard work the men put in to build the bank, all it took was a tree falling down to ruin it, and all of their cars became flooded with water so they could not drive them. This is like an overarching metaphor for the Depression as a whole. Men worked as hard as they could for their families, but it was still never enough. An outside force that they had no control over was controlling them, ruining the economy and making it nearly impossible for them to find jobs. This outside force took over and took everything from them, ruining their lives and their futures, just as the tree and water took away the few things they had left. Many small instances throughout the book are similar to the Depression as a whole, and this example of people working and still getting nowhere is one of them.

In 'The Cruelest Year' they talked about many suicides because men felt out of control and like they could no longer do anything for their families. This utter hopelessness seems to be a theme of the Depression that comes from hard work with only negative results. I wonder if we had seen more of the Joads story if Pa would have fallen deeper into this hopelessness or if he would have been able to remain strong with the help of Ma.

Ma's kids

I thought it was interesting on page 538 when it says, "Tom lay down again and covered himself, covered his bruised cheek with the blanket and made a little tunnel to breathe through," because I used to do that all the time when I was little (minus the bruised cheek), and it seems like a pretty childlike action. But Tom doesn't seem very childlike most of the time. He kills two men in the book.

I wonder if one of the reasons Ma is so intent on keeping her family intact is that she still sees all of these little things that her kids do that make them look like children again, and that's how she still views them. When we read, we see three adults, a teen, and two kids, but I imagine that she still thinks of them all as kids.

Rose of Sharon's baby

Okay, so I haven't started the last section of the book. Shh. Don't tell. But at the end of the last section, Rose of Sharon was really close to having her baby. It seems like with so little left to the book, even if she has her baby, it won't be a really big part of the plot. I don't see how it can be significant in the last 30 pages to come. But it's not going to end without her having it, so it still needs to mean something....

I was thinking about how the book might end, and I can't imagine it would be a typical 'and they lived happily ever after,' where the farm owners give them good wages, they get a house for Ma, and the family is reunited. But a baby being born at the end could be part of what Ma says about the circle of life. "'They's a time of change, an' when that comes, dyin' is a piece of all dyin', and bearin' is a piece of all bearin', and bearin' an' dyin' is two pieces of the same thing. An' then things ain't lonely any more. An' then a hurt don't hurt so bad, 'cause it ain't a lonely hurt no more, Rosasharn. I wisht I could tell you so you'd know, but I can't,'" (286). Maybe in the beginning, the deaths of Grandma and Grandpa signified the start of the hardships for the family, and now at the end, the birth of Rose of Sharon's baby will signify the start of easier times.



By the way, this is a Rose of Sharon:

Pa vs. Ma- Gender Roles in the Thirties

After a little bit of analyzing of Ma's character in class, I looked back into my post-it noted pages in my book. I came across a quote in which Pa talks directly about the role of women in the thirties and how it's changing.

At this point in the book, the Joads are debating on whether to move on north to Tulare, where there's word of cotton-picking work. Ma has just decided for the family that they'll be leaving in the morning in search of work at a cotton farm. Pa's response was, "Pa sniffled. 'Seems like times is changed,' he said sarcastically. 'Time was when a man said what we'd do. Seems like a women is tellin' now. Seems like it's purty near time to get out a stick'" (481).

Pa was raised in a way that told him that the men were always in charge. As we see in the book, while on the road, Ma becomes the glue of the family through her strength and determination to find a way to survive. Although Pa is technically the head of the family still, Ma seems to be the one who is really in charge once they go West. Also, even though Pa makes the comment about her role as a woman, he seems to always look to Ma for advice, making their decisions more made by Ma and him, or just Ma. Is Steinbeck inferring that times are changing in society, and that women are being empowered through the Depression because the men aren't able to support their families like they used to? Is he trying to say that men in the thirties were also recognizing this change, and didn't want it to happen? Does Steinbeck support women having a powerful role in their families, or does he support Pa's point of view?

The Preacher

Jim Casy throughout The Grapes of Wraith has been an influential character in the Joad's life. He has helped them through situations, calmed them down with 'scriptures,' and ultimately sacrificed his own life in an act to defend the people. Casy only wanted for his fellow migrants to be happy and work for decent pay, actually living a life. Reckless as he was rebelling against the hand of the government, Casy was indeed a true hero.

As Tom witnessed the guard killing his beloved friend Tom went into a bloody rage. Tom seized a weapon and, as we can infer, killed the man that felled Casy. Tom acted very quickly and seemingly in an act of blind rage. But did Tom know what he was doing? Did he let his rage control him, or was it an act of justice? Many foreshadowing leading up to the book's climax (as it seems) were blatantly obvious, time and time again Tom had to stop and control himself so that he did not lose it. There is honor in what Tom did, however, even if it may have been an uncontrollable loss of temper. Thoughts?

Helping each other out

In Chapter 26 the Joads find jobs picking peaches for credit at the local store. When Ma goes in to use the money they have made, she finds that prices in the store are too high for her to buy sugar. Eventually the man working pays for the sugar with his own money and Ma says "I'm learnin' one thing good... Learnin' it all a time, ever' day. If you're in trouble or hurt or need--go to poor people. They're the only ones that'll help--the only ones" (513-14)

Throughout the Joads time in California, they have been helped out many times by other poor people and migrants like them. Casy takes the blame for something Tom did in Hooversville and goes to jail for it. The Wallaces alert Tom about a job while they are staying in the government camp. The Joads even help the Wainwrights by telling them about a job, and they in turn help the Joads when Rosasharn feels ill. These poor, desperate families have nothing and yet they are still willing to help each other. The more well off people scorn the migrants because they are afraid of them, and they refuse to help, instead making their lives harder. During the Depression there were many rich people who barely knew that there were so many poor people in their country, and in their home towns, and they did nothing to help the less fortunate. Despite the fact that they have no money, the other suffering people understand what the Joads are going through and they want to help each other in any way they can, even if it would be better for them not to.

We had wondered earlier on whether or not the bond between families would last when they got to California and realized how hard it would be. Throughout their time in California we have seen that this connection and helping of other families has not decreased much. The struggling migrants continue to help each other and be kind to each other despite the fact that other families could be seen as their enemies. I wonder if this bond and desire to join together and help each other out will lead to more. Will there be more strikes or uprisings as the families realize that joining together makes them stronger?

Corrupt Police

In Chapter 22 members of the camp learn that the police are sending people to their dance to start a fight so that the police can come into the camp. Tom's employer gives them insight to the plans to cause a disruption. "There's going to be a fight in the camp Saturday night. And there's going to be deputies ready to go in... I'll tell you why... Those folks in the camps are getting used to being treated like humans. When they go back to the squatters' camps they'll be hard to handle (404).

The police in California are very corrupt. They are extremely biased against the 'Okies' and the rest of the migrants and they do not want them in their towns any more than the rest of the population. The attitude of the people in California is easily summed up by the attitude of the police; they only want the migrants when they need them to work, and they don't want them in their towns other than that because they view them as dirty, and also because they know they are dangerous. When the migrants are treated like people, they begin to want that treatment from everyone, and they will demand more and more. If they revolt, there are more of them and they have the strength of adversity on their side, and the police know that they would be a difficult enemy. They use trickery to try and get into the camps because they want to bring down the spirits of the migrants so they understand that they don't belong and so that they don't try to start a revolution.

I wonder if the Joads will face any more adversity from police. They already had trouble in Hooverville, and now they have had issues in the government camp. Tom is already angry, so another encounter could turn out to be quite bad. Will they face any more issues from the police, and if they do, will the Joads be able to control themselves and not resort to violence?

The Jim Casy Sacrifice

As the wonder at why Steinbeck put Jim Casy in the book and how his role would affect the Joads churned in my head, Jim Casy sacrificed himself so the Joads would have an easier life during chapter twenty. The Joads and Casy were at their first "Hooverville" camp when a cop had come and made trouble with their new friend. Tom Joad ended up knocking out the cop, but the cop hadn't seen who had done it. While he was knocked out and the other cops were coming, Casy tells Al and Tom that they need to go and hide before the other cops arrive. Casy said, "'Somebody got to take the blame. I got no kids. They'll jus' put me in jail, an' I ain't doin' nothin' but set aroun''" (362,363).

Jim Casy sacrificed himself for the better of his family. This must be Steinbeck recreating the sacrifice that Jesus Christ did to save all of the people in the world so that they could have eternal life. We already know that Casy is not an exact replica of Jesus because he sins all the time, and Jesus never sinned. But, this huge sacrifice leads me to believe that Steinbeck is trying to send us some sort of message about either the Savior, religion, or helping each other out when times are tough. The question is, what exactly is he trying to say to the reader, or about the life the Joads are living in the thirties?

Ma's Hypocrisy

As the Joads are leaving the camp before getting to the government camp they come across locals who re-direct them. Tom gets all flared up and almost resorts to physical action to get what he wants but Ma calms him down, telling him that he must be strong and not to resort to hurting someone physically. At the camp the next day, Ma encounters Mrs Sandry and tells the man in white: "If she comes back, I might hit her. I ain't sure. I wont let her worry my girl no more" (439).

Even after telling Tom how he needs to get better about controlling himself Ma goes and threatens to hit someone. Ma may be able to convince other people not to do things but she seems unable of doing them herself. What if Tom saw this? Situations like these have come up a lot recently in the book and I sense that some sort of issue with anger management will come up. Will the Joads find themselves in a rough situation after settling down nice into the new camp? Will the fight at the dance warned by Mr. Thompson be caused by Tom or Ma by coincidence? I don't think we've seen the last of Mrs. Sandry.

The stray cat

This post is kind of in connection to Sara's about the turtle, but this is about a cat. 

A LONG way back in the book (page 57), when Casy and Tom were wandering around the abandoned Joad house, a cat was mentioned repeatedly. It lived around the house and watched the men build a fire and eat. While reading, I kept waiting for the cat to have some sort of significant interaction with the characters, or to have some point to the story (plot-wise). Neither of those happened though, so I assumed that it had some symbolic significance.

The only thing I could think of was maybe it just represented Muley, the neighbor that refused to leave his land. The cat was forced to scavenge food like Muley was being forced to do. "The gray cat came out of the barn shed and trotted miaowing toward the fire, but, nearly there, it turned and went directly to one of the little piles of rabbit entrails on the ground. It chewed and swallowed, and the entrails hung from its mouth" (68). It was willing to eat the discarded guts of the rabbit because it obviously didn't have any people around willing to give up their food to an animal.

Honestly, I think that comparison is kind of weak. I wonder if there are any other things the cat could symbolize that would make more sense. 

Sexism...... fun.

Sexism in TGoW is noticeable in many places, but what's interesting is that when most people think of sexism today, they think of men suppressing the rights and opportunities of women, and of women trying to break out of that suppression, or at the very least not benefiting or agreeing with that system. At least that's what I think of. But in TGoW the female characters, Ma in particular, seem perfectly accepting of the fact that in the social hierarchy, they are just above the children (as shown when the family gathers around the truck before leaving for California {and I don't remember which page that was on [yeah, I just put brackets in parentheses]}). The first place in the book where I saw Ma enforce that system was when Casy asked if he could travel with the family to California. "Ma looked to Tom to speak, because he was a man, but Tom did not speak. She let him have the chance that was his right, and then she said, 'Why, we'd be proud to have you'" (127). She has less say than her own son, and yet she seems perfectly fine with it. She also is hesitant on page 146 to let Casy take over salting the port because it's considered "women's work," as if it would be unseemly for a man to make food. Even manly-man's food, like pork that he killed with his own hands.

At first I wondered why Ma would enforce the hierarchy of men over women, especially since she seems so strong and independent. If I hadn't read those parts about her acting that way, I would have thought that she was one of those "I don't need no stinkin' man" types of characters. But then I got to the place where the Joads are camping by the roadside and the police officer went into the tent and threatened to run them in if they weren't gone the next day, and Ma used the hierarchy for protection. "'Mister,' she said, 'you got a tin button an' a gun. Where I come from. you keep your voice down.' She advanced on him with the skillet. He loosened the gun in the holster. 'Go ahead,' said Ma. 'Scarin' women. I'm thankful the men folks ain't here. They'd tear ya to pieces'" (291). Ma used the fact that they were mere women to try to guilt him, and then the protection of their men to threaten him.

Can anyone think of why else Ma would be alright with the sexism that surrounds her?

The Stereotypes and Biases against 'Okies.'

As the Joads start to head across the Californian desert, they stop at a service station to check the vehicle and a map. While conversing with the service-station boy, mention of the condition of the car comes up. The boy reminds Tom of how bad it looks and sounds. Tom believes that people in California would stop and help a broken down car. "Well, maybe. But folks are kind of scared to stop at night" (301) the boy tells him.

A general unfriendliness toward migrants from neighboring states seems to have been formed, especially for those of Oklahoma. As the Joads progress, they find that the people of California do not want other people coming into their land and bringing their 'dirt' and 'grime.' The people of California seem to not fully grasp how hard migrants have worked to get there and to what lengths they are willing to go to make a new, and honest life. The Joads are compared to 'gorillas' by the service boy and cannot understand how they live such 'miserable' and 'dirty' lives. The Joads obviously do not wish to be dirty and miserable and it seems that Californians can only see face value; they see none of the hard work and effort many families have put into their long and treacherous journey. Taking on such a trip across the mid-west left many with nothing; no home to go back to, very little money, and broken spirits. It is unfortunate how the people of California were not more open than they were. Are the Joads losing their optimism from the acts of the people they have met? Are the many negative experiences and stories they have heard breaking their wills? Will they have the strength to continue this to the end?

Hope and optimism versus reality

Multiple times throughout the book, the Joads meet up with people who have already been to California and are returning, knowing that there is nothing there for them. First when they've paid to spend the night at one camp, a man tells them of how difficult it is to get jobs, and how he has lost his family. But even before he tells them this he says he doesn't want to worry them, and after he's told it he says, "I says I wasn't gonna fret ya, an' here I'm a-doin' it. You gonna go on. You ain't goin' back" (259). Later when they first arrive in California they meet another man returning, and after he tells them how it's impossible to make a living out there, he regrets it, saying, "I shouldn' of did that... Fella always wants to be a wise guy, wants to tell folks stuff" (283).

People understood that there was a need for hope and optimism during that time. They wanted to warn the families going to California, but at the same time they understood it would do no good and they should not do it. The families leaving the dust bowl areas had nothing to return to, so they had turned to California as their last hope, and men returning could not stomp out that hope.  Each man regretted telling the family that there was nothing ahead of them because they wanted to preserve the other families feelings of optimism a bit longer. They all understood that this hope was the only thing keeping the other families going, that without it they had absolutely nothing.

I wonder what will happen once they reach the part of California they are heading toward and this optimism is taken away. What will they do when they realize there is nothing? How will they cope when they have no hope at all and nothing to look forward to?

The Role Of Animals In The Grapes Of Wrath

The role of animals in the grapes of wrath is really important, I think. 
It is a really good way to incorporate morals into the text but without stating them right out. This kind of gives a little leeway so other can form their own ideas about the morals.
Example....  "I think the turtle in this story represents...."
"Yes, but I also think that it shows....."
Coming back to the class discussion that we had the other day about the turtle, the turtle really represents big man and little man. It also shows strength, persistence, hope, never giving up, and maybe a dose of stubbornness when it was placed under the house but came right back out a second later and was headed South West.