Name: Stephanie Williams

ENC 1102
Professor McGrif
Date: March 24, 2015
Annotated Bibliography
Steinbeck, John. The Grapes of Wrath. New York: Viking Press.
1967. Print

John Steinbecks book gives us insight into the lives of migrate workers during
in Dust Bowl in the 1930s.Steinbeck joins a family on their journey from
Oklahoma to the Promised land of California. Like many of Steinbecks novels,
he uses biblical illusions throughout the novel, even the title The Grapes of
Wrath is a verse of an old hymn. The main characters the Joad family was
driven of their farm in Oklahoma. The Joad family and Jim Casey travel to the
promise land of California to find work settle down and have a future.
Traveling west on Route 66 the Joads find that they are not the only ones
heading to new lands. Along the way the family runs into many obstacles
from the truck breaking down, running out of food, and being taken
advantage of by native people on the way. After reaching California the family
finds that the state is congested with labor, so the wages are low and the
workers can barely feed themselves and their families. Jim Casey in outrage
of the farmers taken advantage of the workers becomes a labor organizer and
develops a strike at a peach farm. Jim Casey is killed by cops because of his
uproar. Tom Joad sees this killing and kills the cop which forces him into
hiding. Tom then leaves the family and continues Caseys vision of helping
the people. The farm starts to float and Rose of Sharon has her baby still
born. Uncle John puts the apple box with still born baby in a stream so that
they will know what they are doing to the people. The family decides to get to
higher ground in a barn a finds a boy with his father that is near death. Ma
looks at Rose of Sharon and she knows what she has to do. The story ends
with her feeding the starving man from her milk filled breast.
This is my main source for my analysis paper. I plan to use diferent scenes
from the book to back up Steinbecks biblical illusion throughout the novel.
The novel is a reliable source. Although the novel is a biased source and
Steinbeck received criticism from both sides when the novel was published I
think that this is a great representation on life in America during the hard
times. The goal of this source is to analyize Steinbecks use of biblical
illusions.
I think that this source was helpful for me to step back in time and get a
better understanding of the hard trials Americans had to endure. I think that
the novel will help me shape my argument by using the events that the Joads

family and many others went through. I think that the novel as a whole
changed the way I look at History in that time.

King James Version Bible. 2015. Kingjamesbibleonline.org. Web. 24 March 2015

There are many great stories in the Bible. This book is about history and
religion. I plan to use pieces of stories like how Steinbeck uses the characters
in the novel as a parallel to people in the bible to back up my main
arguments.
This is my strongest secondary resource for my analysis paper. In comparison
to my other resources I would say that without the Bible I would not be able
to write about my topic. I believe that my resource is extremely reliable. This
resource is objective because the events that took place in the Bible are
believed to be a part of History. The goal of this source is to use people and
events that occurred in the bible.
This resource was useful because it will allow me to bring my analysis
together. This resource will help me bring my argument together by allowing
readers to see how Steinbeck used the Bible as a resource his self in this
novel and many of his other works. I think that after reading The Grapes of
Wrath and seeing the parallel that Steinbeck used it has changed how I view
the author.

McCoppin, Rachel. The Many Faces of Jesus in Steinbecks The Grapes of Wrath.
Studies in the Literacy Imagination Vol. 46 (2013). Ebscohost.com. Web. 25
March 2015

The main argument in this article is that Steinbecks novel The Grapes of
Wrath incorporated features of transcendentalism. The author of this article
gives readers another view point other than Christianity and backs up her
theory with evidence from other works that are similar to The Grapes of
Wrath. The topics that are covered in this article is Authors that have
commented on Steinbecks work, transcendentalism, and existentialism.
This source is useful in my research; it has given me a chance to look at the
novel in another perspective. This source in comparison to my other sources
will act as another example of the acts from the characters. I dim that this
source is reliable by the evidence of her research and sources. I think that

this source is biased based. The goal of this source is to look at Steinbecks
work in a more modern American romantic view.
This source was helpful to me because it has given me another way of
showing how the characters actions were related to Christianity. I will use her
view of the characters being transcendental and that Steinbecks use of his
characters were symbols of scenes in the bible, disciples, and even Christ.
This source has not changed my view on the portrayal of his characters in
this novel.

Carlson, Eric. Rebuttal: Symbolism in The Grapes of Wrath. Critical Insights: The
Grapes of
Wrath (2010). Ebscohost.com. Web. 25 March 2015

The main argument in this source is that The Grapes of Wrath had nothing to
do with Christianity. The point of this article is to prove that the theories
about the biblical symbolism is wrong. If someone were to ask me what this
article was about I would say that the author argues that Steinbecks purpose
for The Grapes of Wrath was to naturalistic and humanistic characteristics of
the characters in the novel not relation to the Bible. The topics that are
covered would be critical insights into biblical illusions.
This source is useful because it gives me a strong argument. This source goes
against all of my other sources in a sense that it denies the Biblical
symbolism. I think that it is a reliable resource on grounds that the author did
read the story. This source is for sure biased. The goal of this source is to
argue that Steinbeck in no way mint for this novel to be Christian.
This source was only helpful to me because I needed to find a another source
that debated my topic. This will help me shape my argument by providing
evidence that his evidence is merely a point of view. I plan to pull out
statements from the authors paper using my resources provide information
that will dispute his argument. The authors point of views has not changed
what I think of my topic.