THE GRAPES OF WRATH - JOHN STEINBECK

In 1934 the American writer John Steinbeck wrote the book “THE GRAPES OF THE WRATH”. He
wants to tell something that happened in his country → almost 500,000 American citizens who lived
and worked in the great plains of the Midwest had been forced by hunger, lack of work and misery
to leave their lands. They are headed west, the place that represents the dream and the promised
land.
Steinbeck manages to fix some stories and show what can happen to the men who face situations of
this type: bewilderment, fear, misunderstanding, beauty, generosity, evil and good.
We live in a not-so-dissimilar emergency. Faced with all this we are not unprepared, it is a difficult
passage but many have already gone through. Everyone left something, a legacy of wisdom to use.

Those presented are the years of the Great Economic Depression. They worked the land badly, they
had impoverished it. A strong wind rises that takes away the dry land of the fields. Farmers cannot
work because of this, and they decide to leave.
They start migrating. They sell all they have to buy cars. They throw away things from their lives for
little money.
A man sells two horses that he has worked with all his life and is fond of. He makes little money.
These horses represent a lifetime of work.
Some men think they can start again, but only newborns can start again. Men are their past.
Men are nervous, they can not wait to leave. They begin to accumulate things and load their trucks
frantically and leave everything behind.
Steinbeck per costruire il suo libro prese una famiglia delle tante, la inventò. Costruisce la famiglia a
piacimento: padre e madre, due nonni. I genitori della madre che non vogliono andarsene,
soprattutto il nonno. Infatti decidono di far ubriacare il nonno per potersene andare, but they are
not able to do so because they have no money even to buy whisky. They make him drunk through a
cough syrup.
- Noah has had complications during birth and therefore he has some mental problems.
Everyone loves him.
- Tom is the responsible child who just got out of prison. He was involved in a fight, but it was
not his fault. Due to what happened, he cannot cross the board, but he has to do so in order
to survive.
- Al is an enthusiastic child.
- Rose of Sharon is pregnant and she is only 18 and she has a boyfriend, Collie.
- Uncle Tom is alway drunk in order to try to forget what he has seen.
- Winfield 12 years and Ruthie
Casey is an ex preacher who has lost his faith in God but he has continued preaching. He has started
the journey with the family.
They all travel on a truck for over 2000 miles. They have to cross Texas, New Mexico and Arizona.
They start their journey with the strength of hope.
When they see a gas station, they stop to rest. The owner of the gas station complains that many
men have no money and they beg for some litres of oil. Indeed, many people who own nothing beg
exchange what they have for a few litres of oil. The owner asks where everyone is going.
Pa Joad states that they want to find a place to live. People move because they want to live in better
conditions.
The Joad family realises that even the owner of the gas station is struggling financially and soon he
will have to move.
Grandma Joad dies and they bury her. Casey says that everything that is alive is holy.
They continue travelling and they dream.
Collie wants to open an electronics shop.
People who move across the country feel the hatred of the local people, even though they meet
generous people. They feel they’re not welcome here.
They meet people returning from California since they haven’t found what they thought.
The people of these places define those who travel Oki. This term is generally used for those who
come from Oklahoma.
In this part of America, they used to call people who emigrated “Oki”. They realise for the first time
that they are being called with an insult.

Initially, California was a rocky desert and it was scary for them due to their truck which was old.
Before going to the desert, they stop near a river to get the last sips of water.
When they leave, Noah says to his younger brother Tom that he wants to stay near the river and
never leave. Noah doesn’t have the courage to tell his parents this.
The following morning, the family crosses the desert. The desert is scary and desolated. Grandma is
very ill and dies during the night. They see California with its hills and this country represents their
dream life.
At first they lived in huts where poor people were. They witness poverty through people they meet
on the outskirts.
They realise there is no work for them because everything is private property. They experience
starvation and hunger.
The Joad family still has money and is able to cook a piece of meat. People from the other huts,
especially, come to see what’s happening. Everyone is hungry because they haven’t eaten for days.
The Joad family feels guilty and they try to help the other children but there isn’t enough food for
everyone.
A fight starts in the shantytown and the police arrive. Tom and Casey are involved in the situation.
Tom is able to run away, while Casey is imprisoned. Police threaten people that if they don’t leave
they are going to demolish everything. They want to burn everything and they do it.
Collie is missing but they have to leave without him.
People are hostile towards people who emigrated. Anger starts to grow among people who are
hungry.
The Joad family arrives in a government camp. The camp is clean and has some laws. Tom here is
able to find a job: he digs the soil and has a respectable wage. The mother decides that they are
going to leave because they don’t find any job.
On the road, they find a man who suggests going to an orchard because they are trying to find
people to employ. They have hope. Once they arrive, they find an old situation: police and people
who strike are outside.
They are able to earn a little money in order to eat at night.
Schema madre che va dal fruttivendolo: uomo fa lo spocchioso ma anche lui soffre della situazione e
teme di perdere il proprio lavoro.
The Man uses his own 10cents in orde to help the mother with her buono.
Poor people are the only ones that even if they have nothing are trying to help others because they
know.
57:29
Tom sees people who strike in front of where they work. He sees Casey, the ex-preacher, who
becomes passionate about the cause. They start to talk about defending the poor. A riot starts and
Casey is killed. Tom, after seeing this scene, kills the man who killed Casey. For this reason, he has to
leave the family.
After this event, the real agony and suffering starts for the Joad family. Many people work in the
orchard so much that riots break out. They all want to earn some money. They are ill because they
have only been eating fruit.
Winter is coming and they all know that it is going to be hard. The Joad family leaves in order to find
work in another place.
They start to work in cotton fields. They make friends with another family, the Wainwright. It starts
raining and never stops. The fields have become big lakes and cannot work anymore. They hear a
scream from Rosatea. She is about to give birth and is not even able to speak. It’s raining and the
water is rising. Inside, women are fighting in order to deliver a new life and outside men are trying to
save them by creating a bank.
Men are working outside and they see a big tree that is towed by the flow of the water. The tree
breaks the obstacles. Uncle John doesn’t feel his legs anymore. The wagon where the family lives
starts floating in the water.
Rose of Sharon is sleeping after giving birth to a dead child. Uncle John leaves the baby to the flow of
the water.
They are all surrounded by water. They see a dry piece of land where there’s a house. The little
children see two people: the older man, the father, is starving to death and is not able to walk. Ma
Joad helps the two men. Rose of Sharon gives the old man the milk from her breast in order to make
him survive.

Stainbeck’s aim is to show and present the reality. There’s no didactic aim.
He makes Casey say what he thinks: everything is part of the same thing. He loves people so much.
“Maybe it’s all men and all women we love, maybe that’s the holy spirit, the human spirit”.