THE GRAPES OF WRATH

JOHN STEINBECK

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 JOHN STEINBECK
 Famed novelist John Ernst Steinbeck born in Salinas, California. His books, including his landmark work The Grapes
of Wrath, often dealt with social and economic issues. Steinbeck was raised with modest means. His father, John Ernst
Steinbeck, tried his hand at several different jobs to support his family. He owned a feed-and-grain store, managed a
flour plant and served as treasurer of Monterey County. His mother, Olive Hamilton Steinbeck, was a former
schoolteacher.

 For the most part, Steinbeck who grew up with three sister had a happy childhood. He was shy, but smart, and formed
an early appreciation for the land, and in particular California’s Salinas Valley, which would greatly influence his later
writing. According to accounts, Steinbeck decided to become a writer at the age of 14, often locking himself in his
bedroom to write poems and stories. In 1919, Steinbeck enrolled at Stanford University—a decision that had more to
do with pleasing his parents than anything else—but the budding writer would prove to have little use for college. Over
the next six years, Steinbeck drifted in and out of school, eventually dropping out for good without a degree.

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THE GRAPES OF WRATH
 The Grapes of Wrath, the best-
known novel by John Steinbeck,
published in 1939. It evokes the
harshness of the Great Depression
and arouses sympathy for the
struggles of migrant farmworkers.
The book came to be regarded as an
American classic.

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 WHAT IS NOVEL ABOUT ?
 What is the main message of Grapes
of Wrath?
 The moral of The Grapes of Wrath is
that, in the end, people need to band
together to help each other out. Only
by working together can individuals
hope to survive systems and events
that will hurt them
 The novel is about the migration of a
dispossessed family from the
Oklahoma Dust Bowl to California
and describes their subsequent
exploitation by a ruthless system of
agricultural economics.
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CHARACHTERS

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TOM JOAD
 Tom Joad The protagonist of the
book and the second Joad son. He is
coming home to his family as the
book begins after being released
from the McAlester State Prison.
Tom exhibits the most development
in his understanding of the idea of
human togetherness and love among
the book's characters.

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 Oh yeah: and he killed a man with a shovel at a dance after the man stabbed him
with a knife. No biggie, right?
 These are the cold, hard facts about Tom, and from them, we might come to fear
him just a wee bit. But we also might detect that Tom Joad is kind of a softie.
 Tom Is Many-Layered, Like an Onion

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 Tom is good-natured and thoughtful makes do with what life hands him. Even
though he killed a man and has been separated from his family for four years, he
does not waste his time with regrets. He lives fully for the present moment, which
enables him to be a great source of vitality for the Joad family. A wise guide and
fierce protector, Tom exhibits a moral certainty throughout the novel

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 CASY
 Most notably, the ex preacher redefines the concept of Casy’s teachings prompt the novel’s most
holiness, suggesting that the most divine aspect of dramatic character development, by
human experience is to be found on earth, among one’s catalyzing Tom Joad’s transformation into
fellow humans, rather than amid the clouds. As a radical
a social activist and man of the people.
philosopher, a motivator and unifier of men, and a
martyr, Casy assumes a role akin to that of Jesus Christ
—with whom he also shares his initials. Casy begins the
novel uncertain of how to use his talents as a speaker
and spiritual healer if not as the leader of a religious
congregation. By the end of the novel, he has learned to
apply them to his task of organizing the migrant
workers. Indeed, Casy comes to believe so strongly in
his mission to save the suffering laborers that he
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willingly gives his life for it.
 Casy trumpets a kind of philosophy similar to that first drummed up by the famous
American philosopher and thinker, Ralph Waldo Emerson. Emerson believed in one
giant, invisible, collective soul that contains the souls of all the creatures of the
world. He called this the "Over-Soul However ,There's something a little troubling
about Casy. He's always thinking, and he is always just a wee bit quiet. Casy is
constantly digesting the world around him, and he reveres people and the small
details that go into daily life. He becomes a kind of mentor to Tom Joad throughout
the novel, and the two men seem to understand the injustice of the world around
them better than anyone else.

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 MA JOAD
 Wife and mother. Ma is the
backbone of the Joad family: strong-
minded and resolute. Her main
concern is that the family unit not be
broken. She is the physical
embodiment of Steinbeck's theory of
love.

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 PA JOAD
 Patriarch of the Joad clan. Pa is a
sharecropper whose land has just
been foreclosed by the bank.
Somewhat lost and weakened, he
leads his family to California in
search of work.

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 ROSE OF SHARON
 Rose of Sharon Eldest Joad daughter. Rose of Sharon is pregnant and married to
19-year-old Connie Rivers. Self-absorbed by her pregnancy, she has many plans
and dreams for their life in California. At the novel's close, she represents life-
giving force.

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 Granma and Granpa The couple who first began farming on the land that Pa has lost.

 Noah Joad The oldest Joad son. Noah is slow-moving and emotionally distant, perhaps the result of an unintentional injury
caused by Pa during Noah's birth.

 Al Joad Sixteen-year-old Joad son. Al willingly admits that only cars and girls interest him. He is responsible for the
maintenance of the family's truck during the journey to California.

 Ruthie Joad The youngest Joad daughter. Ruthie is 12 years old and caught between childishness and adolescence.

 Winfield Joad The youngest Joad family member. Winfield is 10 years old.

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