Extended Reading: The Grapes of Wrath

Farming for the Common Good

The Grapes of Wrath, by John Steinbeck, presents a critical look at agricultural society during the time of the Dust Bowl. Farming is the common weave throughout the novel and works as a thread to move the piece along. Steinbeck personifies the land, which allows him to create strong metaphors between the physical terrain and the Joad family. The weather elements work against the land, which can be compared to the societal elements working to destroy the Joad family. Themes of mortal hardship, progression, and individual work for the common good are woven throughout this larger theme.

The title chapter of the novel describes the land as being very barren. Steinbeck personifies nature, making the land a character that contributes to the overall theme of struggle. The way he is able to incorporate the land as an antagonist, rather than just the setting, is a delightfully unexpected component of the story. This struggle is shown at both the beginning as well as the end of the novel.

“In the water-cut gullies the earth dusted down in dry little streams. Gophers and ant lions started small avalanches. And as the sharp sun struck day after day, the leaves of the young corn became less stiff and erect; they bent in a curve at first, and then, as the central ribs of strength grew weak, each leaf tilted downward” (Steinbeck, 3).

The effect of personifying the land in this passage is to help the reader gain an understanding of the elements. Steinbeck gives harsh direction to the nature within the novel to show the unforgiveable way in which the earth plays. Showing farm land in this way provides the reader with a grasp on the reality that Great Depression-era farmers dealt with. Describing the sun as “sharp”, writing that it “struck down day after day” puts the reader into a scene where it is impossible for the land (the corn in this case) to win against the natural elements. Nature is the farm’s antagonist. Similarly, nature also strikes down upon the Joad family, and provides the same sort of antagonist relationship. The most apparent moment of this natural antagonism with regard to the Joads comes at the end of the novel.

“The rain began with gusty showers, pauses and downpours; and then gradually it settled to a single tempo, small drops and a steady beat, rain that was gray to see through, rain that cut midday light to evening. And at first the dry earth sucked the moisture down and blackened. For two days the earth drank the rain, until the earth was full. […] Then the water poured over the highways, and the cars moved slowly, cutting the water ahead, and leaving a boiling muddy wake behind” (433).

The use of personification in this passage is similar to the previous excerpt, though, instead of antagonizing the agriculture, it prevents the Joads from moving forward. Assigning these negative actions to the natural elements allows nature to assume the role of the antagonist and creates a metaphor between agriculture and the Joad family. Both keep moving through the country providing for others, yet neither one of them are able to succeed because the natural elements prohibit them from progression.  

In chapter three, Steinbeck uses the metaphor of the turtle in the middle of the road that gets flipped over by a passing car. He writes the two-and-a-half page scene to show the difficulties of mortal life. “And as the turtle crawled on down the embankment, its shell dragged dirt over the seeds. The turtle entered a dust road and jerked itself along, drawing a wavy shallow trench in the dust with its shell” (16). The metaphor gains focus when, in the next chapter, Steinbeck introduces Tom Joad by highlighting similar characteristics. He juxtaposes these attributes beside the turtle’s to show the lost and beaten down ways in which they wanter.

“The sun was hot and no wind stirred the sifted dust. The road was cut with furrows where dust had slid and settled back into the wheel tracks. Joad took a few steps, and the flourlike dust spurted up in front of his new yellow shoes, and the yellowness was disappearing under gray dust” (17).

The reason for this comparison is to show that both the turtle and Tom pathetically trudge along the same highway, aimless. While this scene is depressing, it is based on realism and Steinbeck does an excellent job of portraying life in the 1930s. 

Tenant farmers in this story are used as a way to portray the Joads as typical Americans of the time period. Tenant farming was popular in the early thirties, but when the Great Depression hit America, no one could afford to keep their land rented out. Government wiped out small family farms and since crops weren’t producing or selling, farming families were forced to move from the land they rented. In Steinbeck’s story, government suggests farmers pick up their family farms and move to California, promising there will be an abundance of agricultural jobs. The Joads make the decision to move across the country and the conflict of the story arises.

In this book, the government and the state of California are not favorably represented. Throughout the book, the reader realizes that officials closer to California have issues with farmers who come to find better lives for themselves out west. Even when the farmers build shallow markets on the sides of the street, law enforcement sweeps through and removes them. Law Enforcement understands that if the farmers work together to create an uprising, they will win. This part of the book is so interesting because it says so much about the power of working farmers. It is almost as though they are completely unaware of the power they hold.

The Grapes of Wrath puts farming in a very interesting light. It highlights all of the difficulties of the career choice, but it does it in a way that shows how much the world needs farmers. Without farming and agriculture, as a society, we are nothing.