Journal #2: Animal story

In a small wood directly next to a small clear blue pond, there was a community of small forest animals, including a family of ducks, rabbits, turtles, deer, beaver, and owls. Each animal did its part in the small forest of Jojoba. The animals worked to bring in food and materials for shelter. The small community of Jojoba worked well together and got along, because each member of the small forest community knew everyone. There was no secrecy among them, for they all acted as family. If a Beaver became sick, not only would his own beaver family help him, but Turtle would bring Beaver flower soup. They were all friendly to each other; however, their friendliness towards strangers was non-existent. The small Jojoba community was so small, because they did not welcome strangers who were different from them.
One stormy day, a family of strange animals came into the Jojoba community seeking shelter. As they saw the nice, dry huts of the animals of the Jojoba community, they became excited and relieved that they could finally come out of the storm. The family went to the first large hut they saw and knocked on the door.
"Who is it?" asked Rabbit.
"We are a small family needing shelter from the storm. May we stay a little while?" asked the family.
Rabbit opened the door, ready to welcome them in, but as soon as he saw what they looked like, he slammed the door in their faces. "You are not welcome here! Go bother Duck as you have a bill similar to hers."
The family left, confused by the encounter and also a little disappointed. They found Duck's house and knocked.
"Who is it, and what are you doing out in this storm?" asked Duck.
"We are a small family asking for shelter, only until the storm is done. May we please come in?"
Duck opened the door wide to let them come in, but as she looked at them she yelled, "Go away! you are not welcom here! Go to Beaver and bother him, seeing as you have the tale of a beaver!" Duck slammed the door in their sad, wet faces.
The family ran to Beaver's house, desperate to find shelter. As they knocked loudly, the door suddenly swung open, and standing right there was the meanest and biggest beaver they had ever seen. "What do you want? There is no room for you!" Beaver shouted.
"We only need shelter until the storm stops. We are cold, wet, and very tired. May we please stay here, just until the storm lets up?" asked the family.
"Why would we let you stay here? You are a complete stranger, and you look very strange and suspicious to me, like no other animal! What are you?"
The bigger animal of the family spoke up. "I am Platipus, and this is my family. May we stay here or no?"
"NO! Get out of Jojoba! You are never welcome here!" Beaver yelled furiously and slammed the door in their upset faces. They left Jojoba and moved on the next small forest community only a little ways from Jojoba. There the animals welcomed the Platipus family with open hands. They took them to a dry shelter, gave them blankets and towels, and gave them a basket of food. The Platipus family was extremely grateful, and they told the small community of Lemon how Jojoba had treated them so terribly! The animals listened, and then told their families, who told their friends, who told other friends, and so on. Soon the word was spread that Jojoba was a terrible community, and any strangers or travelers who had to pass through, ran without talking to anybody or even making eye contact. If they did, they were rudely kicked out and yelled at.
Many years later, Jojoba became a non-existent town. Because the animals there were so mean to strangers, outsiders, and travelers, no one wanted to settle there. If only the animals of Jojoba were friendlier to the visitors, Jojoba may have grown and never died. The animals cruelty only led to the ghost town, known as Jojoba.

Journal #1

I do not know much about Native American Culture, but I do know that it was based on a type of connection, a connection to nature and each other. They liked to trade and share objects with their neighbors and outsiders. They lived off of the land, and really, the land was their life. Many of their homes were made from items of the land. Tee-pees were made from animal skin and wood; adobe houses were made from mud, clay, and straw; and huts of different shapes and sizes were made of wood, grass, straw, clay, and mud. The clothes that the Indians wore were made from animal skin and sometimes leaves. They used pottery to store items in, and they also used pottery to eat from and drink from. Their weapons were also made from the land, a few being bows and arrows, spears, and knives. They hunted with these and made full use of the animals they killed. They grew crops, knew the types of poisonous plants to stay away from, and they were familiar with the animals on the land. Their religions were based on the universe, such as the sun, moon, stars, ocean, land, animals, mother nature in general.

The first discovery of Indians and Native Americans, that I know of, was the discovery of Christopher Columbus. He landed on the islands of the Caribbean, and called the natives he met Indians, because he thought that he was in India. The natives he met were friendly to him and his crew and shared their life style with him. They showed the new explorers their land, homes, and objects deemed valuable by Columbus and his men. Columbus brought to the New World genocide, as he captured, tortured, and killed many of the Indians, one nation in particular, the Arowaks. They brought their treasure back to their own country and continued to go back to the New World. There they continued to conquer spreading their own culture and forcing others to follow.

As time went on, Indians were forced to move west due to expansionism. Any uprising was crushed, and Indians and pioneers and settlers did not get along very well. Promises to the Native Americans were broken by the government, and the Native Americans were sent to live on reservations where living conditions were not the best. The treatment of the Native Americans was terribly wrong as they were tortured, killed, enslaved, and resettled on land.

Symbolism Journal

In Grapes of Wrath, by John Steinbeck, there is one major symbol that is highlighted throughout the entire book. This symbol is Rose of Sharon's pregnancy. Her pregnancy represents hope during the family's hard times. Rose of Sharon's pregnancy is something that is new and an object of joy. It is one piece of happiness that Rose of Sharon can hold on to as she and her family are forced to leave their land. As they head out to California, Rose of Sharon is dependent on her baby, just like many people during the Great Depression were dependent on hope, the hope of food, the hope of shelter, the hope of water, or the hope of money and better work. Rose of Sharon's movements are made around the baby; if she thinks it will hurt the baby, she does not do it, whether it is dancing, turning around, or bending over. While she is at a government camp with the rest of the Joad family, she is taught about childbirth, and how to take care of herself and her baby during her pregnancy. She tries not to stray from these teachings as she wants to have the perfect baby. In the same way, people did many things to ensure their hopes. For example, to build their hopes up and feel relief in a time of crisis, people danced, sang songs, played instruments, and told stories. Yet near the end of the book, Rose of Sharon goes into labor early and bears a stillborn baby. The family is crushed, especially Rose of Sharon, and the baby is sent down the river by Uncle John. This references back to the Bible in the time of Moses. To save her child from dying by the Egyptian hand, Moses's mother sends him in a basket down the river where he falls into the hands of the Egyptian princess. He is raised and later comes back to save his fellow Israelites. In the same way, the dead baby is sent down the river to tell of the families struggles. The baby is their hope, sent away to tell the rest of the world of their struggle and strife.

My Antonia: Cuzak’s Boys: The End

Part five, Cuzak's Boys, of My Antonia has a sad tone towards the middle of the part. When he visits Antonia and her family, Jim and her family are very happy spending time together, but it does not last, for Jim has to leave. And as Jim goes to Black Hawk, he feels very lonely and depressed. "My day in Black Hawk was disappointing. Most of my old friends were dead or had moved away. Strange children, who meant nothing to me, were playing the Harling's big yard when I passed; the mountain ash had been cut down, and only a sprouting stump was left of the tall Lombardy poplar that used to guard the gate. I hurried on." And as there is not much to do in Black Hawk anymore for Jim Burden, he walks on to the nature which has always given him joy, even as a child. Yet this time, it was not the same as it once was; it was strange and in a way desolate because it had changed. "As I wandered over those rough pastures, I had the good luck to stumble upon a bit of the first road that went from Black Hawk out to the north country; to my grandfather's farm, then on the Shimerdas' and to the Norwegian settlement…On the level land the tracks had almost disappeared—were mere shadings in the grass, and a stranger would not have noticed them…They looked like gashes torn by a grizzly's claws, on the slopes where the farm wagons used to lurch up out of the hollows with a pull that brought curling muscles on the smooth hips of the horses." Yet even with the changes, Jim still feels a sense of peace, protection, and happiness. He does this through remembering his past and all the good times he had shared with Antonia. Through all the changes and the unknown future, there was one thing that was set in stone for Antonia and Jim. "Whatever we had missed, we possessed together the precious, the incommunicable past."

 

Bibliography

Cather, Willa. My Antonia. New York, New York: Barnes & Noble, 2004. Print.

Cuzak’s Boys: Summary

Book five, Cuzak's Boys, is about some of the adventures of Jim and his return home to Nebraska. Jim traveled to Bohemia and Prague, sending pictures of Antonia's old home to her. He traveled to San Francisco to see Tiny Soderball and Lena Lingard who live there, and there he learned more about Antonia. He heard she was married to a Bohemian cousin of Anton Jelinek, had many children, and was living a hard life on the farm. Twenty years after Jim promised to see Antonia, he kept his promise. As Jim drove on to the Cuzak farm, he saw two boys leaning over a dead dog. He asked them if they were Antonia's children to which they replied yes. He asked if their mother was home, and when he was told she was, he went on his way up to the farm to see her. As Antonia opened the door to him, Jim was surprised at what he saw. "It was a shock, of course. It always is, to meet people after long years, especially if they have lived as much and as hard as this woman had. We stood looking at each other. The eyes that peered anxiously at me were—simply Antonia's eyes. I had seen no others like them since I looked into them last, though I had looked at so many thousands of human faces." At first, Antonia did not recognize Jim, but after a few moments, she did and was extremely glad and excited to see him. She showed him her children and told their ages, and then she asked him to stay and wait for her husband and eldest son. When they all meet, they enjoy music, old photographs, and stories together. Mr. Cuzak tells Jim his story of his life and how he met Antonia, and the two men have a good time. Jim promises again to come back and go hunting with the boys. When he comes to Black Hawk, he feels very lonely as most of his friends and family there are dead or have moved away. He walks down the road that would take him to his grandparents' old farm and remembers the land there and the good times that were shared there. Then he realizes that even though life has changed, his and Antonia's friendship has not neither has their pasts.

The Pioneer Woman’s Story

Part four, The Pioneer Woman's Story, of My Antonia, by Willa Cather has one major theme that carries throughout the entire part, and that theme is that happiness can be found even in times of sadness. In each small chapter, Jim narrates stories that support this theme. In the first chapter, Jim returns from Harvard to the small town of Black Hawk, Nebraska. When he is there, he is met by his close family and friends, giving him great joy and happiness. "Before I entered the Law School I went home for the summer vacation. On the night of my arrival, Mrs. Harling and Frances and Sally came over to greet me. Everything seemed just as it used to be. My grandparents looked very little older…When we gathered in grandmother's parlour, I could hardly believe that I had been away at all." When Jim hears of Antonia's situation, he is sad and disappointed, and he sets his mind to seeing her again some time. Yet even Antonia in her failed marriage, loss of money, and working very hard in the fields cannot keep her down and depressed. She finds joy in her little baby girl, Martha. She cares for her daughter greatly and turns out to be an excellent mother. And finally, as the two friends meet again, Jim and Antonia are very happy and peaceful together. "She turned her bright, believing eyes to me, and the tears came up in them slowly, 'How can it be like that, when you know so many people, and when I've disappointed you so? Ain't it wonderful, Jim, how much people can mean to each other? I'm so glad we had each other when we were little.'" Antonia and Jim find happiness in their pasts when they were young and great friends. "As I went back alone over that familiar road, I could almost believe that a boy and girl ran along beside me, as our shadows used to do, laughing and whispering to each other in the grass." By remembering the past and all the good times then, the two friends find peace and happiness together.

The Pioneer Woman’s Story

In part four, The Pioneer Woman's Story, Jim returns home to Black Hawk, Nebraska on his summer vacation from Harvard. He is going back to Black Hawk before he finishes Law school. On his way back, Frances, Sally, and Mrs. Harling greet him, and the Harlings and Jim's grandparents throw a gathering in his grandmother's parlor. There, they talk of many things, including Frances's wedding and business, Jim's experiences at college, and the well being of his grandparents. On his walk home with Frances, Jim and Frances talk of a subject that has been bothering Jim all day, Antonia. Frances tells Jim that Antonia never married Larry Donovan and is living with her mother on the Shimerda farm. She has a little baby girl and hardly ever comes into town anymore. Jim feels sorry for Antonia and makes up her mind to go see her some day. Frances also tells Jim the story of Tiny Soderball. Tiny moved away from Black Hawk with a family to go mine gold. There the family encountered thousands of homeless men, and the family started to cook for them. Pretty soon, they set up a hotel service and Tiny was in charge of the business. As it grew, Tiny received some cash and went off to invest in it. When she came back, she had quite a fortune. She moved out to San Francisco where she started her own business and later persuaded Lena to join her. Mrs. Harling told Jim that if he really wanted to know the whole story behind Antonia, he should see Widow Steavens. Jim visited her, and she told him the entire story. She told him that Antonia and Larry were to be wed, and as Antonia was getting ready, Larry sent her letters from his train trips. He told her that he might get stationed in Denver, and she was not happy about that, but she was still ready. Then he told he was stationed there and that she needed to move up there with him. She packed her stuff in three trunks and left for Denver. There Larry said he had no job, rather he had been fired and blacklisted. He used her money, did not search for work, and eventually left and did not come back. Antonia was devastated, came back to her family, and worked on the farm like a man. She had her baby, and Widow Steavens came to help her. The baby was nearly two years old now, and doing fine. Jim goes out to meet Antonia and they catch up. Jim says he is leaving but will come back for Antonia and that he thinks of her every day.

Lena Lingard

In part three, Lena Lingard, of My Antonia, by Willa Cather, there is a tone of sadness and longing but also happiness. This is created by Jim's actions and own thoughts in the part. As Jim is away at college, he meets Gaston Cleric who becomes his teacher and supervisor. He learns a great deal from Cleric and is enveloped in his studies. He doesn't go home for the summer vacation, but instead stays on the campus studying Greek. Cleric stays with him and they read, play tennis, and tell stories with each other. "Gaston Cleric introduced me to the world of ideas; when one first enters that world everything else fades for a time, and all that went before is as if it had not been. Yet I found curious survivals; some of the figures of my old life seemed to be waiting for me in the new."

As time went on, Jim still found himself thinking about and longing for his old life in Black Hawk. "Although I admired scholarship so much in Cleric, I was not deceived about myself; I knew that I should never be a scholar. I could never lose myself for long among impersonal things. Mental excitement was apt to send me with a rush back to my own naked land and the figures scattered upon it." I think that Jim is homesick, which is something he has hardly ever felt. In part one, The Shimerdas, Jim moved from Virginia to Nebraska, but he said he was not homesick. He found a new life in Black Hawk that he liked very much. After the death of his parents, Jim finally felt at home in Nebraska with his grandparents. Now that he is not experiencing that life, he feels homesick for it, even though he is at college and living an excellent college experience. When Lena Lingard visits him, it is as though Black Hawk came to him. As they spent time together for a couple of weeks, Jim felt happy as did Lena, giving those chapters a happier tone. But as Jim was set to move for Boston, he was suddenly sad again and longing for his home in Black Hawk, Nebraska.

Lena Lingard: Summary

In part three, Lena Lingard, Jim goes away from the small town of Black Hawk and goes to Lincoln for college. As he is there he works hard and meets a brilliant scholar by the name of Gaston Cleric. Jim and Gaston go on walks together, discuss school work, and tell each other stories of their past lives. Jim stays with an older couple, living in an old broom closet and working in a small study. "The house was inconveniently situated for students, and on that account I got two rooms for the price of one." One day as he is enveloped in his Latin book, a visitor comes to greet him. At first he does not recognize the young woman standing in front of him with a neatly trimmed black suit, hat, and small gloves, but as he takes another look, he realizes that it is Lena Lingard. He is excited to see her and invites her into his small study room. There they talk of many things, starting off with Lena. Lena had come during the winter and had set up her own dressmaking business. She said it was going wonderfully and that she was glad she had started it. She said it was because of her mother that she started it. She wanted her mother to have a nice house, and with Lena's income, Lena could buy carpet and furniture to decorate the house. Jim was surprised by Lena's business and new orderly life, and he told her he was unsure if he could do what she did. Lena reassured him and then told him about Antonia. She said that Antonia and Larry Donovan was now an "item" even though many people did not approve. Lena also said that Antonia was always talking about Jim and his college work and his intelligence. Jim was glad that Antonia still remembered him, but he was also unhappy about her choices. "I said I didn't like Larry, and never would." Then Lena told him that his grandparents were doing just fine and hope he was doing just as well. After this one encounter, Lena and Jim meet up to go to dinner and a play, and after this, the tradition was set. Whenever they could, Lena and Jim would go to a play, and then back to her house. While he was there, he was rudely glared at by Ordinsky, Lena's Polish neighbor. Only until Ordinsky knew that Jim and Lena had been friends a long time, and that Jim had no intention of hurting her, did Ordinsky finally respect him. Gaston Cleric said he was offered a job at Harvard College, and Jim should come with him. Jim is unsure and asks his grandparents and Lena first. They both agree, and Lena tells Jim that he shouldn't stay with her because she would never get married, to him or anybody.

The Hired Girls

Throughout part two, The Hired Girls, of My Antonia, there are three major themes that appear profusely. These three themes are love, friendship, and the power to conquer suffering with love and friendship. Just like the first part, the chapters seem to go up and down with love and friendship in one chapter and suffering and hardship in another. Yet each time, the conflict between Jimmy, Antonia, his family and friends, ends with love, friendship, and apologies.

When Antonia was very much wrapped up in the new dances that came to Black Hawk, her job was put on the line. She chose her friends and the dances, leaving her job and her friendship with the Harlings in pieces. Jimmy's friendship with Antonia left him with ill feelings from the Harlings. However, with time, Jimmy and Mrs. Harling's friendship was restored, and he was still friends with Antonia. He would sneak out to go to dances with Antonia and her friends, deceiving his grandparents, but he was caught. "I put my arms around her. I couldn't bear to see her cry. 'What is it, grandmother? Is it the Firemen's dances?' She nodded. 'I'm sorry I sneaked off like that. But there's nothing wrong about the dances, and I haven't done anything wrong. I like all those country girls, and I like to dance with them. That's all there is to it.' 'But it ain't right to deceive us, son, and it brings blame on us. People say you are growing up to be a bad boy, and that ain't just to us.' 'I don't care what they say about me, but if it hurts you, that settles it. I won't go to the Firemen's Hall again.' I kept my promise, of course, but I found the spring months dull enough."

As he studied during these months and was ready to graduate, his feelings for Antonia increased. She went to see his commencement ceremony and speech, and he was extremely happy that she had. "'Oh, I just sat there and wished my papa could hear you! Jim'—Antonia took hold of my coat lapels—'there was something in your speech that made me think so about my papa!' 'I thought about your papa when I wrote my speech, Tony,' I said. 'I dedicated it to him.' She threw her arms around me, and her dear face was all wet with tears. I stood watching their white dresses glimmer smaller and smaller down the sidewalk as they went away. I have had no other success that pulled at my heartstrings like that one." With the love and the friendship between the girls, Jimmy, and his family, the chapters take on a happy and blissful tone.

The Hired Girls

In My Antonia, by Willa Cather, winter is greatly associated with suffering, bleakness, and darkness. In the first part of My Antonia, winter seemed to bring the death of Mr. Shimerda, and it brought cold and suffering with it. In the second part of the book, winter is described in a not so pleasant way by Jim. "Winter comes down savagely over a little town on the prairie. The wind that sweeps in from the open country strips away all the leafy screens that hide one yard from another in summer, and the houses seem to draw closer together. The roofs, that looked so far away across the green tree-tops, now stare you in the face, and they are so much uglier than when their angles were softened by vines and shrubs. In the morning, when I was fighting my way to school against the wind, I couldn't see anything but the road in front of me; but in the late afternoon, when I was coming home, the town looked bleak and desolate to me. The pale, cold light of the winter sunset did not beautify—it was like the light of truth itself." His idea of winter as a bleak, colorless, and dark season carries throughout the town. The people of the small town of Black Hawk, which now houses Jim, his grandma, and his grandpa, long for the spring, and many of them are not fond of the harsh weathers. However, they still find pleasure in the bleakness of the cold season. They have indoor activities like charades, singing, dancing, and costume parties, cooking, and group talks. This passage indicates the strength of the pioneers during hard times. Just like the Shimerdas carry on throughout the years, even after the suicide of Mr. Shimerda, the pioneers carry on through the winter. Also, their strength comes from each other. The families stay together helping and protecting each other, but they also care and protect for their neighbors and friends.

The Shimerdas

Chapters four through nineteen of part one, in My Antonia, seem to have an up and down cycle or darkness and light. With the darkness there is death, grievances, poverty, hunger, sadness, and winter. However, with the light there is spring, the beauty of nature, friendship, happiness, and peace. The conflict between the two families, the Shimerdas and the Burdens, fluxes between these two halves of darkness and light.

Starting out, Jimmy and Antonia build a happy friendship that seems to benefit the two families. The neighbors come over to visit, share, and take care of one another. Yet as winter comes to Nebraska and cold overcomes the workers and the families, friendship seems to unravel and sadness envelopes the two families, especially the Shimerdas. The Shimerdas try to obtain some of the items of the Burdens through guilt. This succeeds, and the encounter unravels a small piece of string in the families' ties. "In the kitchen she caught up an iron pot that stood on the back of the stove and said: 'You got many, Shimerdas no got.' I thought it weak-minded of grandmother to give the pot to her. After dinner, when she was helping to wash the dishes, she said tossing her head: 'You got many things for cook. If I got all things like you, I make much better.' She was a conceited, boastful old thing, and even misfortune could not humble her. I was so annoyed that I felt coldly even toward Antonia and listened unsympathetically when she told me her father was no well." Mr. Shimerda's suicide added to the struggle of the family, and as Ambrosch, the eldest brother, and the rest of the family pushed along, they became cruel and hardened. Jake and Ambrosch got into a fight over the borrowing and shameful use of equipment; Jake paid his fine with money from Mr. Burden and also sold a fattening pig. The Shimerdas misunderstand and gave him grief about selling the pig to pay his fine. "For weeks afterward, whenever Jake and I met Antonia on her way to the post-office, or going along the road with her work-team, she would clap her hands and call to us in a spiteful, crowing voice: 'Jake-y, Jake-y, sell the pig and pay the slap!'" However, along with spring and the beauty of the farm and of the nature came the re-union of the two families and their friendship. For now, the up and down cycle had come to an end, and all that was left of it was light, happiness, and friendship.

The Shimerdas

Chapters two and three of part one, The Shimerdas, of My Antonia, has a tone of happiness, bliss, and freshness. Jimmy goes out with his grandma, a lively intelligent woman married to a quiet yet kind man, to the garden on their Nebraskan farm to pick potatoes. There he stays enjoying the beautiful surroundings and becoming part of the scenery. The image of the farm and the nature creates an atmosphere of peace and happiness. "I sat down in the middle of the garden, where snakes could scarcely approach unseen, and leaned my back against a warm yellow pumpkin…There in the sheltered draw-bottom the wind did not blow very hard, but I could hear it singing its humming tune up on the level, and I could see the tall grasses through my fingers…I was entirely happy. Perhaps we feel like that when we die and become a part of something entire, whether it is sun and air, or goodness and knowledge."

In chapter three of part one, Jimmy meets Antonia, a fourteen-year-old girl of a Bohemian family that moved near Jimmy's grandparents' farm. The pair ran off to the start of a new friendship. They both have a love of nature, and the two children are very curious and like to learn new things. When they are outside together, they feel a blissful connection. "I could hardly wait to see what lay beyond that cornfield; but there was only red grass like ours, and nothing else, though from the high wagon-seat on could look off a long way. The road ran about like a wild thing, avoiding the deep draws, crossing them where they were wide and shallow. And all along it, wherever it looped or ran, the sunflowers grew; some of them were as big as little trees, with great rough leaves and many branches which bore dozens of blossoms." "She clapped her hands and murmured, 'Blue sky, blue eyes,' as if it amused her. While we snuggled down there out of the wind, she learned a score of words. She was alive, and very eager. We were so deep in the grass that we could see nothing but the blue sky over us and the gold tree in front of us. It was wonderfully pleasant." This beginning friendship gives the chapter the sense of freshness, bliss, and happiness.

My Antonia: Part One- Chapter One

My Antonia, by Willa Cather is the story of a young pioneer woman of Bohemian migrants. The book takes its readers through her life of hardship, love, and courage. Through one girl's life, My Antonia shares the trials, strength, and perseverance of the early pioneers of America.

Chapter one starts out with the flashback of a young orphan boy moving to his grandparents' farm in Nebraska. The young boy, who narrates the story, is called Jimmy. He travels from Virginia to Nebraska with another farm hand and companion, Jake. As they travel along, Jimmy explains that both of them were excited and prepared for the adventure ahead. However, he describes the journey as an uncomfortable ride. "I tried to go to sleep, but the jolting made me bite my tongue, and I soon began to ache all over. When the straw settled down, I had a hard bed." Yet ironically, with all his trouble in moving from Virginia to Nebraska, he does not feel homesick. In fact, he is the opposite. "I don't think I was homesick. If we never arrived anywhere, it did not matter. Between that earth and that sky I felt erased, blotted out. I did not say my prayers that night: here, I felt, what would be would be."

Even though the first chapter of the first part is short and does not describe Jimmy in hardly any detail, the reader can get a feeling of who he is through his thoughts. Jimmy seems to be a thoughtful and quiet boy with spirit and a little curiosity. He is also very imaginative, and he loves nature and the great outdoors. "I had the feeling that the world was left behind, that we had got over the edge of it, and were outside man's jurisdiction. I had never before looked up at the sky when there was not a familiar mountain ridge against it. But this was the complete dome of heaven, all there was of it." His attitude towards the end of the chapter creates a relaxed and peaceful tone.

The Grapes of Wrath: The End

The Grapes of Wrath, by John Steinbeck has three major themes that continue throughout the book, depression, hatred, and the power of family and friendship. Depression is seen in the migrant families' suffering, but also the Joad family's suffering. They have been kicked out of their home, pushed around by mean people, suffered the loss of their family members and friends, and dealt with the terror of starvation and money loss. In chapter thirty, many of the families suffer from the idea that they will not have work for a while. The loss of money and dignity from stealing and begging takes its toll on the families. "The family ate the steaming boiled potatoes with their fingers. And when this last food was gone, they stared at the gray water; and in the night they did not lie down for a long time."

The next major theme throughout the book is hatred. The family experiences hatred throughout their entire journey. They feel hatred for the people who kick them out of their homes and off the land they work on. On their trip to California, they meet many people that have hatred for them and for the reason they are coming to California. Once they reach California, they are hated by the people of California, and they hate their suffering there.

However, in their suffering, depression, and hatred, they stay together and help each other and other friends in their time of need. Their great connection to one another and their wills to protect and support the family keep them going during their stay in California. The Wainwright's and the Joad's support each other and the camp. They try to build a moat to keep the water out, but it fails; Ma, Rose of Sharon, Pa, Winfield, and Ruthie go to find higher ground and come across a barn. There they meet a scared child and his starving father. Rose of Sharon comforts the child; "Her hand moved behind his head and supported it. Her fingers moved gently in his hair. She looked up and across the barn, and her lips came together and smiled mysteriously." Even though they were faced with injustice, cruelty, starvation, money loss, and death, the family stayed loyal to each other, protecting one another, and making each other stronger against the world.

 

Bibliography

Steinbeck, John. The Grapes of Wrath. New York, New York: Penguin Group, 2002. Print.

Chapter 30

In the middle of chapter thirty, Rose of Sharon starts the delivery of her baby early. Ma calls for Mrs. Wainwright, the hefty mother of Aggie, Al's fiancé. Ma and Mrs. Wainwright help Rose of Sharon with her painful child birth. They help her walk around, and when she finally delivers the baby, they help fan Rose of Sharon as she sleeps from her exhaustion. However, even with all their efforts, Rose of Sharon delivers a stillborn baby. The family is devastated, and Uncle John is sent away to bury the poor stillborn baby. "And then he leaned over and set the box in the stream and steadied it with his hand. He said fiercely, 'Go down an' tell 'em. Go down in the street an' rot an' tell 'em that way. That's the way you can talk. Don' even know if you was a boy or a girl. Ain't gonna find out. Go on down now, an' lay in the street. Maybe they'll know then.' He guided the box gently out into the current and let it go." Uncle John's ceremony for the baby is similar to that of the Biblical figure, Moses. His mother sent him down the Nile River in a sturdy basket in order to be saved from death by Pharaoh's soldiers. He was found by the princess, raised, and later returned to save his own people. Rose of Sharon's baby was a hope of new life, a dream and a new start to a family. When it died, the family, especially Rose of Sharon, was extremely upset. As the baby floated down the stream, the family's hopes and dreams were being sent with it, later to tell everyone of their suffering. Steinbeck ties the story from the Bible into this chapter, and this chapter into the entire book. Both dealt with the suffering of people, and the later-to-come redemption and saving of the people. Their fear led to rage, and rage led to action. The Joad family was not going to take anymore; they were going to fight back and tell of their suffering. Their hopes and dreams were being sent out with the baby to be heard, to testify.

Chapter 29

Chapter twenty nine creates a depressing, terrifying, and somber tone through the imagery of a storm. Steinbeck switches to the general narrative again for this chapter. In doing so, the narrator talks of how winter came to California and with it came heavy rains and driving storms. "Over the high coast mountains and over the valleys the gray clouds marched in from the ocean. The wind blew fiercely and silently, high in the air, and it swished in the brush, and it roared in the forests. The clouds came in brokenly, in puffs, in folds, in gray crags; and they piled in together and settled low over the west. And then the wind stopped and left the clouds deep and solid. The rain began with gusty showers, pauses and down pours; 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."

The migrant families are soaked through from the driving rain, and are helpless as they are not going to get any work for some time. Everything is wet, dreary, and somber: the migrant families, their stuff, the situation. "The people sat in wet clothes. They set up boxes and put planks on the boxes. Then, day and night, they sat on the planks… And the people waded away, carrying their wet blankets in their arms… Then some went to the relief offices, and they came sadly back to their own people. They's rules—you got to be here a year before you can git relief. They say the gov'ment is gonna help. They don' know when. And gradually the greatest terror of all came along. They ain't gonna be no kinda work for three months."

The storms and the driving rain of California wipes away any shreds of hope that the families were hanging onto. As they were barely hanging on, they swept away, and many of them felt the pressures of terrible defeat. Yet, in this, many turned to rage, and this rage kept them going on along with their families. "And the women sighed with relief, for they knew it was all right—the break had not come; and the break would never come as long as fear could turn to wrath."

Chapter 28: Summary

Chapter twenty eight talks about the Joad's and the Wainwright's and their lives just before winter comes in California. Both of the families pick cotton for some extra money, and they both live in neighboring boxcars near the field. The families have been there a little while and have been acquainted and are on their way to being good friends. The families pick cotton to make some money, and the Joad family makes enough money to have milk, meat, potatoes, mush, and coffee. They are quite happy where they are, because the boxcar is snug and does not leak, and they are making money picking cotton, something they are confident in doing. Tom has to hide in the brush about a half mile away so as not to give him away or his family. Ma brings him food every night and talks to him occasionally. However, one day, Ruthie gets in a fight with another girl, because the girl and her friends were trying to take away her Cracker Jack. In the fight she says that her big brother, who has already killed two men and is now in hiding because of that, will come and kill the big girl's older brother. Winfield tells on Ruthie, who is utterly ashamed and sobs violently. Ma goes out to warn young Tom Joad that he must leave because Ruthie told on him. Tom understands and prepares to head out telling Ma of his plans to join Casy's cause and not to worry about him. Ma makes him promise to meet up with her after the depression is over. Then he leaves, and Ma sadly trudges back to the camp where she is confronted by the Wainwright's. They tell her that Al and their daughter Aggie have been seeing each other, and they do not want any shame. Ma says she will talk to him, and then she apologizes to Pa that she did not mean to interfere with his manly hood or his authority. He understands and states that because of all the sad changes of life, he has changed and has not been much help. Ma reassures him, and the two families plan to celebrate Al and Aggie's announced wedding. Also, the two families go out into a new smaller cotton field to pick cotton in the morning, and they make a little change. Rose of Sharon picks cotton with them, but after she did she becomes sick and very cold. Ma and Mrs. Wainwright take care of her, and the families huddle in their boxcars out of the pouring, cold rain.

Chapter 27

Chapter twenty seven is another ray of hope in a world of darkness. It also narrates, without specifically telling the names of the Joad family, the life and the new job of the Joad family. "COTTON PICKERS WANTED—placards on the road, handbills out, orange-colored handbills—Cotton Pickers Wanted. Here, up this road, it says. The dark green plants stringy now, and the heavy bolls clutched in the pod. White cotton spilling out like popcorn. Like to get our hands on the bolls. Tenderly, with the fingertips. I'm a good picker. Here's the man, right here. I aim to pick some cotton." Not only is this another job, bringing in some money, which buys their food and gas, it is also therefore a hope. The cotton picking boosts their confidence, because many of these migrant families came from farms and know how to pick the cotton. "Lines of people moving across the fields. Finger-wise. Inquisitive fingers snick in and out and find the bolls. Hardly have to look. Bet I could pick cotton if I was blind. Got a feelin' for a cotton boll. Pick clean, clean as a whistle."

Yet even in their confidence and a new job, they still face the problem of cheating. Some of the scales, which way the cotton in the cotton bags, are fixed and crooked. They are still trying to be cheated out of their work and money. "Try for God's sake ta save a little money! Winter's comin' fast. They ain't no work at all in California in the winter. Fill up the bag 'fore it's dark. I seen that fella put two clods in. Well,… Why not? I'm jus' balancin' the crooked scales. How here's my book, three hundred an' twelve poun's. Right! Jesus, he never argued! His scales mus' be crooked. Well, that's a nice day anyways." They knew this was their glimmer of hope, and they were going to take full advantage of it. This is what makes this chapter have a lighter tone than the one before it. This chapter's tone is a little cheerier than the chapter before it based on the fact that the work of chapter twenty seven has given them hope to keep on going.

Chapter 26

One of the constant themes throughout the book is prejudice and hate. In the beginning it was the small farm owner's and tenant farmer's hate of the banks, the higher corporations, and the people who kicked them off their land and took it away. As the people moved away out west it was the prejudice of the people on their way to the west. When the families made it to California it was the prejudice and hate of the people of California that tried to keep the migrants down, tried to keep them afraid and tattered, tried to make them leave.

One example of this is in Hooper Ranch where the Joad family went to pick peaches and make some money. As Tom walked down to investigate the yelling men and tents outside of the ranch, he comes upon two guards. "A man stood up and walked near. Tom could see the gun in his hand. Then a flashlight played on his face. 'Where you think you're going?' 'Well, I thought I'd take a walk. Any law against it?' 'You better walk some other way.' Tom asked, 'Can't I even get out of here?' 'Not tonight you can't. Want to walk back, or shall I whistle some help an' take you?' 'Ya see, it's for your own good. Them crazy pickets might get you.' 'What pickets?' 'Them [dang] reds.'"

Also after Tom found Casy, and the men went to hide but were found, the men who stopped them were cruel towards Casy. "Two flashlight beams fell on the men, caught them, blinded them. 'Stand where you are.' The voices came out of the darkness. 'That's him. That shiny [man]. That's him.' Casy stared blindly at the light. He breathed heavily. 'Listen,' he said. ' You fellas don' know what you're doin'. You're helpin' to starve kids.' 'Shut up, you red son-of-a-[gun].'A short heavy man stepped into the light. He carried a new white pick handle. Casy went on, 'You don' know what you're a-doin'.' The heavy man swung with the pick handle. Casy dodged down into the swing. The heavy club crashed into the side of his head with a dull cruch of bone, and Casy fell sideways out of the light. 'Jesus, George. I think you killed him.' 'Put the light on him,' said George. 'Serve the son-of-a-[gun] right.'"

The people were treated rudely, cruelly, and unjustly. It was unfair for the people of the west to hate the migrant only because they were moving for a fresh start and better work. But this element is the whole basis of the book.

Chapter 26

Again in chapter twenty six the reader sees that young Tom Joad and Ma have changed rather quickly, along with Pa and Uncle John. Ma and Tom take on more responsibility and help to lead the Joad family as they work in California. The family roles seem to turn upside down, and the earlier leaders of the family, Pa and Uncle John, have been replaced with Ma and Tom Joad. When they go to pick peaches at the Hooper Ranch, Tom, Uncle John, and Pa, who were the working men in Oklahoma, are no longer the only ones who help work. Even Ma works at picking peaches. But not only are they judged by getting work, they are also judged on how they work in the family. "Tom hurried back. 'I got a nickel,' he called. 'I got a nickel. On'y got to do that there twenty times for a dollar.' The children squatted down and picked the peaches out of the extra bucket, and a line of buckets stood ready for them. Tom carried the full boxes to the station. 'That's seven,' he said. 'That's eight. Forty cents we got. Get a nice piece of meat for forty cents.' Uncle John picked slowly. He filled one bucket to two of Tom's. His pace didn't change. In mid-afternoon Ma came trudging out. 'I would a come before, but Rosasharn fainted,' she said. 'Jes' fainted away.'"

Ma became the lead of the family, helping with the now very pregnant Rose of Sharon, buying food, picking peaches, taking care of the younger children, and taking care of the entire family. Many of the decisions of the family were run through her first, or she decided them and they were automatically done. Tom also helps more with work, supporting his family, and trying to protect them. John Steinbeck includes this switch of the family places to show that it did not matter. In all of the migrant families the position of the people in the families did not matter; what mattered was that all the people in the family able to help, actually did help their families. In their time of need, desolation, and sadness, the Joad family kept going on account that their family was staying together for the moment, and that everyone able was helping in whatever way they could.

Chapter 26

Many of the characters in the book, The Grapes of Wrath, by John Steinbeck, are dynamic characters. Yet one of the more dynamic characters is the reverend Jim Casy. Jim Casy was a retired preacher who met up with Tom Joad and who had traveled with the Joad family all the way into California. One night, as the Joad's and Jim Casy were camped in a Hooverville, a deputy and work contractor started to cause some trouble. There was a fight in the camp, and Jim Casy took the blame, saving young Tom Joad from going back to prison. Later when Casy and Tom met up at the Hooper Ranch, Casy explained to Tom the strike he was planning, and how it was affecting his life. "'Well, sir, then we all got yellin'. And we all got on the same tone, an' I tell ya, it jus' seemed like that tank bulged an' give and swelled up. By God! Then sompin happened! They come a-runnin', and they give us some other stuff to eat—give it to us.Ya see?'" Next Casy explains the power of the strike and the desperation and necessity behind it; however, as they talk they are overcome by angry men there to end the strike. "Casy stared blindly at the light. He breathed heavily. 'Listen,' he said. 'You fellas don' know what you're doin'. You're helpin' to starve kids.' 'Shut up, you red…' Casy went on, 'You don' know what you're a-doin'.' The heavy man swung with the pick handle. Casy dodged down into the swing. The heavy club crashed into the side of his head with a dull crunch of bone, and Casy fell down sideways out of the light."

Casy died for his cause, to help people in their time of need, in their time of sorrow, desperation, and darkness. Earlier in the book, he wanted to help people, but his mind was not set; he was always thinking, and he was unsure of what he should do. But as the book went on, he took more responsibility and protected people even with his own life. Steinbeck creates him this way to add support to the idea that staying together in numbers and protecting each other and helping one another helps the migrant families survive and find hope.

Chapter 26

Chapter twenty six conveys a tone of anger, sadness, and desperation. The Joad family's luck seems to run out. They must leave the government camp where they actually felt and were treated like real human beings. "'We gotta go,' he said. 'We didn' wanta go. It's nice here, an' folks is nice here. We're feared we'll have to go live in one a them Hoovervilles.' 'Well, if we got to, we got to. First thing is we got to eat.'" Their food is limited to two more days. They are forced to leave looking for work. A man comes by a tells them to work at Hooper Ranch where they will pick peaches. This seems to help their situation, but they quickly realize that this camp is not as good as the Weedpatch government camp. First, there are many guards casting a frightening look and an eerie aura on the Joad family. Next, the Joad family is housed in a dark gloomy house filled with dirt and grime. Their situation does not improve much as their pay drops from five cents a box to two and a half cents per box. Tom investigates the camp and finds Jim Casy setting up a strike. Casy and many men are desperate for food, better wages, and desperate to be treated like humans for once on their journey. Angry men come to stop his strike and in the midst of the tumult, Casy is killed, angering Tom more than ever. He attacks quickly, killing one man and causing the security to lock down on the ranch. Desperation led to anger, which led to sadness.

However, the conflict of this chapter is not the only way Steinbeck incorporates this gloomy tone. He also creates this tone of anger, sadness, and desperation through the imagery and the scenery. "The doors were dark. No one moved in the night. Al shut off his lights... A baby cried, in long jerking cackles, in one of the boxcars. A dog trotted out, sniffing and snorting, and moved slowly around the Joad truck. The tinkle of moving water came from the streambed."

Chapter 25

Chapter twenty five is filled with very descriptive imagery of the nature of California. It talks of the seasons and the orchards and the produce. "The spring is beautiful in California. Valleys in which the fruit blossoms are fragrant pink and white waters in a shallow sea. Then the first tendrils of the grapes, swelling from the old gnarled vines, cascade down to cover the trunks." Then the seasons change and it is summer in California. "And all the time the fruit swell and the flowers break out in long clusters on the vines. And in the growing year the warmth grows and the leaves turn dark green. The prunes lengthen like little green bird's eggs, and the limbs sag down against the crutches under the weight. And the hard little pears take shape, and the beginning of the fuzz comes out on the peaches. Grape blossoms shed their tiny petals and the hard little beads become green buttons, and the buttons grow heavy." The imagery in the beginning part of this chapter helps to show why the migrant people were so hopeful to move to California. It is a beautiful state with much fruit and vegetables and wonderful land. The people could have had great prospect out in California. But then the Great Depression hit, and the ending part of the chapter turns dark and has a tone of death.

"And on the ground the seeds drop and dry with black shreds hanging from them. The purple prunes soften and sweeten. My God, we can't pick them and dry and sulphur them. We can't pay wages, no matter what wages. And the purple prunes carpet the ground. Then the grapes--we can't make good wine. People can't buy good wine. Rip the grapes from the vines, good grapes, rotten grapes, wasp-stung grapes. Press stems, press dirt and rot. But there's mildew and formic acid in the vats. Add sulphur and tannic acid. The smell from the ferment is not the rich odor of wine, but the smell of decay and chemicals." This symbolizes the small farmers and tenant farmers that could do nothing as the larger farms and machinery took over. They were left to stand and watch as their produce and crop went bad. Then they were kicked out to find a new life. And as they became migrants and joined other migrants traveling to a new hope, a new beginning, they found that it was not as they thought. There was not much more they could take. John Steinbeck makes reference to this point through grapes. "In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage."

Chapter 24

As the Joad family finally begins to settle down in the camp and feels secure, the family starts to change. Ma and young Tom Joad take on more responsibility as the trip continues. Pa and John each have troubles in finding a job, and feel the hardship of failure. Rose of Sharon becomes more self-conscious and worries more and more for the baby inside of her. The family members come together in their time of need to help each other stand strong.

Ma takes up more responsibility as she enters the camp. Usually, she gathers strength from her husband, old Tom Joad, but as she becomes more familiar with the camp and her surroundings, she takes the lead in the family. She talks to the Ladies' Committee in order to be of more help to the camp. Ma especially takes up the responsibility of taking care of Rose of Sharon. "Ma wiped her hands on the dish towel and she squatted down in front of her daughter, and she put her two hands on Rose of Sharon's hair. 'You're a good girl,' she said. 'You always was a good girl. I'll take care a you. Don't you fret.' She put an interest in her tone. 'Know what you an' me's gonna do? We're a-goin' to that dance, an' we're a-gonna set there an' watch. If anybody says to come dance--why, I'll say you ain't strong enough. I'll say you're poorly. An' you can hear the music an' all like that.'"

Tom also becomes a dynamic character, because throughout the trip, he changes his attitude towards the whole situation. Earlier in the book, he mainly looks from day to day, watching out for himself, but as the trip starts and keeps on going, he takes more responsibility, driving the truck, fixing the truck, going out for work. When he enters the camp, he signs in his family letting them sleep. Then he helps out with the camp. "'Ain't you goin' to the dance?' Ma asked. 'Sure,' said Tom. 'I'm on committee. Were gonna entertain some fellas.' 'Already on a committee?' Ma said. 'I guess it's 'cause you got work.'"

Pa and John have hope for their family and a new life at the beginning of the trip, but as they enter California and the government camp, they start to doubt and wonder about the futures of their family. The find work and take it, but they are still nervous on the outcome of it all. Rose of Sharon is also scared about the future. Ever since Connie left, she has been doubtful, scared, and stressed. Her calm and controlled self presented at the beginning of the book has been pushed away by a new stressful and worried self. Steinbeck shows more of each member of the Joad family's personality. One sees how the trip to California has affected the characters, for good and bad.

Chapter 23

Chapter twenty three talks of how the farmers, tenant farmers, their families, and other migrants find peace inside the camps. The people find a way to escape from their usual broken down lives in California. Some of the ways they do this is in telling stories, singing songs, playing instruments, and dancing. "The migrant people, scuttling for work, scrabbling to live, looked always for pleasure, dug for pleasure, manufactured pleasure, and they were hungry for amusement. Sometimes amusement lay in speech, and they climbed up their lives with jokes. And it came about in camps along the roads, on the ditch backs beside the streams, under the sycamores, that the story teller grew into being, so that the gathered in the low firelight to hear the gifted ones. And they listened while the tales were told, and their participation made the stories great." Chapter twenty three outlines each of these escapes.

The migrants enjoy telling stories to each other about the olden days. They also enjoy telling comical stories, because it helps to ease their minds off of their dreary and desolate predicament. "The story tellers, gathering attention into their tales, spoke in great rhythms, spoke in great works because the tales were great, and the listeners became great through them." Another way for people to escape their dark world for a short while, was to get drunk. "And always, if he had a little money, a man could get drunk. The hard edges gone, and the warmth. Failures dulled and the future was no threat." The other ways were playing music and dancing to that music. The people enjoyed this very much, because everyone could take part in it. "These three in the evening, harmonica and fiddle and guitar. Playing a reel and tapping out the tune, and the big deep strings of the guitar beating like a hear, and the harmonica's sharp chords and the skirl and squeal of the fiddle. People have to move close. They can't help it. The square closes up and the dancing starts, feet on the bare ground, beating dull, strike with you heels."

John Steinbeck includes this chapter and the ways the people escaped from their hardship to show the reality of the situation. These people were not dirty foreign vagrants that the people of the west had unjustly prejudiced against. These were real people of the United States of America, who had troubles when the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl hit. They were moving for a better future, and the western people treated them cruelly and had no right to do so. The migrants were real people looking for a way out of their terrible predicament. And some of their ways out were through singing, dancing, playing instruments, telling stories, and telling jokes. These were all real ways of escape from a real and desolate situation by real American people.

Chapter 22

John Steinbeck views human nature as a dark and desolate and depressing object, with only a few glimmers of hope. In the book, The Grapes of Wrath, the inhumanity of man towards man on the great journey of the migrants. However, there is a sense of hope. Their main hope for surviving is in each other. Together, the migrants have a chance. They protect each other, care for each other, love each other, and fight for each other. This is what keeps them going on their long journey. This is their glimmer of hope in a depressing and desolate era of darkness. 102

In chapter twenty two, one can see their bondage together, and see how the migrants help each other and care for each other. When the Joad family enters the large government camp, they are greeted by a friendly camp owner. They are told some of the rules, and they settle down for the night. In the daytime, young Tom Joad wakes up early smelling a delicious breakfast. "When the smell of the biscuits struck the air both of the men inhaled deeply. The younger said, 'Kee-rist!' softly. Now the older man said to Tom, 'Had you breakfast?' 'Well, no, I ain't. But my folks is over there. They ain't up. Need the sleep.' 'Well, set down with us, then. We got plenty--tank God!' 'Why, thank ya,' Tom said. 'Smells so darn good I couln' say no.'" 240

Later, the men Tom Joad meets give him some friendly advice, and take him to get some work. "'You got work now,' Tom suggested. 'Yeah, but it ain't gonna las' long. Workin' for a nice fella. Got a little place. Works 'longside of us. But, hell--it ain't gonna as' no time.' Tom said, 'Why in hell you gonna git me on? I'll make it shorter. Whay you cuttin' your own throat for?' Timothy shook his hed slowly 'I dunno. Got no sene, I guess. We figgered to get us each a hat. Can't do it, I guess. There's the place, off to the right there. Nice job, too. Gettin' thirty cents an hour. Nice frien'ly fella to work for.'" This passage shows how the people moving to California and other western states helped each other, giving each other hope.

Chapter 21

Chapter twenty one is a cause and effect chapter of the families in California. It talks of how the trip caused panic in the west, which eventually caused fear, which led to violence, which effected the entire state of California in particular. First the machines in their own states caused their move. "And then suddenly the machines pushed them out and they swarmed on the highways." This move led to the panic of the people of the west. "In the West there was panic when the migrants multiplied on the highways. Men of property were terrified for their property." This panic and fear grew in the hearts of the Western people; it built up to the point of action. "And the men of the towns and of the soft suburban country gathered to defend themselves; and they reassured themselves that they were good and the invaders bad, as a man must do before he fights. They said, These...Okies are dirty and ignorant. They're degenerate, sexual maniacs. These...Okies are thieves. They'll steal anything. They've got no sense of property rights." Also along with violence came other methods of business for the store keepers and land owners. "When there was work for a man, ten men fought for it--fought with a low wage. And this was good, for wages went down and prices stayed up. The great owners were glad and they sent out more handbills to bring more people in. And wages went down and prices stayed up. And pretty soon now we'll have serfs again."

This section is also ironic in its actions. The business men who were accusing the migrants as thieves and vagrants were also thieves and vagrants themselves. However, they did not consider themselves vagrants or thieves; they considered themselves the good people of California. Yet they were not the good people they thought themselves to be. They sent out handbills to bring many men in when they only needed a few just to lower the wages. They called this "good business" when really they were stealing money from the men in a way. They were also stealing the men's dignity. The men would do anything in order to feed themselves and their families. "If that fella'll work for thirty cents, I'll work for twenty-five. If he'll take twenty-five, I'll do it for twenty. No, me, I'm hungry. I'll work for fifteen. I'll work for food. The kids. You ought to see them. Me. I'll work for a little piece of meat." And so the system continued. The moving of the people led to panic, which led to fear, which led to violence and thievery and tricks.

Chapter 20

The beginning of chapter twenty is filled with very descriptive imagery. It adds to the book a gloomy and desolate outlook. John Steinbeck describes the camp the Joad's come to in great detail. The reader can just see almost exactly what the camp looks like, the people in the camp, and the scenery of the camp.

"There was no order in the camp; little gray tents, shacks, cars were scattered about at random. The first house was nondescript. The south wall was made of three sheets of rusty corrugated iron, the east wall a square of moldy carpet tacked between two boards, the north wall a strip of roofing paper and a strip of tattered canvas, and the west wall six pieces of gunny sacking. Over the square frame, on untrimmed willow limbs, grass had been pile, not thatched but heaped up in a low mound. Next to the shack there was a little tent, gray with weathering, but neatly properly set up; and the boxes in front of it were placed against the tent wall. A stovepipe stuck out of the door flap, and the dirt in front of the tent had been swept and sprinkled. And next there was a huge tent, ragged, torn in strips and the tears mended with pieces of wire. The flaps were up, and inside four wide mattresses lay on the ground. A clothes line strung along the side bore pink cotton dresses and several pairs of overalls. There were forty tents and shacks, and beside each habitation some kind of automobile."

The imagery of this scene adds desolation and depression to the tone of this book. Each tent or shack is made up of random materials that the families had to use. Their intent is to survive now, and they accomplish this by any way possible. Shacks and tents made out of paper, cloth, leaves, and junk yard materials create a poor and desolate setting. It is sadly ironic that in such a beautiful state, such as California, filled with luscious land and fruit, that camps, such as Hoovervilles, exist nearly everywhere one goes. The setting of this chapter, and the entire book, continues one of the major themes of this book, depression.

Chapter 20

Chapter twenty carries on the theme of depression, sadness, and darkness. John Steinbeck portrays this sadness and depression through children. As the Joad's family enters the camp they find families and their many children living in make shift homes and tents. The Joad's stop there and set up camp, and they learn many new things about California and the camps, such as the camps are named Hoovervilles, the cops look for trouble and burn the camps, and they have to keep moving because there is not much work and they do not want to starve. The Joad's settle down and start making dinner, and many starving children come in on their camp wanting the hot stew.



Steinbeck adds to the sadness by his sad descriptions of the children. "The children, fifteen of them, stood silently and watched. And when the smell of the cooking stew came to their noses, their noses crinkled slightly. The sunlight glistened on hair tawny with dust. The children were embarrassed to be there, but they did not go." Ma is left standing wondering what to do, saddened by the predicament with the children. Finally, she feeds her family and lets the starving children clean out the kettle. "... and outside they could hear the children digging into the pot with their sticks and their spoons and their pieces of rusty tin. A mound of children smothered the pot from sight. They did not talk, did not fight or argue; but there was a quiet intentness in all of them, a wooden fierceness. There was the sound of scraping at the kettle, and then the mound of children broke and the children walked away and left the scraped kettle on the ground."



John Steinbeck adds this scene in, not only for a historical view on the book, but also as an extra scene of sadness and depression. This creates a gloomy outlook on the chapter and the book. Because, not only are the adults affected by the situation, but the poor children are too.

Chapter 19

As the families go through much torment, from the moving, the camping, the different people, the law, the new experience, there is one thing that keeps many of them together and pushing on. That is their devotion to each other and other families. Continually the reader sees this with the Joad family. This is the biggest spark of hope throughout the book, the devotion and loyalty and bonding of the families on the great trip. This connection through troubled times keeps many of the families moving on, facing their fears, and finding a way to survive.



Chapter nineteen shows one of the ways the families helped each other. "D'ja hear about the kid in that fourth tent down? No, I jus' come in. Well, that kid's been a-cryin' in his sleep an' a-rollin' in his sleep. Them folks thought he got worms. So they give him a laster, an' he died. It was what they call black-toungue the kid had. Comes from not gettin' good things to eat. Poor little fella. Yeah, but them folds can't bury him. Got to go to the county stone orchard... And hands went into pockets and little coins came out. In front of the tent a little heap of silver grew. And the family found it there. Our people are good people; our people are kind people. Pray God some day kind people won't all be poor. Pray God some day a kid can eat."



In this chapter, John Steinbeck also shares his own view of human nature. He views human nature to be evil, selfish, and dark with very little good at all. In his book, people prey off other people; the migrants are tormented by the people of California and the people of the west. This is one of his biggest examples of his view of a dark human nature. People from the same country--the only difference being in location--from a free country, turn on their fellow Americans in order to get themselves ahead.

Chapter 19

Chapter nineteen is filled with imagery and a historical outlook. The imagery adds to this chapter by creating a picture in one's mind, a very detailed and colorful picture. The imagery paints a dark picture, filled with sorrow and depression adding to the overall tone of The Grapes of Wrath, by John Steinbeck. Each sentence adds to the historical outlook of the book, and each sentence adds to the setting, creating a dreary, unloved, and forgotten land. "They had no more the stomach-tearing lust for a rich acre and a shining blade to plow it, for seed and a windmill beating its wings in the air. They arose in the dark no more to hear the sleepy birds' first chittering, and the morning wind around the house while they waited for the first light to go out to the dear acres."

Steinbeck tells the history of the land of California and ties that into the Joad's own life story. As the slaves brought over to take care of the large farms there were treated terribly, the Joad's were also treated badly when they came to California. It talks of how the farms became larger, tenants were kicked out and men and machines were brought in to take care of the land, but the men did not care for the land as the previous farmers and tenants had. This is the exact story of the Joad's family. This connection of the two lands shows that there is not much hope for the Joad's family as California had experienced the same troubles as Oklahoma. The working situation for the farmers and tenant farmers was no different in California as the people had thought. "And it came about that owners no longer worked on their farms. They farmed on paper; and they forgot the land, the smell, the feel of it, and remembered only that they owned it, remembered only what they gained and lost by it... Then such a farmer really became a storekeeper, and kept a store."

The combination of the imagery and the historical flashback of California create a hopeless chapter for the families, now called Okies, moving to California. This flashback also foreshadows the events yet to come for the Joad's family.

Chapter 18

One of the major themes in this chapter and throughout the book is the inhumanity of man towards man. At the beginning of the book, it was men that kicked the families off their farms. Service station owners were rude to the families and often tried to cheat them of their money. Along the road, people were rude to them, and the camps were not always the nicest. When they were along the borders of Arizona and California, the cops or policemen were very rude treating the people like dogs. Also, when the Joad's family stopped at a service station in California, the boys there treated them like they were inferior and too dumb for the state of California. "'Well, you and me got sense. They ain't human. A human being wouldn't live like they do. A human being couldn't stand it to be so dirty and miserable. They ain't a hell of a lot better than gorillas.' 'They're so...dumb they don't know any better than what they got.'"



This portrayal in the book shows John Steinbeck's idea of a dark human nature. His view of human nature as a dark hole of people preying on people, only trying to get ahead of the other by pushing each other down. Steinbeck's view of human nature is also closely tied to discrimination. Without really knowing the Joad's, the service boys talk of the Joad's as dumb people, dumb as gorillas.

However, even with this discrimination, the Joad's prevail strongly through the desert and into California. Their inner strength is undeniable when one reads about Ma's actions. Granma was sick and was quickly dying. Ma stuck with her until she died, but Ma did not tell anyone. She kept this secret as the guards checked the Joad's vehicle. She said they had no time, for Granma needed to see a doctor as soon as possible. The guards let them through to California, and then Ma told the rest of the family the truth. They greatly respected her for her courage, and they prepared to give Granma a proper burial. Thus, again, the family is depressed and sorrowful.

Chapter 18

Chapter eighteen finally brings the Joad's and the Wilson's to the outskirts of their destination, California. When they reach the border, they decide to rest and tackle the desert at night, so it will not be so hot, and they will not get baked in the sun. They stop at a river and willow trees, and the men go down to bathe in the nice cool river. "Each man sat in the water and felt the tug of the current...'Jesus, I needed this.'"

However, there is irony in their actions. They are rejuvenated and refreshed by the cool water; however, their stay in California is not going to be as nice and fresh as the river. In this chapter, the river represents hope, but the river does not run through all of California. Likewise, there is not a lot of hope in California like it was promised. They learn this from another man resting in the river. He represents the truth in a way, for he tells the Joad's men that the handbills that were delivered were not telling the whole story. He says that California is a beautiful land with oranges and grapes and nice farming ground, but that many people cannot have it. The truth worries the men a little bit, but they still continue on with their plan, hoping that this sad story will not be their own life story.

Also, Steinbeck foreshadows their troubles in California. The desert they are about to cross can be viewed as a symbol of more obstacles they are to go through. "'We got the desert yet,' Ruthie said...'I don't know. I seen pitchers once says a desert. They was bones ever'place.' 'Man bones?' 'Some, I guess...'" With these images in mind and the stories from people leaving California, the families are starting to question California and how much "promise land" it really is. Yet they are still hoping that life will be better, and that they will have the fresh start that was promised.

Chapter 17

Chapter seventeen talks about other migrant families other than the Joad's and the Wilson's. It talks about how the migrant families were able to keep going and to survive. This is their hope, their "water." They would not be able to survive without the company of each other. Their bonds with people and communication provides an escape from the terrible idea of their journey. However, to not ruin their Utopian world inside their Distopian world, they set up rules and guidelines which eventually become unofficial laws. "At first the families were timid in the building and tumbling worlds, but gradually the technique of building worlds became their technique. Then leaders emerged, then laws were made, then codes came into being. And as the worlds moved westward they were more complete and better furnished, for their builders were more experienced in building them."

Their rules are common rules, manners. "The families learned what rights must be observed--the right of privacy in the tent; the right to keep the past black hidden in the heart; the right to talk and to listen; the right to refuse help or to accept, to offer help or to decline it; the right of son to court and daughter to be courted; the right of the hungry to be fed; the rights of the pregnant and the sick to transcend all other rights." Yet this is ironic, because not everyone followed these rules in the camps. Also their mini-government had no real power in the United States. The people were still under the government of the United States. However, I think that they were mad at the government and this was a way, in their minds, to get back at the government of the United States. This was their escape, and in a way, their revenge.

After Steinbeck talks about the generalization of the camps and the new "worlds and governments," he brings the reader inside one of these small camps, showing what it was like. When he narrows the field down from multiple camps to one camp, he sets up for his next chapter, which talks of one of the families that travels the road and sets up at one of these camps, the Joad's family and the Wilson's family.

Chapter 16

Through the characters actions and the imagery, the chapter has a tone of desperation, sadness, and devotion. Ma's actions about the men's decisions creates this tone of desperation. She is upset about splitting up, afraid that the two parties will have trouble meeting back up again or not be able to find each other ever again. She stands with great defiance against the idea that their family will not be traveling to California together. She even threatens to beat anyone, in particular Pa, who stands in her way. "Ma waved the jack handle. 'S'pose we was camped, and you went on by. S'pose we got on through, how'd we know where to leave the word, an' how'd you know where to ask?'" "The eyes of the whole family shifted back to Ma. She was the power. She had taken control... 'I ain't scared while we're all here, all that's alive, but I ain't gonna see us bust up.'"

However, Ma's desperation is based on her devotion to the family. She works hard to keep the family going, and everyone is close to each other. Even the Wilson's and the preacher, Jim Casy, have become closer together. When Casy and young Tom Joad work on the broken-down truck, they talk about their love lives. When Al and Tom go in the closest town and service station, they talk about Tom's experiences in prison. Everyone helps each other; they care for each other, and they protect one another. With this long and hard journey, the families have to help each other and protect one another, otherwise it could end in even more hardship or even death. "'We got a bitter road. Granma's sick. She's up there on the truck a-pawin' for a shovel herself. She's jus' tar'd out. We got a long bitter road ahead... All we got is the family unbroke.'"

Yet even with the devotion, sadness is all around. Granma and Sairy are very sick, and Granma is close to death. The camps they come to and the people they meet are not always the nicest or most hospitable. They are only there because they need rest, shelter, and water. Steinbeck describes the grim scenes that add sadness and tiredness to the chapter. "In the grassy lot the wrecks lay, cars with twisted, stove-in noses, wounded cars lying on their sides with the wheels gone." "'The more fellas he can get, an' the hungrier, less he's gonna pay.'" "'Them children died a heart failure,' he said. Put it on his paper. Shiverin', they was, an' their bellies stuck out like a pig bladder.'" As the Joad's family heard of the depressing stories of California, they quickly doubt if this trip was a good idea. Their light of hope slightly dims.

Chapter 16: Summary

In chapter sixteen, the Joad's family continues on their way out of Oklahoma all the way to the "promise land" of California. As they travel along route 66, with the Wilson's, one of the vehicles starts rattling, and Al pulls it over. Tom and Al look over the vehicle and conclude that the bearings and the con-rod are causing the problems. The family is unsure of what to do at this point, whether to stay with the vehicle or split up and head to California. The family decides that it would probably be best to split up and then meet back up again in California. However, Ma hates this idea. "Ma's face softened, but her eyes were still fierce. 'You done this 'thout thinkin' much,' Ma said. 'What we got lef' in the worl'? Nothin' but us. Nothin' but the folks. We come out an' Grampa, he reached for the shovel-shelf right off. An' now, right off, you wanna bust up the folks---'"

Ma throws a fit and threatens to fight if she does not get her way. She decides that they will take the truck to a shady spot with water and set up camp there. Then, the truck will come back to pick up Tom and Casy who will stay with the broken down vehicle. Tom will go into the nearest town and get the parts he needs for the vehicle. After they fix the vehicle they will meet at the camping place, and then they will all continue on their way to California together. Everyone agrees with her, and the plan is put to action.

When Al comes back with the truck and Tom gets the broken parts off the vehicle, Al and Tom go into town, leaving Jim Casy to watch the broken-down vehicle. On their way there, Al and Tom talk about Tom's experience in jail, and how they will start a new adventure in California. They arrive a station to find a dirty one-eyed man, sulking around and asking them questions about his life and feeling sorry for himself. Tom and Al buy the parts they need, and Tom lectures the man on how he needs to stop being pathetic and move on with his life. The two men arrive back to the vehicle, fix it with the help of Casy, and then drive over to the camp that the rest of the Joad's and Wilson's are staying at. The proprietor charges them for entry, which they decline. After talking to the rest of their family, the boys decide to drive on ahead to later meet up with the rest of their sleeping family.

Chapter 15

Chapter fifteen is a short story, almost like a parable, in The Grapes of Wrath, by John Steinbeck. In this chapter, Steinbeck offers that small glimpses of hope, yet he still creates the characters with a judgemental attitude. The short story centers around a waitress named Mae and a cook name Al, who experience all kinds of people in their small fast food restaurant, such as truckers, farmers, and migrants. The characters attitudes to these different people shows the attitudes of many of the people in the United States towards the farmers, tenants, and other poor people moving to the west, searching for a better life.

In this story Mae and Al talk of how they like truckers who bring them bigger tips, rather than the migrants, farmers, and other travelers who come to the little restaurant. In particular, two well acquainted truckers of Mae come in for pie. Mae treats them with wonderful hospitality, giving them large slices of pie, telling jokes, and being all around peaceful and nice to them. Suddenly, a migrant family comes in asking for water and bread. Mae treats them with contempt, judging them by the rumors she has heard. She treats them as thieves, beggars, as "riff-raff." Al, scorning Mae for her behavior, gives the man bread. The man's two younger boys, staring greedily at some candy ask for the price. Mae, feeling pity for them, charges them for much less than the candy is priced. The family is grateful, and they go on their way. When the truckers leave, Mae notices an extremely large tip on the table left by the truckers, and she is filled with astonishment.

In this chapter, Mae learns a valuable lesson; if she is kind to someone, they in turn, and others in turn, may be nice to her. Therefore, because of her actions, she gained a sense of gratitude and astonishment. This chapter denounces the rumored terrible reputations of the farmers, tenants, and migrants. This whole chapter is an example of the glimmer of hope presented in chapter twelve. Still though, this chapter of hope does not last, and the gloom and despair of the entire conflict of the journey returns.

Chapter 14

John Steinbeck switches over to a more general view in chapter fourteen. It talks about how the people in the West were scared of the migrants and farmers moving in to their area. "The Western States are nervous under the beginning change... A half-million people moving over the country; a million more restive, ready to move; ten million more felling the first nervousness." They are scared of the possibility of an uprising among the migrants. If the migrants and farmers teamed up and helped each other, they could become a dangerous tidal wave sweeping across the entire country.

To portray the dark and uneasy feeling of this chapter, Steinbeck uses detailed imagery and metaphors. He compares the nervous people of the West to horses. "The Western States, nervous as horses before a thunder storm." He also sets a dark mood on the chapter. "This you may know when the bombs plummet out of the black planes on the market place, when prisoners are stuck like pigs, when the crushed bodies drain filthily in the dust." He fills this chapter with depression, darkness, fear, and the idea of revolt. "And this you can know--fear the time when Manself will not suffer and die for a concept, for this one quality is the foundation of Manself, and this one quality is man, distinctive in the universe." "Only a little multiplication now, and this land, this tractor are ours."

The farmers were upset by the conflict in the country. Tractors were replacing them and they hated it. Their blame was falling on the government, and the answer for them was to rise up together and end their hardships. However, the people of the West were nervous of this idea of revolt. This bleak, and gloomy idea of man living off man continues throughout John Steinbeck's book. This dark side of human nature carries throughout each chapter. Just like service station owners would take advantage of the travelers, people preyed on their fellow countrymen. Steinbeck's idea of a dark and evil human nature with few glimpses of truth and hope carries on throughout this chapter and the book.

Chapter 13

Chapter thirteen foreshadows events on the Joad family's trip. When they first meet the service station owner, he treats them with rudeness and contempt. This foreshadows the other people on the road they will meet that will treat them with just as much hatred and contempt as the owner did. However, this meeting is ironic in itself. The owner himself is packing up and heading out for better work also. Yet he degrades the Joad's trying to boost himself up. He is caught in his own charade, humiliated for his behavior.

The next significant events are the death of the Joad family's dog and Grampa. This represents the bad obstacles that are yet to come. It also foreshadows more death and sadness. They do find a little bit of hope in the new characters they meet, Mr. Ivy and Sairy Wilson. They are a middle aged couple from Kansas with no children. Ivy is a lean man, with dirty blue jeans, and blue shirt and black vest with a straw hat. " His face was lean, the deep cheek-lines great furrow down his face so that his cheek bones and chin stood out sharply. He looked up at the Joad truck and his eyes were puzzled and angry." Sairy Wilson is a sickly woman, who tries very hard to hide her pain. The couple was on their way out west until their car broke down, and Ivy was having trouble fixing it.

In turn for friendship and help, the Joad's promise to help fix Ivy and Sairy Wilson's car. With this, the families pair up together and plan to travel with each other, helping each other, and caring for each other. Still even in their new friendship, there is pain and sadness. "Only Sairy Wilson was awake. She stared into the sky and braced her body firmly against pain." This foreshadows more suffering and pain. Also it symbolizes the fight against the suffering. The coming together of the families can also symbolize the coming together of the Joad family. With their losses now and their losses to come, the Joad family depend on each other more and more.

Chapter 13: Summary

Chapter thirteen is the start of the Joad's adventure to California. They have already packed up and are on their way. Al, driving the truck, checks on everything, the gas, the brakes, the engine temperature; he listens for anything that could go wrong. Needing to get out of the truck and refill it, the Joad's family stops at a servicing station. The owner of the service station comes out immediately asking if they have money to pay; this aggravates them. "Tom dropped angrily to the ground and moved toward the fat man. 'We're payin' our way,' he said fiercely. 'You got no call to give us a goin'-over. We ain't asked you for nothin.'"

The man then goes on to talk about the country and the people that stop by his servicing station. He talks of the hard times and the big companies and the traveling people. He says that he does not know what the country is coming to. Then Tom blows up at him again, talking of the terrible times of the country, yelling at the man saying he is soon next to go. The man is shaken by Tom's explosion, and he tells Tom that he is right. Then he goes to get some water with the rest of his family. When this happens, the dog that goes along with the Joad's gets down off the truck and wanders onto the highway. The dog is then run mercilessly over by a car. Saddened, the Joad family continues on their way with Tom as the driver.

As night approaches, the family pulls over and asks to camp near another family. The couple agree and the Joad's start to unload. As they do this, Grampa gets down and immediately starts sobbing. He complains of not feeling very good, and Sairy, the new wife they meet, lies him down on her mattress in her tent. Granma gets the preacher to come and pray for Grampa, but he is unsure of what to pray for. After much struggling, Grampa dies; the preacher said he died of a stroke, "a quick stroke." They bury Grampa themselves at a private funeral service, and they leave a note with him telling who he was and how he died. The heart-broken and tired families decide to travel together helping each other along. With their camp fire meeting finished, the families fall asleep.

Chapter 12

Chapter twelve of The Grapes of Wrath foreshadows the journey of the Joad family to California. Along the way they meet obstacles such as, car problems, starvation, thirst, and shortage of money. They encounter all this along Route 66, considered the path for refugees and people traveling in distress. "66 is the path of a people in flight, refugees from dust and shrinking land, from the thunder of tractors and shrinking ownership, from the desert's slow northward invasion, from the twisting winds that howl up out of Texas, from the floods that bring no richness to the land and steal what little richness is there. From all of these the people are in flight, and they come into 66 from the tributary side roads, from the wagon tracks and the rutted country roads. 66 is the mother road, the road of flight."

However, the farmers hardships do not just come from their money shortage, starvation, thirst, or car problems or damage. They also suffer from man. The people they meet along the way are not always nice. They cheat them; "... but he tried to steal your four dollars for a busted tire. They call that sound business." Many people did not like the idea of strangers coming in looking for jobs. It was more competition, and hardly any body could afford to be left without a job. Some even tried to turn them back. "'There ain't room enough for you an' me, for your kind an' my kind, for rich and poor together all in one country, for thieves and honest me. Whyn't you go back where you come from?'"

In times of desperation people turned their backs on each other, bringing one another down in order to boost themselves up. This creates the dreary and dark outlook on the book. The idea of "survival of the fittest" creates a cloud of despair and selfishness that looms over the people. Yet in some cases, there was hope. Some people banded together, helping each other along, looking out for one another. This made them stronger. This made the Joad family stronger.