Final Grapes of Wrath

John Steinbeck’s novel the Grapes of Wrath goes in and out of focusing on the Joad family and migrant families in the Dust Bowl. Steinbeck sets up the novel’s chapters with the “zoomed out” version of the Dust Bowl migrant workers, and then proceeds to the next chapter with an updated Joad story.

Personally, the odd paragraphs with the more broad descriptions were slightly boring to me. It seemed like the paragraphs just went on and on and had no real purpose in the beginning. Toward the end about 3 chapters foreshadowed something happening in the end, but even then, 3 out of 15 chapters is not a great deal of literary sufficiency. The zoomed out paragraphs did however create a more approachable character and helped the reader feel more in touch with each character in the book.

The specific stories about the Joad family keep you mostly on track with the book and what it’s trying to communicate for the most part. The good thing about Steinbeck’s writing is that it’s mostly free to interpret. Although the story doesn’t have a clear ending, the beginning and middle do show the unfortunate endeavors and problems that a common migrant family would come across on their commute to California. The zoomed out paragraphs really just are used to accentuate what is happening, and they all link at least to one thing happening in a chapter previously or in the near future.

The novel as a whole really can make you feel like you can relate to the migrants, or on the other side, it can make you feel like you could never relate to it at all. The story truly would be a completely different thing if you took out the broader descriptive chapters that didn’t focus on the Joad family. It would be your common run of the mill Great Depression story. With the way Steinbeck structured Grapes of Wrath and chose his topics, it makes this book a classic American novel.

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Public Works Projects concentrates heavily on building dams, canals and many other things that directly benefit the nearby communities. Generalized, the Public Works part of it counts as anything from educational institutions and sewage management. Public Works was created to help offer jobs to people that were apart of the quarter to a third of Americans who had fallen out of work. During The New Deal, Roosevelt promised the 3 R's: relief, recovery and reform. One of the biggest things that came from this was Social Security which is still around in the present day.

Honors Novel: Cannery Row

Cannery Row is a story about people living in the same almost run down area, all working for various things. All of the people on Cannery Row were diverse but one thing they had in common was they were trying to obtain some sort of success. The definition of success varied from character to character, but it was a constant social issue throughout the story.

Most would say that Dora was the most successful character in the book, but in my eyes her success was based upon the exploitation of women. The one positive side of Dora’s business was using her girls to help out. When influenza broke out throughout the Row, she sent her girls out into the community to comfort the sick and bring them soup. Her success with the hookers was tangible, but the internal satisfaction with helping out the sick community was a more gratifying success.

Another interpretation of success can be counted as the party that Mack and his friends threw for Doc because they thought it would be a nice thing to do. Although the first time they attempted to throw Doc a party it didn’t particularly work out, but the second time the party worked out and it was a success. The level of achievement isn’t documented as clear as everyone else’s in the book, but they worked hard for the final product of the party and had a purpose in their lives.

Symbolism in John Steinbeck’s novels plays a large role so that he can portray his real feelings about a variety of things. Much like Grapes of Wrath, Steinbeck throws in characters that accentuate his beliefs. With Cannery Row, much of what the characters did were not morally correct by the readers consensus, but by Steinbeck’s, you never know. Everyone has a different idea of success and throughout the book John Steinbeck proved that to be true.