Grapes of Wrath

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CHAPTER 1


In Oklahoma, the May rain stimulates the growth of corn, and the


winter colors of red and gray earth give way to a cover of green.


Then a drought occurs; the corn withers under the blazing sun, and


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the weeds turn darker green in an effort to protect themselves. The


red and gray surface of the earth returns and then fades into a pale


pink and white. By June, the green vegetation turns brown, and the


earth becomes dust. The unrelenting heat of the sun and the dry


wind destroy the corn, and the strong wind blows clouds of dust


into the air like sluggish smoke. Women and men seek refuge in


their houses and have to tie handkerchiefs over their noses and


wear goggles to protect their eyes when they venture out. The film


of dust is so thick that when morning comes, there is no real


daylight; the sun appears as a dim red circle


that gives little brightness. At night it is pitch black because the


stars cannot penetrate the dust. Even though the doors and


windows of all the houses are wedged with cloth, the dust creeps


inside and covers


everything.


The dust storm takes two days to settle. At its end, the women


secretly look at the men for their reaction and are relieved when


they see that the men retain an unbroken spirit. They know deep


within themselves that no misfortune was too great to bear if their


men were whole. The first chapter ends on a feeble note of


optimism As the day went forward the sun became less red, and


the sharecroppers squat in the doorways thinking-figuring.


Notes


The first chapter sketches a carefully executed setting before


introducing the main characters. In a Steinbeck novel, setting or


environment is of great significance and plays an important role in


the shaping of the characters themselves. A close relationship


between humanity and the environment always exists, and each


influences the other. In these opening paragraphs of the novel,


Steinbeck describes the dust-blown landscape inhabited by the


Oklahoma sharecroppers, including the Joads. By first painting the


bleak setting before introducing characters, Steinbeck conveys the


message that the forces to be fought against in this novel are


tremendous and overwhelming. A sense of inevitability and


tragedy is implicit in the unrelenting winds and the dry dust.


Humanity is a helpless victim of the forces of the environment.


The opening chapter thus presents the fundamental background


circumstances that drive the novel forward the dust storm which


ruins the crops and which causes families to migrate westward to


California. In contrast to the dreary landscape, the men display an


almost Herculean attitude and will to survive. At the end of the


chapter, they squat in their doorways and think and figure their


next step. The women are relieved to see the resilient spirit of their


men.


In the first chapter, Steinbeck is also introducing the narrative


structure of the novel. In order to communicate both the personal


suffering of the Joads and the more widespread generalized


suffering of the migrants, Steinbeck employs a structural design of


two kinds of alternating chapters for The Grapes of Wrath. Out of


the thirty chapters in the novel, sixteen are what Steinbeck called


intercalary chapters or interchapters. Starting with the first chapter,


these interchapters provide an extensive picture of the suffering of


the migrants as well as essential background information.


Steinbeck also foreshadows the fate of the sharecroppers in the


opening chapter. It is evident that they do not have bright prospects


in this region of the dust bowl. Those who refuse to leave, like


Muley Graves for instance, will seal their fates and will lose their


future.


Unfortunately, what awaits them in California is not much


brighter. Steinbeck also employs symbolism in the chapter. The


walking man whose footsteps lift a fine layer of dust represents


the thousands of migrants who lose their homes. In the next


chapter, this abstract figure of the walking man becomes a concrete


figure in Tom Joad, the main protagonist of the novel and the


living representation of all the woes of the migrant worker.


CHAPTER


While a truck driver is talking to a waitress in a roadside cafe, a


man walks along the edge of the highway, crosses over, and stops


beside the huge red transport truck belonging to the Oklahoma City


Transport Company. Although the trucks windshield carries a No


Riders sticker, the man sits down on the running board anyway


because sometimes a guyll be a good guy in spite of a sticker.


The man is not over thirty and has strong facial features. His


clothes and shoes are new, but cheap; they do not fit him properly.


While waiting for the driver, the man mops his face with his stiff


new cap, unlaces his shoes, and smokes a cigarette. When the


driver comes out of the cafe, the man asks for a lift. The driver


considers his request for a moment and then tells the man to hide


low on the running board until after he turns the truck.


The driver is very perceptive and notices the mans ill-fitting new


clothes and shoes. He starts asking the hitchhiker questions and


discovers that he is returning home to his fathers small forty-acre


farm. The driver expresses surprise that a small farmer has not


been dusted out or tractored out as yet. The man confesses that


he has not been home lately and so does not know for sure. The


driver notices the condition of the mans hands and guesses that he


has been working with a pick, an ax, or a sledge.


The drivers persistent questioning irritates the hitchhiker, but he


says angrily that he does not have anything to hide and will tell the


driver everything so that he does not have to guess. The driver


explains that he was not being nosy, just making small talk. He


adds that driving alone all day pushes a man to the verge of


insanity and that he feels a need to communicate when someone is


nearby. He further tells of his plans to do some correspondence


school courses, like mechanical engineering, in order to improve


his future employment prospects. The hitchhiker tells the man that


his name is Tom Joad. While getting out of the truck, Tom affirms


the drivers suspicions by revealing that he is out on parole from


McAlester, an Oklahoma state prison, where he has served four


years for homicide. He says that he killed a man in a drunken


brawl and was sentenced to seven years imprisonment but was out


on account of good behavior. Thanking the driver for the lift, Tom


walks towards home.


Notes


Steinbeck ensures that there is a continuity in the novel so that the


novel does not simply fall into two distinct parts of narrative


chapter and interchapter. Chapter two picks up from where the first


interchapter left off. Steinbeck achieves a smooth transition from


the dying fire-tone of the dust-laden sky to the vivacious red of the


transport truck. The faint red of the dusty sky and the dynamic red


of the truck symbolize the combined threats of nature and machine.


The second chapter develops certain particulars of the main story.


Although the novel is replete with symbolic episodes and imagery,


the plot is of prime importance. The action of the plot is generated


through the story of the individualized suffering of the Joad family.


In this chapter, the first Joad is introduced in the person of Tom,


the novels protagonist. The reader learns about his past when he


reveals it to the truck driver. Having served four years in prison for


homicide, he is now out on parole on account of his good behavior;


therefore, if he leaves for California with his family, he will be


breaking his parole and the law. Throughout the novel, a constant


threat of being arrested hangs over Toms head.


The nameless walking man of the first chapter is personalized in


the figure of Tom Joad. The detailed description of Tom stresses


his well-defined features and his strong, hardy body. It would seem


that he is physically fit to endure the hardships that are ahead. The


truck driver hints of the hardships. He is amazed that Toms father


has held on to a small farm and asks his rider, A forty-acre


cropper and he aint been dusted out and he aint been tractored


out? Now the nameless sharecroppers of the first chapter have


taken on a reality in the form of Tom and his family.


The drivers astonishment prepares the reader in advance for the


novels main complication--the eviction of the sharecroppers from


the farms and the tractors taking over the work of the small farmer


and his ploy. The reader is also being prepared to accept Toms


later hostility towards the landowners in California. Already he


resents authority figures. He is hostile towards the owners of the


company who makes a good guy carry the No Riders sticker on


his truck and refers to them as rich bastards, indicating his


delineation of social positions. They are rich, and he is poor.


Other elements introduced in this chapter receive a fuller treatment


later on in the novel. The truck drivers and the roadside cafes with


their characteristic waitresses dot the entire route to California


and are often mentioned in the book. A central ethic advanced in


the novel is that only the poor help the poor. Tom was able to


convince the truck driver to give him a ride only because he


himself was poor and so was sympathetic to Tom. The chapter also


provides another parallel found later in the book. The truck drivers


plan to better his prospects by taking correspondence school


courses parallels the ambitions of Connie Rivers. Most


importantly, Steinbecks mastery in creating the essence of


ordinary farming folks is evident in this chapter. The rest of the


novel will add new details to the picture of the farming folk as they


become migrant workers.


CHAPTER


The concrete highway is edged with dry grass; past the grass grow


various plants. In the variegated growth, creatures move about--


ants, ant lions, grasshoppers, and a land turtle. The turtle crawls


along steadily turning aside for nothing; it tenaciously climbs the


embankment of the highway with great difficulty and tremendous


effort. As the embankment grows steeper, the turtles efforts


become more frantic. He crushes a red ant between his body and


legs, and a head of wild oats becomes entangled in his shell.


Overcoming all difficulties and numerous obstacles, the turtle


finally reaches the top of the embankment and begins to cross the


highway. A woman driver swerves her car to avoid hitting the


turtle. Some moments later, a man in a light truck deliberately


swerves to run over the turtle. Amazingly, the truck that hits it


merely throws the turtle across the road in the direction in which it


was already moving. The turtle lands on its back and struggles to


flip over. Once it has righted itself, the turtle continues indomitably


on its way. The clump of oats falls out of its shell and the turtle


accidentally buries it as its body drags soil over the oats on its way.


Notes


In a Steinbeck novel, the nature or the environment plays an


important role. Steinbeck, a naturalist, believed that heredity and


environment determine the actions of people and that humanity is


often a helpless victim of an indifferent universe. Steinbecks


naturalistic presentation demands a detailed documentary style,


and The Grapes of Wrath is filled with this style of writing.


Steinbecks celebrated naturalistic symbol of the turtle in this


chapter stands for the migrants. The turtle, like the Joads and other


migrants, carries its home on its back wherever it travels. It must


risk life on the road and face the hostile world of machinery,


symbolized in the vehicles. The turtle continues on its way,


overcoming all obstacles and difficulties. It is important to note


that it carries new life, oat seeds, over to the other side of the


highway and plants it there. His efforts ensure a rebirth.


Steinbeck has made it clear through the symbol of the tenacious


turtle that the migrants will be successful in establishing a new life


in California. Although the migrants will have to undergo many


hardships and trials, they will survive in their endeavors. The


turtles determination and tenacity are stressed with detailed and


realistic description and foreshadow the determination of the


Joads. Chapter , then, presents the story of the migrants in


microcosm--in the turtle. Naturalistic imagery combines with


symbolic overtones to foreshadow the eventual success of the


migrants.


CHAPTER 4


Tom stands back and watches the truck drive away and starts


walking homewards. He notices that the thick layer of dust is


discoloring his new yellow shoes. He takes off his shoes and wraps


them in his coat. As he walks, his footsteps kick up a cloud of dust


behind him. In the nearby farms wind, heat, and drought wither the


corn. Nearby is a land turtle, crawling along slowly through the


dust. Tom catches it as a present for the Joad children and rolls it


up in his coat along with his shoes. As he walks further ahead,


Tom sees a man sitting against the trunk of a willow tree. The man


recognizes Tom as Ol Toms boy and introduces himself as Jim


Casy, the preacher who baptized him.


Casy announces that he has given up his role as a preacher, for he


does not have the call of the spirit anymore. Casy accepts Toms


offer of a drink happily. Casy then outlines his philosophy of life


and the factors that led to his loss of faith. He felt hypocritical


when he indulged in sex with young women after he had preached


to them. He says that he noticed that the more grace the women


seemed to have, the more eagerly they gave their bodies to him.


Tom humorously comments that Maybe I should have been a


preacher. Casy says that he knew that what he was doing was not


right and so he took time off to think about it. After years of


constant thought, he has come to understand that there aint no sin


and there aint no virtue. Casy now thinks that humanity only has


the right to say whether a particular action is nice or not nice.


Casy further says that the calling and the Holy Spirit are actually


the human spirit, which he interprets as the love of all humankind.


Casy also suggests that maybe humanity has one big soul of which


everyone is a part. Tom perceptively remarks that the Church and


the people would not accept Casys philosophy You cant hold no


church with idears like that. Tom knows that people would drive


Casy out of the country for such blasphemy.


In the meanwhile, the turtle frees itself from the coat and tries to


run away in pursuit of its original route. Tom watches it for a


moment and then catches it again. Casy asks about Ol Toms


health. Tom replies that he has spent four years in McAlester


because he killed a man in a drunken brawl and is now out on


parole. He admits that he does not feel ashamed and would do the


same thing now if the circumstances demanded it. Casy asks him


about the kind of treatment the prisoners receive in McAlester.


Tom tells him that they ate at regular times, got clean clothes, and


even had a nice bath everyday. Tom then recounts the story of a


man who busted his parole deliberately by stealing a car so he


could go back to McAlester.


Casy walks with Tom towards the Joad house and talks about


things at random. As they start nearing the house, Tom recalls an


incident when his Uncle John killed a pig and ate almost the whole


of it. Uncle John was not like his father and did not like to salt


down pigs. As they move over the slope of the hill and see the Joad


house below them, Tom realizes that something is amiss. Then


they realize that the house has been deserted.


Notes


In chapter four, the second narrative chapter, Tom Joad finds a


land turtle and rolls it up in his coat as a present for the Joad


children. This establishes the necessary link between the


interchapter dealing with the turtles strenuous efforts to cross the


highway and the narrative chapter telling us of Toms walk to his


home. Steinbeck clearly associates Tom with the turtle. Although


there are no obvious statements to indicate that this is the same


turtle mentioned in chapter three, the reader can sense the


connection.


The turtle is also identified with Jim Casy. His long and bony head


is covered with tightly drawn skin. His neck is stringy and


muscular. His heavy and protruding eyeballs are covered with red


and raw lids. His shiny brown cheeks are hairless and he has a full


mouth. His nose is beaked and hard. Casy thus bears a striking


resemblance to the turtle described in the third chapter. This


feeling of resemblance is strengthened later on in the novel when


Casy likens himself to a turtle saying, They (turtles) work at it and


work at it, and at last they get out and away they go off


somewheres. Its like me.


Chapter four focuses on the character of the ex-preacher, Jim Casy.


The growth and development of his character is of utmost


importance to the novel. Casys belief in a philosophy based upon


the love of people is the product of deep thought and reflection


over a period of four years. He tells Tom, I dont know nobody


named Jesus. I know a bunch of stories, but I only love people.


He realizes the importance of the human spirit over transcendental


and abstract terms. Casy thinks originally and does not accept


anything as the given fact. He questions everything so as to get to


the root of the matter. He embraces Emersons concept of the


Over-Soul when he says that all people have one big soul of


which everyone is a part.


Casy also functions as a contrast to Tom. In this chapter, Tom


shows absolutely no desire to share Casys views. He is self-


absorbed and thinks largely about himself. His humorous comment


that Maybe I should have been a preacher provides a stark


contrast to Casys seriousness about his decision to leave the


ministry because of his being promiscuous. Tom thinks of having


sex instead of the weighty issues of what constitutes sin and virtue.


Although Tom does not accept Casys unorthodox views at this


point, he will later on adopt them as the foundation for his actions.


CHAPTER 5


The landowners come in closed cars, feel the dry earth with their


fingers, and test the soils fertility. The tenants watch them uneasily


from their sun-scorched dooryards. Some of the owners are kind


and hate what they have to do; some are angry because they hate to


be cruel; and others are cold and hold themselves at a distance


since they had learned long ago that they could not be an owner if


they showed sympathy with the people.


Both the owners and the tenants seem to be entrapped in something


that is bigger than they are. The owners explain that they have to


evict the tenants because of the years of poor crops and claim that


the cotton has sucked all the blood out of the land and made it


barren. The sharecroppers suggest that maybe rotation of crops


would pump the blood back into the soil and that maybe the next


year would be a good one. The owners, however, insist that it is


too late and say that the bank--the monster has to have profits all


the time. It cant wait. Itll die. The farmers say that they cannot


cut down on their share because the kids do not have enough to eat


even now. The owner then says that the tenant system will not


work any more. A man on a tractor can replace twelve to fourteen


families and provide a sizable profit. They will pay the tractor man


a wage, and they will take all the produce themselves.


At this point, the tenants claim ownership of the land since their


grandfathers have settled it. Their families have lived, worked, and


died on this land for years; they have no other place to go.


Nonetheless, the owners order them to leave and blame the bank


Its not us, its the bank. A bank isnt like a man. They explain to


the tenants that they can go on relief or go west to California,


where there are plenty of oranges to be picked.


The tractors come and plow the land efficiently. The drivers, who


have no love of the land, have strict orders to demolish anything


that comes in the way of a straight line. They rape the land without


passion. At mid-day, the tractor driver sometimes stops near a


tenant house and has his lunch. He eats without really enjoying his


food. The tenants stare curiously at his strange face caked with


dust and marked with lines where the goggles and the mask are


worn. Hungry children watch his hands as it carries food to his


mouth. The tenants often accuse the driver of betraying his own


people. The driver declares his prime concern is only for his own


starving family and not others. He earns three dollars a day to plow


in a straight line. It is not his fault if he must demolish a tenants


house when it blocks his way. The tenant sometimes threatens to


shoot the driver, but he points out the futility of such an action by


saying that he would just get hanged and another driver will come


and demolish his house. The tenant wants revenge; he wants to kill


somebody but is at a loss to know whom to kill since the driver


gets his orders from the bank which in turn gets its orders from


people in the East.


Notes


Chapter five presents a striking contrast between the agrarian way


of life and the modern methods of farming. It is an enactment of


the generalized drama through which the sharecroppers are evicted


from their land. In the narrative chapters that follow, the Joads will


be the victims of similar circumstances. In this chapter, Steinbeck


describes the representative tenants encounter with the tractor


driver as the latter demolishes the tenants house by driving


through the doorway. He captures the general sense of futility as


the tenant merely steps aside and watches his home collapse in


front of his own eyes.


Steinbeck succeeds in involving the reader emotionally in the


suffering of the croppers. He never lets the reader lose sight of the


human predicament involved in the national disaster of the dust


storm. The real threat comes from the holding companies and the


banks which are inhuman and devoid of any feeling and emotion.


The bank is a monster that must feed on profits or perish. The


owners of the land tell the sharecroppers to vacate the land and


blame the bank for their actions. The owners are also devoid of


human feeling and passively accept a situation which enables them


to make a profit while avoiding the moral implications of their


action. The tractors take over. The eviction of the tenants from the


land into which they and their forebears have poured their sweat


and blood underscores the human side of the tragedy.


Steinbeck levels another criticism against the society which allows


machines, in the name of progress, to sever humanitys natural


relationship with nature. The tractor functions as a symbol of the


technological age, and the unfeeling tractor driver, like a robot, has


lost contact with the earth. The tractor is indifferent to weather and


unaffected by drought or rainfall. Under its mechanical precision,


crops can be grown without spending human labor No one had


touched the seed or lusted for growth. People ate what they had not


raised, had no connection with the bread.


The tractor driver also becomes dehumanized, a part of the


monster. The dehumanization of the driver is externalized in the


form of a rubber dust-mask and goggles which hide his features.


He has also lost his human will and the capacity to think and act


independently. He mechanically fulfills the role of carrying out the


orders of the machine and the capitalist economy. He has been


conditioned to merely act without thinking. Steinbeck writes that


the monster . . . had goggled him and muzzled him--goggled his


mind, muzzled his speech, goggled his perception, muzzled his


protest. The driver, failing to think clearly, blinds himself to the


effects of his actions.


The dialogue between the tenant and the farmer exposes the


selfishness of the driver who betrays his own people. He is only


interested in getting his three dollars a day and does not think


about the fact that for his three dollars, fifteen or twenty families


cannot eat at all and hundreds of families lose their homes and


wander about on the roads. He also avoids thinking about the


moral implications of his actions. His self-absorption keeps him


from thinking about the suffering of the others. The tenant cannot


defend himself. He threatens to shoot the driver but realizes the


futility of such an action.


Chapter five also examines the issue of what constitutes ownership


of land. The absentee landlords and the tenants hold conflicting


views about it. For the landlords land is simply a means of earning


sizable profits. Land is nothing more to them than a financial


investment. For the tenants, on the other hand, land is a vital part


of their very existence, and everything in their life is tied to it,


including birth, employment, and death. The tenants follow the


ideas of Jeffersonian agrarianism. Thomas Jefferson believed that


all people should have the opportunity to own landed property. The


Jeffersonians argued that even if a person did not own land legally,


the person had a natural right to claim ownership if he or she lived


on it and cultivated it. This idealism is reflected in the tenants


reply We measured it and broke it up. . . thats what makes it


ours--being born on it, working it, dying on it. That makes


ownership, not a paper with numbers on it.





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