The Grapes of Wrath: Chapter 8

Chapter 8 is an emotional chapter for the Joad family because it is when Tom finally makes his way home, or, where his family is. When Tom says, “I could shut my eyes an’ walk there. On’y way I can go wrong is to think about her. Jus’ forget about her, an’ I’ll go right there. Hell, man, I was born right aroun’ in here,” it shows how much of a connection the people had with the land (Steinbeck 67). The quote also reminds me of The Old Man and the Sea because Joad always seems to refer to the land as if it were a woman, just like the old man referred to the ocean as a woman, and in both stories, there is a younger generation with new tools (motorboats for the old man, and tractors for Joad) and less respect for the source of their food and income.

The story of how Joad’s Uncle John’s wife died shows how much mystery there still was in medicine at the time if you were a normal citizen, not a doctor. One night, she said her stomach hurt, and she said she needed a doctor, but Uncle John just told her to take some pain medicine and go to bed, and the next day she died. It turns out her appendix burst, but it was already too late when they found out (Steinbeck 68). Another story that shows how much different times were back then would be when Tom told the story of how when his brother Noah was born, there was no doctor there at first, so his dad panicked, and since he did not know what to do, he just started pulling Noah out, which deformed him. Luckily, the midwife came in soon enough to where she was able to “mould” Noah back to normal (Steinbeck 78).

Another thing that I noticed was at the dinner, when they asked Casy if he would do the grace, and he responded that he was no longer a preacher (again), Tom said “Aw, com on. Give [Granma] a grace. Don’t do you no harm, an’ she likes ‘em” (Steinbeck 80). I think that this shows how almost everybody used to be “Christian” because their parents were and things like grace were just embedded into their lives.

Steinbeck, John, and Robert J. DeMott. The Grapes of Wrath. New York: Penguin, 2006. Print.