The Grapes of Wrath: Question 1

The way that Steinbeck wrote this book really helped set the mood for the story, and helped the reader connect more to the characters and empathize with them. The narrator in this novel is a third person omniscient, which is handy for this kind of story because the narrator is able to, narrate I guess, all of the different feelings of the different members of the Joad family. The narrator also changes trough out the shorter chapters interspersed in between the chapters about the Joad family. The narrator changes to second person, with Steinbeck talking to the reader, in chapter fourteen when Steinbeck says “For the quality of owning freezes you forever into ‘I,’ and cuts you off forever from the ‘we’” (Steinbeck 152). Then, like in chapter seven, the narrator shifts to a first person perspective; “All right, Joe. You soften ‘em up an’ shoot ‘em in here. I’ll close ‘em, I’ll deal ‘em or I’ll kill ‘em. Don’t send in no bums. I want deals” (Steinbeck 63).

I think that it is obvious even after reading only half of the book, that Steinbeck carries the values of friendship, family, and charity in very high regards. As for family and friendship, it is all over the whole story. One example would be how they let Casy come along on their trip, even though he was just going to take up space and eat their food. It also shows through when Ma Joad freaks out every time that Tom says that he should split up or do something that would take him back to McAlester. Charity is also evident when they leave money for the Wilsons when they keep going, when Ma Joad gives the hungry kids at the Hooverville in Bakersfield the rest of their stew, and the most charitable thing that anybody did in the book would have to be Rose of Sharon breast feeding the starving man because it would mean she would have to put aside pride and dignity to help a total stranger.

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