Essay/Term paper: Analysis of "the grapes of wrath"

Essay, term paper, research paper:  The Grapes of Wrath

In the novel The Grapes of Wrath, by John Steinbeck, the life of a migrant family,who is forced off their land in Oklahoma and who is in search of employment in California, is portrayed. During the course of the novel, the Joads move from a concern

for themselves and their own personal welfare to a concern for all the people of the

world. This becomes one of the major themes in the novel. It is traceable through many

of the characters such as Jim Casey, Tom Joad, Ma Joad, and Rosa of Sharon. It is also

traceable through many different action taken by the Joad family on the whole.

The character of Jim Casy plays a strong role in bringing forth the theme in

discussion. Casey is a preacher like none other. He does not preach the orthodox ideas

of the Christian religion. Instead, he preaches the Emersonian doctrine of the Oversoul.

Tom Joad once recalls that "one time Casey went into the wilderness to find his own

soul, an" he foun" he didn"t have no soul that was his"n Says he foun" he jus" got a little

piece of a great big soul...his lilttle piece of a soul wasn"t no good "less it was with the

rest, an" was whole." This is part of Emerson"s views of the Oversoul; man"s soul is

breaking away from some larger soul and in death this individual soul is reunited with the

larger Oversoul. It is through Casy"s beliefs in the concept of the Oversoul and his prison

experience that reveals to Jim that only through the unity and concern for the entire

human race will the migrants succeed.

Rose of Sharon is another character which can be used to trace the progression of

the Joads from a concern for themselves and their own personal welfare to a concern for

all the people of the world. Through out the novel rose of Sharon is shown as a sick and

whining girl. It is easy to blame this on the fact that she a pregnant woman who is

expected to deliver at any time. However, her attitude and actions show that she is

grouchy and irritable beyond limits. Though the family is in great peril she worries only

about the effects it will have on her baby. Once the baby is born into the world a blue

mummy, everything changes for her. She begins to hold a concern beyond herself and

the baby, because it does not exist. She shows this in the ending of the novel giving life

to some stranger who is starving. through this she becomes part of that brotherhood of

man which Casy preached about; she becomes part of the Oversoul.

The character of Ma Joad is a character which supports the theme in discussion

by focusing on the complete opposite. Throughout the novel Ma Joad is worried about

keeping the family together. In its literal interpretation it directly contrasts the idea of

the Joads moving beyond just a concern for their immediate family to a concern for all of

humanity.

Ma Joad is the force which holds the family together. She realizes that they have

no home and that the only value and meaning in life is that which they derive from being

a family. In spite of this she knows that the family is breaking up. However she stills

fights to keep the family together. She wants to keep them together so that they are

protected and that can be only done when the family is whole. This can be related to the

theme because the reason Ma Joad fights to hold the family together is the reason the

family must worry more about the humanity on a whole. Only when people worry about

the human race on the whole will the race be truly protected and will truly be able to

succeed. Again it all goes to Casy"s preaching about the Oversoul.

Tom Joad is the main character in the novel. He enters the novel as a man who is

just getting out of prison for killing a man and is interested in his own personal comforts

and wants. As he tells Jim Casy, "I"m just gonna lay one foot down before another." He

shows that he feels no regret or guilt for having killed a man. As a grown man he values

his own individuality very heavily and does like to be pushed around. All this changes

once he begins to truly listen to the preaching of Jim Casy.

When Tom is forced to hide in a cave because he kills a police officer involved in

killing Jim Casy, he has lots of time to think over the ideas of Jim Casy. It is during this

time that Tom realizes that man cannot live with the single concern for himself, that man

must live by joining together with the other men because strength comes from unity. It is

here that he has officially gone from his individualistic ideals in the beginning of the

novel to devotion to his family and the family of man kind at his own expense. In the

end he excepts the philosophy of Jim Casy bonds himself to carry out the ideas preached

by Jim Casy. In his final statement Tom moves away from his family to the family man

kind.

With the Joads, the journey west is also a journey from the personal concern to a

larger concern for all humanity. This is brought about expertly by John Steinbeck

through the development of many characters such as Rose of Sharon, Ma Joad, Jim Casy,

and Tom Joad. Through the journey the family suffers through many horrors such as

losing a new born child and losing grandpa and grandma. However, they succeed by

reaching a new spiritual height in which they become part of the larger Oversoul