The Grapes Of Wrath By John Steinbeck

Perhaps Steinbeck’s most popular and true-to-life novel, The Grapes

of Wrath exposes the grinding hardships of the “Okie” migrants. With brief

yet descriptive passages moving quickly from one scene to another, he conveys

a sustained air of urgency. The novel is heavy with religious symbolism:

Casy offers himself to suffer for Tom’s crime, Then later dies uttering,

“Father forgive them . . . “; the family meets up with fathers and sons

throughout; the stillborn baby is placed in a wooden box and set adrift,

Moses-like, on the river; the name “Rose of Sharon” comes from the Song

of Solomon … and the list goes on and on. As a portrait of a family being

destroyed by nature, mechanization, greed, and changing times, and as a

sometimes sentimental yet powerful indictment of our capitalist economy,

this book is a masterpiece.

However, it can be argued that even through all of the appallingly harsh

events the load family endures, the book promotes optimism; a “milk-of-human-kindness”

theme; a journey from “drought and despair” that ends in “water and hope.”

Though capricious nature – and human nature can not always be depended

upon to alleviate human misery, Rose’s act of mercy symbolizes the need

for all of us to develop within ourselves a genuine responsibility and

compassion for each other.