During the Joad's odyssey to find a new life in California, many of their friends and family members are lost along the way. Some characters like Muley Graves don't even begin the journey. Others like Grandpa and Grandma die on the way. Some like the Wilsons are too sick to continue. Still others like Noah and Connie drift away from the family to parts unknown. Others like Casy are arrested. Like a horror movie, one by one the family members disappear. By the end of journey only a remnant of the family and original party remain.
What does the disappearance of so many characters tell us about a theme in the novel? Or about the individual characters? Why do so many folks dissapear, die, surrender and fail in this novel?
Throughout The Grapes of Wrath, the disappearance of so many characters throughout the Joads' journey to California shows one of the book's many themes, which is survival. The disappearance of the characters highlights the main theme of survival, showing that it requires more than just physical strength but resilience, commitment, and the ability to overcome. As the Joads travel to California, the large group they begin with slowly gets smaller, as they lose many people for different reasons. This shows how difficult life really was for migrant families during the Great Depression and how not everyone was able to make it. One main reason I think so many characters disappear, is the author's way of showing that migrating isn’t as easy as people think. In the beginning, nobody had doubts about getting to California and were all hopeful for jobs and a better life, but as the story goes on, they get hit with reality and see that it isn't going to be easy. The long travel makes it hard for the characters to keep going, mentally and physically. Steinbeck uses the characters' leaving to highlight the reality that not everyone can survive and that surviving isn't just about one's physical strength but also their resilience and determination to keep going despite all the challenges they face. Many characters, like Grandpa and Connie, start out believing that California will solve all their problems but they realize that surviving is much harder than expected. These two characters had the biggest dreams, which could be why they couldn't survive in the long run because of their inability to face reality. Additionally, Connie and Noah abandon the family, showing that if you want to survive you need to be committed. Most recently, Casy who, although was the one holding the family together, couldn't deal with the way they were treated which ultimately got him killed. In order to survive, the characters need to adapt. At this point in the book, only a small group of the Joad family are still together, proving that survival is not just about strength but about adaptation, acceptance, and the want to keep going despite challenges and losses.
ReplyDeleteThe disappearance of characters during the Joad's journey tells us all about the theme of the novel. Many characters who left the Joads during their journey gave up on the dream that they had once they got to California, a good example of someone giving up on there dreams once they got to California is Grandpa. Before they left for California he was talking about his dreams of picking grapes and oranges whenever he wanted "Wait till I get to California, I'm gonna reach up and pick me an orange whenever I want it. With some grapes. Now there's somethin' I ain't never had enough of," (Steinbeck 100). Sadly he never got to achieve his dream because he ended up passing away but this does give us a good example of the theme of the book. I feel as though the theme of this book is that to achieve your dreams or goals you have to make sacrifices along the way. Another good example of this is when Tom has to leave the Joads after he allegedly killed a police officer. He knew that the only way to keep his family safe and let them live a full and happy life was to leave so he was no longer a burden. Throughout the whole book, Tom dream is shown as his family being happy, but with a target on his back, he can no longer do that with them. I think that the reason that so many people pass or leave is because of how difficult the trip has been for them many of the people who traveled with the Joads end having to face hardships that set them of course from achieving their goals, or they just end up giving up like Connie did at the Hooverville.
ReplyDeleteIn the Grapes of Wrath, the disappearance of characters is a testament to the difficulty of the journey that the migrants have set on and a tool used to develop the theme of perseverance & failure. In the beginning of the story we are introduced to the idea of a salvation waiting for the migrants in California and if only they could reach it everything would fall into place. This sets the scene of people willing to persevere in hopes that they can escape their miserable fate. However, as the story progresses their chance of fixing their lives seems more and more unlikely. This was first seen when Casey had a semi-mental breakdown about religion to Tom. At first glance that scene didn't seem like much, but it foreshadowed how much of a toll the journey would have on the migrants. The best example of this would be Noah, when the migrants set out on their journey everyone was running on motivation. They were constantly thinking about California and improving their lives through it but slowly their perspectives changed and their initial hopes withered. Noah, was the first one to give in to the numerous challenges that the migrants faced. He ultimately decided to no longer continue on the journey to California. His decision to yield further develops the theme of perseverance & failure and is an indicator of the future of the migrants. As the story continues from this point, we see more people fail along the journey whether to death due to the challenges or to quitting due to the difficulties they faced. In the end, the disappearance of characters in the Grapes of Wrath highlights not only the difficulty of their journey but at a broader level the unfortunate outcome of the migrants.
ReplyDeleteIn the novel The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck, the continuous death of characters is a demonstration of the hardships that the migrant characters face while searching for solace, as characters often die in gruesome and harsh ways.
ReplyDeleteWhile attempting to earn a fair and livable wage while standing up for workers’ rights, Jim Casy is killed in a grisly manner, ultimately showing the misfortune of the migrant characters’ attempts to make a living wage. While Casy was talking to Tom about striking, he was antagonized by a group of armed men, then a “heavy club crashed into the side of his head with a dull crunch of bone, and Casy fell sideways out of the light” (Steinbeck 386). This unwarranted violence and hostility towards Casy is an example of the harsh persecution that the migrants in the book face.
The death of Grandma Joad was slow, and ended with her dead body being carried by her family for hours, showing the unorthodox and disturbing things migrants are forced to do in order to cross state lines. When the Joad family is stopped by an officer to perform an agricultural inspection, Ma uses the excuse that Grandma is sick and needs to get into town immediately. In reality, Grandma was already dead, and Ma used that excuse because she "was afraid we wouldn' get acrost” (Steinbeck 228). The uncomfortable way in which Grandma dies and is kept by the family to get past inspection is another example of the harsh conditions that the migrants in the book endure.
The strife of migrant workers is one of the most notable themes in The Grapes of Wrath, and one of the ways this theme is driven home is by the cast of characters gradually being gradually lost to gruesome deaths.
In The Grapes of Wrath, by John Steinbeck, the characters start to noticeably deplete over nearly every chapter of the book. The disappearing cast shows an example of the harsh conditions and people who fall to the hardships on the road to California. A prime example of people who fall are the Wilsons. On page 220, they had practically made it to California when they had to stay because Sairy was sick. Yet, even when they arrive in California people still are left behind. When Casy gets arrested, he too leaves the Joad family, only to return a few chapters later and immediately get killed. He began, “You don’ know what you’re a-doin’.” The heavy man swung with the pick handle. Casy dodged down into the swing. The heavy club crashed into the side of his head with a dull crunch of bone, and Casy fell sideways out of the light” (Steinbeck 386). One of their earliest friends dying to something so easily avoidable. Though the book does show the real struggle people faced. We have to keep in mind that when writing the book, the author interviewed actual survivors of this situation and he is basing the book upon real people. John Steinbeck uses this book and the declining amount of characters to prove the hardships that the migrants went through.
ReplyDeleteIn The Grapes of Wrath, the slow deterioration of the Joad party during and after their journey to California is a testament to the extreme challenge the trip posed for all different types of migrants. From simply having enough to death, the reasons members of the Joads were not able to retain all of their original members by the time they made it to California varied. Noah, a later disappearance, succumbed to the hardships of the journey and couldn’t take them anymore. He says, “ ‘Like to jus' stay here. Like to lay here forever. Never get hungry an' never get sad. Lay in the water all life long, lazy as a brood sow in the mud’ ” (Steinbeck 137). Noah has persevered with the family through months of near starvation, extreme weather, and low morale, and he finally had enough. He was tired of encountering a new problem every day and decided to do something about it by deserting the family and staying near the river. Having dealt with constantly being put to the side and overshadowed by his younger brother: Tom, he felt like his presence wasn’t needed in the family anymore, and that they could survive without him. Similarly, Granpa, an earlier loss of the Joad family, wasn’t able to keep up with the treacherous lifestyle of the family during their journey and sadly perished. He is first introduced in the book as a lively senior who is very talkative and active, a character one would not expect to die so soon. He always had a dream of making it to California to pick oranges and live the good life, but he sadly wasn’t able to finish the journey. His death continues the theme of the extreme difficulty of the journey, as even someone as strong-willed as Granpa wasn’t able to survive.
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