Summary of The Grapes of Wrath (chapters 1-5)

Candida Rodriguez                                                                                                Rodriguez 1

Mrs. Noyes

HAL/Period 5

7 March 2013

Summary of The Grapes of Wrath (chapters 1-5)

   In the American novel, The Grapes of Wrath, by Steinbeck, the Dust Bowl had engulfed the entire mid-west and is causing various hardships for agricultural families. Told in third person omniscient, Joad hitchhiked with a driver, despite the "No Riders" sticker placed on the truck. The truck drivers is very nosy and asks Joad various questions. Realizing that the driver was pressing for information, Joad admits that he just been released from McAlester Prison for homicide. Once he gets off the truck, he seeks shade from the scorching sun underneath a tree while walking to his father's house. He meets his former minister, Jim Casey, who tells Joad that he has lost his religious calling, because he has too many sinful ideas. While Joad and Casey begin their trek towards Joad's destination, many tenant farmers have been evicted from their land. They were evicted, because there is not enough revenue to save the land from the bank. Also an increase in technology adds to the amount of men being laid off. An example is that one man with a tractor can replace 10-15 men working by on the land by hand. The author also uses various literary devices to empathize the farmers' hardships in the mid-west. An example is "And now a light truck approached, and it came near, the driver saw the turtle and swerved to hit it" ( Steinbeck 21). The turtle  symbolizes many working class farmers because the turtle, like the farmers, plods along dutifully, but is consistently confronted with danger and setbacks.