1. GRAPES OF WRATH
IMPORTANT ELEMENTS

2. GENRE SOCIOLOGICAL NOVEL SOCIAL FICTION REALISTIC FICTION
HISTORICAL FICTION
EPIC

3. What are the characteristics of an epic?
Is typically complex and lengthy
Covers many years and has multiple settings
Often contains gods and goddesses
Usually based in part on historical fact
Teaches moral lessons
THE ODYSSEY, HARRY POTTER,
LORD OF THE RINGS

4. Levels of meaning
Level One: one family’s struggle for survival (narrative chapters)
Level Two: the story of a group’s (the migrants) struggle for survival (intercalary chapters)
Level Three: the story of a nation (America) as it struggles to define its identity in a capitalist system.

5. Con’t
Level Four: Moral – Philosophical Meanings – how are right and wrong / good and evil determined?
Level Five: Ontological (existence/being) Questions – what duty do I owe my fellow man? What is our relationship with the earth? Why are we here? Purpose and meaning in life

6. STRUCTURE CHAPTERS ON JOADS (usually even)
INTERCHAPTERS/INTERCALARY (usually odd)
*MOVES FROM SPECIFIC TO GENERAL
*PROVIDES BACKGROUND INFORMATION
*SHOWS THAT JOADS NOT ALONE
THREE PRIMARY DIVISIONS

7. POINT OF VIEW
THIRD
Limited omniscient

8. BIBLICAL SYMBOLS 12 JOADS = 12 DISCIPLES BABY = MOSES
JOADS = ISRAELITES
GRAMPA’S DEATH = LOT’S WIFE
3 SECTIONS = ISRAELITES
SNAKE
LAWS = COMMANDMENTS
JIM CASY = JESUS CHRIST (JC)
“YOU FELLAS DON’ KNOW WHAT YOU’RE DOIN” (495), WILDERNESS, KILLED

9. SETTING
WHAT ARE THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN WEEDPATCH AND THE HOOVERVILLES?
OKLAHOMA – HOOVERVILLES– WEEDPATCH– HOOPER RANCH – BOXCARS
GREAT DEPRESSION IN THE 1930s

10. BIBLICAL VERSES ISAIAH 63:4-6 DEUTERONOMY 32:32 JEREMIAH 31:29
ECCLESIASTES 4:9-10

11. MAIN SYMBOLS TURTLE (CH. 3) -- ALLEGORY CHARACTER NAMES DUST
TRACTOR (CH. 5)
WILLOW TREE
TRUCK
JOADS

12. TOM JOAD’S INITIAL CHARACTER
WANTS TO BE A LONER
UNINTERESTED IN RELIGION
ANXIOUS TO FIND WORK
TAKES LIFE ONE DAY AT A TIME
ACCEPTS SOCIETY’S ORGANIZATION
CONCERNED FOR FAMILY

13. FORCES OF CHANGE (CATALYSTS) FOR TOM
SEES NEED TO UNITE
HEARS CASY’S VIEWS
LISTENS TO CASY
HEARS STRIKERS’ VIEWS
LEARNS BENEFITS OF COMMUNAL CAMP
SEES MISERY

14. TOM’S CHARACTER CHANGE
DESIRES KINSHIP
ACCEPTS THE GOOD OF HUMANITY AS GODLIKE
KNOWS A GREATER NEED
COMMITS SELF TO CAUSE
REALIZES NEED FOR SOCIETAL CHANGES
CONCERNED FOR MANKIND

15. VERISIMILITUDE DEFINITION
HOW DOES STEINBECK CREATE VERISIMILITUDE IN THIS NOVEL?

16. TITLE
113
365
449
“BATTLE HYMN OF THE REPUBLIC”

17. WOMEN’S ROLES MA SEEN AS A WOMAN AHEAD OF HER TIME
WOMEN WATCHING MEN (“The men were silent and they did not move often. And the women came out of the houses to stand beside their men—to feel whether this time the men would break.” )

18. THEMES People can overcome struggles when they are unified.
Having hope and faith can bring one through the darkest and most problematic times in ones life.
Family and family values can give order in the most hectic times.
Change is not always positive if individual people are not considered.

19. QUOTATIONS Page 536 Page 537. Page 535. Page 249. Page 305. Page 187.

20. BOOK- A -MINUTE SUMMARY
Tom Joad
Our farm has been taken away. Let's go to California. (They do. On the way, there are calamities, and people DIE, because this is the Great Depression when times were HARD, and it was a struggle just to hold on to one's DIGNITY.)