Book of the Week

The Grapes of Wrath ­ by John Steinbeck
Recommended by ­ Sebastian R Erskine

The year before the book’s publication, the author, John Steinbeck, revealed a string of doubts in his diary, opening shortly after the beginning of the book, and appeared desperate to compose a piece of literature, which was ‘one of the really fine books and a truly American book'.

Yet, he admitted that, 'I am assailed with my own ignorance and inability’.  The author’s dubious attitude did not become a harsh reality, and, in fact, one can now consider the book, not only ‘really fine’, but also a true masterpiece, successfully vivifying a troubled time in American economic history.

The Grapes of Wrath can also be considered Steinbeck’s most skillfully written novel, out of his collection of seventeen, receiving significant support in the form of prolific reviewing, mostly positive. It is not surprising that the book ascended the best­selling charts for a major portion of the year, selling 428,900 hardcover copies at a price of $2.75 each. Its commercial success is ironic, however, as due to the true plight that the Great Depression instilled for migrants, the author did not want it to become a financial hit, but a harrowing reminder of the effect this period had on the working class.

 The success continued further for this literary classic, which can be defined as a piece of writing that addresses the concerns of the people, as The Grapes of Wrath won the Pulitzer Prize in 1940, as an American Realist novel, and was a major factor in Steinbeck's winning of the Nobel prize in 1962. At the time of writing, over 14 million copies have been sold internationally, which the author could not have expected,and the novel has become a major source of notoriety and infamy, due to the topic it covers.

The novel is set in the state of Oklahoma, near Sallisaw, where there is a large concentration of tenant farmers, who have been caught up in the ‘Dust Bowl’ of the 1930s, when a period of severe sandstorms reigned, affecting the yield of the crop. Tom Joad, a young man, has recently been let out of a prison, McAlester, for killing a man, and so is now on parole. He is in search for his family, and in doing this meets a preacher, of the name Jim Casy. They discover, from an old friend, that a supposedly inhumane organisation, due to a financial crisis, has displaced many of the farmers from ‘their’ land.  They also learn of the whereabouts of their family, who are located at the house of Uncle Joe. When the group arrives at the house, there is much movement and bustling, as the family is preparing to move from the ecologically and economically blighted lands of central eastern America to the dreamlands of California, where a recently posted handbill demands 800 orange pickers. Of course, in the excitement of the moment, little attention is paid towards the number, and so a journey of hardship begins in search of new opportunities.

An interesting aspect of this book, is that the author provides a technique commonly referred to as ‘Literary alternation’, where the story not only focuses on the journey of a specific family – the Joads -­ but also analyses a much broader picture of the mass migration that occurred at this time towards the East. This, therefore, means that there is an explanation of how the economic hardships affected society as a whole, while providing characters that one can empathise with. The alternation between the rustic language of the Joads and a more universal application of prose is a very successful part of the structure of the book, which should entice and educate the reader.

Within The Grapes of Wrath, there is a very important theme, which demonstrates how man is unjust to man. It is not purely the weather, or some  natural misfortune that has caused such suffering among the migrants, but is an economic disposition, which makes antagonists of  the rich entrepreneurs and the struggling farmers, and creates a world that  is run purely by a desire for profit, and not an understanding of their fellow species. A particular harrowing example of this in the book is when Steinbeck reveals how when a profit is not made out of the growing of fruit, the fruit is simply chucked away, and when the hungry migrants try to snatch the disused fruit, guards restrain them.

The title itself interestingly originates from a hymn known as ‘The Battle Hymn of the Republic”, which shows how God will bring justice to those who have suffered the havoc caused by superiors, with a line stating, ‘He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored’. Yet the Joads have grown in a dignity caused by the wrath, and even after innumerable and incomparable losses, including a baby being born stillborn, the Joads have united and acted in a way that is so kind that it can be referred to metaphorically as ‘the milk of human kindness’, which is a literal representation of what is done.

However, some of the dialogue can be unconvincing and generally misleading, and so the structure is also affected. Yet, perhaps that is what the readers embrace in a book of such imperfection and so have a better understanding a true piece of American Literature, which encompasses a rustic and truly authentic approach. It is for this reason that the book compares favourably to Steinbeck's other works, as it takes a topic of much significance, and creates a piece of American heritage, in much detail and analysis.

I encourage all to read this book, not only for study at school, but also simply as a dramatic alternative to the traditional aspects of English reading and literature, due to its boldness, when dealing with such a challenging issue. The author will be remembered by the success such a book has acquired.