John Ernest Steinbeck(1902-1968) was born in Salinas, California, where he lived his first nineteen years. This background is important to know about Steinbeck since it explains much of his writing. Steinbeck was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature for the The Grapes of Wrath. This work was close...
John Ernest Steinbeck(1902-1968) was born in Salinas, California, where he lived his first nineteen years. This background is important to know about Steinbeck since it explains much of his writing. Steinbeck was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature for the The Grapes of Wrath. This work was closely related with the contemporary social chaos and economic upheaval in the 1930s. Set during the Great Depression, the novel focuses on a poor family of sharecroppers, the Joads, driven from their home by drought and destitution. In a nearly hopeless situation, they set out for California along with thousands of other ?Okies? in search of land, jobs and human dignity. The novel is meant to emphasize the need for cooperative, as opposed to independent, solutions to the social problems brought about by the Industrial Revolution. Its cruel economic panic and drought drove the dispossessed to the West and Steinbeck deals with this disaster, too. The Joads in The Grapes of Wrath are evicted from their hometown in Oklahoma and move to California. But all the circumstances around them are never hospitable. They have to find food and shelter desperately and meet some hard situations like the death of Grampa and Granma. They, however, never give up hope and just move on. But even in California where they think it would be a promised land, they never get decent job and wages not to mention land. On the route 66 to California, they discover that the roads and highways are saturated with thousands of other families making the same trek, ensnared by the same promise. As the Joads continue and hear stories from others, they are forced to confront the possibility that their prospects may not be what they had hoped. Steinbeck tries to show reverence for life and human dignity through the Joads. At the beginning of the story, Ma is a strong citadel of the family and self-centered woman because she values her family alone above everything else. But during the journey to California, through bearing various hardships, she grows spiritually. In this novel humanism is revealed in the spirit which is structured by Jim Casy. Steinbeck chooses Jim Casy, a former preacher, as a spiritual leader for the group including the Joads. As a spiritual leader, Jim Casy does not love God, but he preaches love for human beings who are suffering in agony. The character of Jim Casy is similar to that of Jesus Christ because he takes upon himself the sins of others in order to save the oppressed people and gives up his life for them. This idea of Casy's philanthropic brotherhood moves to Tom, the oldest son of the Joads. Tom gradually figures out what Casy's acts and thoughts meant while he is in a cave. Finally he talks like Casy and makes a decision to follow Casy's steps. His love of all mankind will survive in the Joads, and continue forever for the poor and oppressed people. Rose of Sharon is most self-centered in the family but she also has a dramatic change in her life. She saves a dying old man by giving her breast to him and she is born again as a life giver. This last chapter represents the novel's most comprehensive thought that All life is holy and great?. The Joads' intense feelings of family loyalty have been trascended : they have expanded to embrace all men. Steinbeck tried to show reverance for life through the Joads who are filled with strong life-force. The Grapes of Wrath is a landmark of American literature, and John Steinbeck depicts the lives of ordinary people striving to preserve their humanity in the face of social and economic desperation. This novel is also written to demonstrate the underlying theme of the American dreampictured in his major Californian fictions. The American dream is a long subjective term usually implying a successful and satisfying life. This term means not only financial security and material comfort, but also a dream of fame, exceeding social, ethnic, or class boundaries, or simply living a fulfilling life. The American dream is the concept widely held in America, that through hard work, courage and determination, one can achieve prosperity. It was the value of the original pioneers who crossed the American plains when Northern Europeans first came to America. In other words, the origin of the American dream stems from the departure in government and economies from the models of the Old World. The living conditions in Europe and the hope of a better standard of living in America led to the migration of hundreds of thousands to the new world. This allowed unprecedented freedom, especially the possibility of dramatic upward social mobility. Throughout its history, America has been viewed as a country of opportunity, where frontier spirit flourishes relative to other regions of the world. America was distinguished from other countries because it allowed the members of the lower classes to exceed their social boundaries through hard work and determination. But in the late 20th century, the Great Depression hit all across American continent and the concept of success through hard work and determination became a false belief. In his novel, Steinbeck intended to reconstruct the right meaning of the American dream which had generally been recognized by the Americans since the 1920s. The Grapes of Wrath is a book about tractor out migrant farmers fleeing the dust bowl states of Oklahoma to seek greener pastures. They are dispossessed of their land and their pitiful, little homes are destroyed. They are lured to California by false hopes, so they set out for the new land, to start over again in California. But when they get there, after incredible hardships, they are exploited, and then degraded to virtual slavery. In reality, California was not the promised land, but the place where hunger, cold and poverty erupted. Steinbeck tries to deliver his message that through harmony between material and spirit, the lost paradise can be recovered, and the ideal of American Dream can be revived in the heart of all mankind.
John Ernest Steinbeck(1902-1968) was born in Salinas, California, where he lived his first nineteen years. This background is important to know about Steinbeck since it explains much of his writing. Steinbeck was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature for the The Grapes of Wrath. This work was closely related with the contemporary social chaos and economic upheaval in the 1930s. Set during the Great Depression, the novel focuses on a poor family of sharecroppers, the Joads, driven from their home by drought and destitution. In a nearly hopeless situation, they set out for California along with thousands of other ?Okies? in search of land, jobs and human dignity. The novel is meant to emphasize the need for cooperative, as opposed to independent, solutions to the social problems brought about by the Industrial Revolution. Its cruel economic panic and drought drove the dispossessed to the West and Steinbeck deals with this disaster, too. The Joads in The Grapes of Wrath are evicted from their hometown in Oklahoma and move to California. But all the circumstances around them are never hospitable. They have to find food and shelter desperately and meet some hard situations like the death of Grampa and Granma. They, however, never give up hope and just move on. But even in California where they think it would be a promised land, they never get decent job and wages not to mention land. On the route 66 to California, they discover that the roads and highways are saturated with thousands of other families making the same trek, ensnared by the same promise. As the Joads continue and hear stories from others, they are forced to confront the possibility that their prospects may not be what they had hoped. Steinbeck tries to show reverence for life and human dignity through the Joads. At the beginning of the story, Ma is a strong citadel of the family and self-centered woman because she values her family alone above everything else. But during the journey to California, through bearing various hardships, she grows spiritually. In this novel humanism is revealed in the spirit which is structured by Jim Casy. Steinbeck chooses Jim Casy, a former preacher, as a spiritual leader for the group including the Joads. As a spiritual leader, Jim Casy does not love God, but he preaches love for human beings who are suffering in agony. The character of Jim Casy is similar to that of Jesus Christ because he takes upon himself the sins of others in order to save the oppressed people and gives up his life for them. This idea of Casy's philanthropic brotherhood moves to Tom, the oldest son of the Joads. Tom gradually figures out what Casy's acts and thoughts meant while he is in a cave. Finally he talks like Casy and makes a decision to follow Casy's steps. His love of all mankind will survive in the Joads, and continue forever for the poor and oppressed people. Rose of Sharon is most self-centered in the family but she also has a dramatic change in her life. She saves a dying old man by giving her breast to him and she is born again as a life giver. This last chapter represents the novel's most comprehensive thought that All life is holy and great?. The Joads' intense feelings of family loyalty have been trascended : they have expanded to embrace all men. Steinbeck tried to show reverance for life through the Joads who are filled with strong life-force. The Grapes of Wrath is a landmark of American literature, and John Steinbeck depicts the lives of ordinary people striving to preserve their humanity in the face of social and economic desperation. This novel is also written to demonstrate the underlying theme of the American dreampictured in his major Californian fictions. The American dream is a long subjective term usually implying a successful and satisfying life. This term means not only financial security and material comfort, but also a dream of fame, exceeding social, ethnic, or class boundaries, or simply living a fulfilling life. The American dream is the concept widely held in America, that through hard work, courage and determination, one can achieve prosperity. It was the value of the original pioneers who crossed the American plains when Northern Europeans first came to America. In other words, the origin of the American dream stems from the departure in government and economies from the models of the Old World. The living conditions in Europe and the hope of a better standard of living in America led to the migration of hundreds of thousands to the new world. This allowed unprecedented freedom, especially the possibility of dramatic upward social mobility. Throughout its history, America has been viewed as a country of opportunity, where frontier spirit flourishes relative to other regions of the world. America was distinguished from other countries because it allowed the members of the lower classes to exceed their social boundaries through hard work and determination. But in the late 20th century, the Great Depression hit all across American continent and the concept of success through hard work and determination became a false belief. In his novel, Steinbeck intended to reconstruct the right meaning of the American dream which had generally been recognized by the Americans since the 1920s. The Grapes of Wrath is a book about tractor out migrant farmers fleeing the dust bowl states of Oklahoma to seek greener pastures. They are dispossessed of their land and their pitiful, little homes are destroyed. They are lured to California by false hopes, so they set out for the new land, to start over again in California. But when they get there, after incredible hardships, they are exploited, and then degraded to virtual slavery. In reality, California was not the promised land, but the place where hunger, cold and poverty erupted. Steinbeck tries to deliver his message that through harmony between material and spirit, the lost paradise can be recovered, and the ideal of American Dream can be revived in the heart of all mankind.
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