...he song we listened to this week was The Ghost of Tom Joad by Bruce Springstein. It is obvious from the first few lyrics of this song that Bruce Springstein is talking about poverty. He sings "Hot soup on a campfire under the bridge/Shelter line stretching 'round the corner/Welcome to the new world order/Families sleeping in the cars in the southwest/No home, no job, no peace, no rest". The new world order he is referring to is poverty. He sees so many people suffering from it that lines are stretching around the corner. It is clear he doesn't believe these people will escape poverty because there is no rest nor peace, it is an endless cycle. Tom Joad is a reference to the book, Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck. In the book, Tom Joad represents...
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...Personalities of the Grapes of Wrath In any good story the author uses the characters to further develop the story. A great example of this is in the novel The Grapes of Wrath. The characters of Tom Joad, Ma Joad and Jim Casey provide different characteristics to expand the plot; Tom provides a sense of practicality to the story, Ma is strong, and Jim Casey shows leadership qualities. These characteristics foreshadow the character’s destiny in the story. In John Steinbeck’s proletarian novel, The Grapes of Wrath, his early descriptions of and dialogue for Tom, Ma and Jim Casey establish their personalities and futures. The main character Tom Joad is best described as practical. When Tom was in prison he learned the valuable lesson of taking one day at a time. Ma Joad explains it best when she says "You can't go thinkin' when you're gonna be out. You'd go nuts. You got to think about that day, an' then the nex' day, about the ball game Sat'dy….Jus' take ever'day." (91). An example of Tom being practical was just before the Joads and Jim Casey left for California and they were trying to figure out a way to get Granpa to go. Tom...
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...In the novel ‘The Grapes of Wrath’ written by John Steinbeck the Joad family comes across many trials and tribulations and Ma Joad manifests herself as the strongest, controlled, generous, and altruistic person in the novel. Ma Joad is the mother of Noah Joad, Sharon of Rose, Tom Joad, Al Joad, Ruthie Joad, and Winfield Joad and wife to Old Tom Joad. Tom notices Ma Joad’s eyes show experiences of everything and those experiences made her become strong. Ma shows impeccable strength throughout the novel in many different situations. She keeps her family together throughout the excursion from Oklahoma west to California. The environment in ‘The Grapes of Wrath’ affects Ma Joad by it making her pull her family together and become the leader....
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...The Grapes of Wrath (1940) When Darryl Zanuck was chosen as the executive producer for The Grapes of Wrath, eyebrows were raised. Zanuck, then head of Twentieth Century Fox, was considered politically conservative and therefore an odd choice as the executive producer (Ebert). In fact, Zanuck was nervous about the left-wing political views of the novel, and due to common "red-baiting," he sent a private investigator to Oklahoma in hopes of legitimizing the novel's contents (Levy). John Ford, also politically conservative, was hired as the film's director. Ford, who was not as concerned as Zanuck about the novel's liberal content said, "The whole thing appealed to me–being about simple people–and the whole story was similar to the famine of...
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...banks throughout the Midwest. Floyd was often protected by the locals and was similar to “Robin Hood.” He was finally found and killed by FBI agents in 1934. Through the story of Purty Boy Floyd, John Steinbeck uses his novel The Grapes of Wrath to illustrate that the prison system hurts the individuals instead of rehabilitating them. The story of Floyd is connected to the allegory of the prison system in a variety of ways throughout chapter 8. Ma Joad begins speaking of the prison system by asking Tom if prison made him “mad” like Floyd. She asks him, “You ain’t poisoned mad? You don’t hate nobody? They didn’t do nothin in that jail to rot you out with crazy mad?”(98) This is indicating how her fear of prison changes a man and Ma Joad also tells Tom that she knew Floyd's mother and according to her, prison made Floyd worse than he was before. Ma loved Tom and feared that his prison stay may have changed him into someone she didn't know at all. Ma Joad’s speech to Tom clearly had a great deal of pity and some admiration for Floyd. She says he was treated like an animal, “They shot at him like a varmint, an’ he shot back, an’ they run him like a coyote, an’ his a-snappin’ and a-snarlin’, mean as lobo” (98). Many Oklahomans would agree with Ma joad that through all of Floyd’s criminal acts, he should be respected in his fight against the system and he should be adored for not backing down. Floyd’s reference in the book is a symbol of a fighting spirit that all of the farmers...
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...The Grapes of Wrath, authored by John Steinbeck, is a novel that depicts the struggles of an average midwestern family, The Joads, as they escape the horrors of the Dust Bowl in search of a new life in the state of California. The novel keeps The novel is revered as an American classic and has many positive reviews, but for me, the novel proved to be decent. The novel begins with introducing Tom Joad as he was attempting to hitch-hike back to his family’s farm. The novel continues with the Joad family, as they are forced to leave their land. The Joads face hardships of losing family members and a family friend, having minimal funds, and their only mode of transportation failing. The novel comes to an end as Tom must flee his family and the...
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...bog56269.app.qxd 7/23/03 1:01 PM Page A-1 APPENDIX Writing a Film Analysis Films are made to be seen and heard, to appeal to our visual and aural senses. Like any art form, however, films are also meant to be felt and understood, to appeal to our emotions and minds. One of the best ways to determine whether a film has succeeded in any or all of these goals is to analyze the elements that make up the whole work. To write an analysis of a film, you must study the film carefully. Your critical analysis should be derived from your personal encounter with the film, not from published criticism. Access to a videocassette recorder or DVD player is essential if you are going to perform a critical analysis of any depth. It is not enough to like or dislike the movie; you must determine why it succeeds or fails in reaching out and encompassing the viewer. The first step is to view the film in its entirety. From this viewing you can get an initial reaction to the many parts of the film that you will have to explore in more depth. When you first view the film, it is best not to try to take notes or separate the parts of the film; you should be familiar with the textbook in order to know what to look for. After you have formulated a thesis and have begun the process of supporting that thesis, you should view the film at least once more in its entirety and two or three times in segments in order to review scenes of major importance. The thesis statement is the element around which to...
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...The Grapes of Wrath a well-known classic by John Steinbeck was published in 1939, and before it was published, migrant workers were living in very harsh conditions in several parts of the United States. The Grapes of Wrath is about an Oklahoma Dust Bowl family, the Joads, who suffer various hardships while migrating to California. The Dust Bowl was a period of time in the 1930s where harsh droughts led to severe dust storms which ruined million acres of prairie land in America. This story tells us the plight of all those migrants during the Great Depression through the perspective of the Joad family. In The Grapes of Wrath, Steinbeck uses intercalary chapters to provide background for the various themes of the novel, as well as to set the tone. Steinbeck’s previous book had bought him much success and Steinbeck did not want his success to weaken his commitment to the intellectual goals of his writing. So later, he embarked upon a trip from Oklahoma to California with a group of migrant workers. He worked and lived alongside them in a work camp in California. His experience was the inspiration for this novel. The story begins just after Tom Joad is released on parole from McAlester prison for homicide. On his journey to his home in Oklahoma, he meets former preacher Jim Casy whom he remembers from his childhood and the two travel together. He finds out his family has been evacuated from their land and are leaving for California. Tom and Casy join them. Going west on Route 66...
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...The Grapes of Wrath directed by John Ford is a 1940 film based on the Pulitzer winning novel by John Steinbeck. It tells the story of the Joads who during the Great Depression in the 1930s were run off their farm in Oklahoma. The film details their journey to California in search of work and a new beginning for their family. This paper will relate the main character Tom Joad to the philosophies of Thomas Hobbes and his theory of the state of nature and government as an artificial creation, and Jim Casy to Jean Jacques Rousseau’s theory of government and society as inhibitors of our natural freedoms. The Grapes of Wrath Tom Joad, played by Henry Fonda in the 1940 drama film Grapes of Wrath, is the main character who opens the movie returning to his home in Oklahoma after serving four years in prison for manslaughter. On the way he runs into Jim Casy, the former preacher who warns Tom that most sharecroppers have been evicted due to the effects of the depression. Once finding his family’s farm deserted, he finds them at his uncle’s farm preparing to also leave the next day for California in hopes of finding work and a brighter future. As they begin their treacherous journey across Route 66, the Joads and Casy endure many hardships. Grandpa, who didn’t want to leave his land, dies and is buried alongside the road. Then they run into a man who informs them that there is no work in California, but with not feeling they had any other options, they carry on with hope that they...
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...produce a great classic. John Steinbeck epitomises these ideas in his realist novel The Grapes of Wrath by exploring the challenging and stark issues of; the powerlessness and perseverance of Okies, and the power of communities. Steinbeck successfully connects with respondents on a sensory and emotional level, through the utilization of various language techniques to illuminate respondents of the numerous socio-economic hardships the Okies were subjugated to in the late 1930s. Powerlessness comes about when an external force renders one into a state of mind where they feel that have limited control over their wellbeing, personal lives and the culture wherein they live. Steinbeck highlights the Joads powerlessness in “We tried to camp together, an` they drove us, like pigs. Scattered us. Beat the hell outta fellas. Druv us like pigs”. Through the use of simile of “pigs”, it highlights the inhumane mistreatment by the Banks, which have driven them out of their homes. This is further highlighted in the rhetorical question “The kids are hungry all the time. What do you want us to do?” Steinbeck conveys the difficult predicament the tenant farmers are put in by the landowners, who have subordinated the poor tenant farmers for more money. Thus, the farmers are placed in a vulnerable position provoking them to move to out of their houses. Furthermore, another force responsible for the Joads powerlessness is the weather, explicitly the sun. This is symbolised in “Their faces were...
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...Nikki Slomers Mrs. Moser AP English 11 28 March 2014 Steinbeck’s Philosophical Theory and Influences The Grapes of Wrath, a story of the Joads’ journey from Oklahoma to California in search of the American dream during the Great Depression era. Thousands upon thousands of people had to pack up and leave the land that they were born and raised on due to the Dust Bowl and the banks foreclosing on acres and acres of property. Having lived through this time period, John Steinbeck, the author of the novel The Grapes of Wrath is no stranger to the conditions these people lived in. Traveling with migrant farm workers for a few years in Salinas California, John adopted a very specific philosophical theory from the many influences around him. John Steinbeck’s philosophical theory, including transcendentalism and the concept of the oversoul, humanism, earthy democracy, and pragmatism, all play an important role in the development of his characters in The Grapes of Wrath. To begin, one of the most important characters in the novel, Jim Casy, “the preacher”, single-handedly interprets and embodies the philosophy of the author John Steinbeck and the novel itself. Tom Joad and Jim Casy cross paths while Tom was on his way home to find his family after just being released from prison. The two men, having been long time friends, decide to walk together and catch up. Jim vents to Tom, and tells him about not preaching anymore. “I was a preacher,” the man [Jim Casy] said seriously, “but not...
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...The novel Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck illustrates the wide variety of struggles the United States population had to face around the time of the Dust Bowl era. Many individuals tried to incorporate these struggles into a single song, using Tom Joad - one of the main characters in Grapes of Wrath - as the primary point of interest. The most influential song created and sung by Bruce Springsteen, “The Ghost of Tom Joad”, had also been sung by many other musicians such as Rage Against the Machine and Nickleback in the early 2000s. These musicians had changed the feeling and tone of the song to their own understanding of the struggles during the Dust Bowl. No one song had proven to be the correct one that demonstrated the struggles of the people during that time, yet all of them also had a different influence on the individuals that listened to it. Bruce Springsteen’s original version of the song, “The Ghost of Tom Joad” has many different elements in the song that makes it vastly unique. The tone of the song can be described as very depressing and melancholy since the singer uses a very soft voice. He uses this soft and weak voice to help the listener understand that during this time, many farmers and individuals didn’t have a voice and had to follow the crowd of people traveling west or east in order to get by. The gloomy feeling the...
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...Grapes of Wrath The movie Grapes of Wrath is a film about a family that is affected in a very bad way by the Great Depression. The family is forced to leave their Oklahoma farm because they were stuck right in the middle of the Dust Bowl, The Dust Bowl was a drought that made it almost impossible for farmers to harvest there crop making every sharecropper set off for work, which was very hard to get. Tom Joad who was an ex- convict came home to a house that was being evicted do to the money shortage the Dust Bowl caused the family. It wasn’t long after Tom along with his family started to head west to look for work. The Joad family firmly believed that if they reached California they would find stable jobs and a home to live in, but what they didn’t know hundred of thousand of family’s were headed the same direction also looking for jobs to satisfy their needs. It wasn’t long after they set off for California Grandpa Joad dies which signals the start to the difficult passage they will have to endure to the west. After pulling over and burying him in the ground the Joad family parked their car at a camp where they meet a man that recently came back from California. The man thinks that Pa’s good thoughts about finding a better way of life are far from believable, the man tells the Joads about his failed trip to the west and how there was work. These remarks by the man would not stop the family from continuing their journey. The family continues to the border of Arizona...
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...The Grapes of Wrath is an American realist novel written by John Steinbeck and published in 1939. The book won the National Book Award and Pulitzer Prize for fiction. The Grapes of Wrath is a beautifully written but extremely moving and heartbreaking novel with interesting, realistic and well-developed characters. Among the characters, Ma Joad, Jim Casy, and Tom Joad emerge as prominent figures. Ma Joad, the leader of the family who holds down the fort when things begin to falter or break apart; Jim Casy, the former preacher and spiritual man who sees the deeper soul of humanity; and Tom Joad, the rebel who makes strides to transform his character, to carry on Casy’s fight and the fight for his people, who speaks for an entire group. Set in...
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...defend your decision with concrete details from "The Grapes of Wrath." I think that Steinbeck is trying to get them to unify peacefully to attain a common goal. Going back to when Jim Casy said "maybe all men got one big soul ever'body's a part of," I think that Steinbeck is trying to get readers to recognize that they are not alone (pg. 24). All tenant farmers are losing their land. The uprising may consist of actions that make people seem bitter, but they are upset because they are starving. I think the suggestion is to come together nonviolently, and to realize that they need to show "the great owners" the results of their causes (pg.151). 9.(Understanding) Identify Ma and Pa Joad and describe each of their roles. Ma Joad is the mother of Tom, Rose of Sharon, Al, Ruthie, Winfield, and Noah Joad. Her role shifts and she becomes the center of the family as Pa Joad loses efficacy as the head of the family. Ma becomes the matriarch of the family. Pa Joad is...
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