The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck

The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck was the January selection for the Back to the Classics Book Club at the Kewaunee Public Library.  I had not read this book since I was in high school, and I was interested to see how I would feel about it reading it again in my forties.

The Grapes of Wrath is the story of the Joad family.  They are poor tenant farmers in Oklahoma that are driven off their farm by the bank after the dust bowl sets in.  They set out for California as they have seen plenty of fliers advertising an abundance of jobs.  Once they arrive, they discover that the jobs are not quite as advertised.  They work as migrant farm labor and have a hard time making enough money to eat.  Will the Joad family be able to stay together during these tough times?

The first thing I was struck with in this novel was the beautiful writing.  Steinbeck had a gift for writing scenes with beautiful imagery.  He also wrote great three-dimensional characters.  Tom Joad in the “hero” of the novel, but he also has just gotten out of jail for murdering a man and murders another in this novel.  He does good for his family and the working poor, but he is not a saintly man by any measure.  This also applies to Jim Casey, their former preacher friend who travels with the family.  I did not remember at all that Jim Casey had to stop being a pastor because he would sleep with young ladies after every revival meeting.  It seems like this would have scandalized me enough in high school to remember, but it didn’t.  Jim also works hard for the rights of the working man but is definitely an interesting character.

My favorite character was Ma Joad.  She just wants to keep her family together no matter what. One of my favorite quotes in the book was this beautiful description of her: “She seemed to know, to accept, to welcome her position, the citadel of the family, the strong place that could not be taken. And since old Tom and the children could not know hurt or fear unless she acknowledged hurt or fear, she had practiced denying them in herself. And since, when a joyful thing happened, they looked to see whether joy was on her, it was her habit to build laughter out of inadequate materials.... She seemed to know that if she swayed the family shook, and if she ever deeply wavered or despaired the family would fall.”

I thought this novel did an excellent job of capturing a certain time period of American history and a certain population.  The very poor are often not written about, and the trials of the Okies was fascinating. It was disturbing to see how Americans treated other fellow Americans who were suffering.  I thought it was interesting that many terms and scenes were also in The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah that was published last year.  Both were based on the notes of Sanora Babbs who researched the migrant camps in the 1930s.

I’ll admit I enjoyed reading this book more without analyzing every page of it as it seemed like we did in high school English class.  I still HATED the ending of it.  It’s one of the worst endings in literature, I think.  It’s an ending written by a man who doesn’t understand breast feeding.  In the book, Tom Joad’s sister, Rose of Sharon loses her baby because of malnutrition.  The family basically losses everything in a flood and find a boy and starving man in the barn.  The book ends with Rose of Sharon breastfeeding the man to save him. Okay, so Rose of Sharon has breast milk even though her baby died from not getting enough nutrition in the womb?  If Rose of Sharon is malnourished enough to kill her baby, she does not have breast milk.  And if she does, she needs to be binding herself to keep the nutrition in for herself to survive.  I remember my English teacher saying this was a beautiful ending.  I don’t agree.  It’s depressing and Rose of Sharon deserves better. 

I also watched the 1940 movie again starring Henry Fonda.  It was a good movie.  It followed the book pretty closely for at least the first half and then veered off.  The ending was on a happier note in the movie.  It would be interesting if this movie was remade. 

What are your thoughts?  How do you feel about The Grapes of Wrath?

Overall, The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck is the defining book of the 1930s and is an interesting book to read.  Steinbeck is one of America’s greatest authors.