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I agree with you, and it does seem to me that he is not nearly as appreciated nowadays as he should be.
Steinbeck was a true Populist and definitely left of center
Steinbeck always had a political agenda in his writing because most of his characters were those who were pawns in the system—not the ones moving the levers of power
It is easy to understand why his writing rubs people the wrong way today
He wasn’t like Fitzgerald who included those from various social levels (like “The Great Gatsby”) even if Fitzgerald’s upper classes are object lessons of how not to behave...
“Of Mice and Men” was novel I taught in American Lit in high school
Short book—easy to read in language but the story is so much a time capsule that most of my students could not relate to what was going on with the isolation of the working men and the other social aspects
It is a good book to teach in conjunction with American History of the Depression if you can schedule with the other department
The movie w/Gary Sinese and John Malkovich is excellent
But the original with Lon Chaney as Lennie is also powerful...
Lot of people objected to the last scene in “Grapes of Wrath” as too sexual
Henry Fonda was the perfect Tom Joad and that final speech in the movie is probably one of the top 10 in movie history...
This is a movie that should never be re-done IMO...
And reading this has made me want to get the book on my Kindle and re-read it again...
It is just as appropriate to today’s era as it was then...
Last edited by loves2read; 06-26-2019 at 07:50 AM..
The theme I like best in The Grapes of Wrath is human kindness in the face of horrible circumstances.
Like when the Joad’s, after being run out of the camp that was scheduled to be burned out, found the government camp, with real restrooms.
The theme I like best in The Grapes of Wrath is human kindness in the face of horrible circumstances.
Like when the Joad’s, after being run out of the camp that was scheduled to be burned out, found the government camp, with real restrooms.
People just want to be treated with dignity and respect
Steinbeck is and always has been my favorite author. Ever since I read "The Red Pony" and then "The Pearl" at 11 or 12 years of age I have been in awe of his storytelling.
Grapes of Wrath is a personal favorite, although I have read and re-read all of his work over the years. It's like visiting an old friend and immersing myself in the beauty and wisdom of the words.
“A large drop of sun lingered on the horizon and then dripped over and was gone, and the sky was brilliant over the spot where it had gone, and a torn cloud, like a bloody rag, hung over the spot of its going. And dusk crept over the sky from the eastern horizon, and darkness crept over the land from the east.” ~ GOW
I think that Steinbeck bared the soul of his characters and had the ability to share that with the reader. His stories are timeless.
I'm in the middle of this book, having never read it when I was younger. Frankly, I find it difficult to read and there are times when I can't believe it was written by the same author who wrote East of Eden. I've been told by many people that this is a favorite of theirs. Maybe I'm missing something....
GoW is a masterpiece.
But of course, liking it or not is subjective.
Lots happening in GoW is subtle. Yes, I need Lit analysis as I near the end of a fiction book because I've always read non-fiction.
I also read "East of Eden" years ago and liked it.
Read it twice.
Then see the movie.
I think that you'll change your mind.
I'll agree that it took more than one reading.
The movie, of course, is magnificent.
Quote:
Originally Posted by IheartWA
The theme I like best in The Grapes of Wrath is human kindness in the face of horrible circumstances.
Like when the Joad’s, after being run out of the camp that was scheduled to be burned out, found the government camp, with real restrooms.
You may like it best, but that's not the main point, and, as you saw, ultimately kindness wasn't enough.
I'm in the middle of this book, having never read it when I was younger. Frankly, I find it difficult to read and there are times when I can't believe it was written by the same author who wrote East of Eden. I've been told by many people that this is a favorite of theirs. Maybe I'm missing something....
I just finished reading The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck. I was inspired to read this book in the author's normal genre, fiction, by Travels with Charley: In Search of America. There is some controversy as to whether Travels was somewhat fictionalized and I see the point. This doesn't take anything away from these works. Grapes was controversial at the time it was released (link), and was burned in Kern County, California. Travels was controversial for other reasons. It seems that for a rather gentle man, he aroused some controversy.
While Charley reads like a somewhat novelized version of a non-fiction travelogue, Grapes reads like a compiled story of how life really was for the wretchedly poor of the Depression and Dust Bowl eras. I have to say it is one of the saddest books that I have read, but would gladly read it again, and highly recommend it. Without wanting to create a spoiler, the story tells of an Oklahoma family ousted from the land by the Dust Bowl, that relocated, along with thousands of others, to California, a supposed land of opportunity. The failure of this opportunity for so many illustrates that Americans are not always their brother's keeper.
One quibble I have is that the book, perhaps, a bit too pessimistic. Many have come to America in misery or, as the Joad family of Grapes migrated within the country in equal misery. My sunnier view is that these migrations may not have served the generation that moved well, but gave the next generations a real chance that they never would have had in Europe or in Oklahoma.
One quote I like from The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck - "The stars came down wonderfully close and the sky was soft.Death was a friend, and sleep was death's brother." I will not post the other quote that gives the book its title. You'll have to read it for that one. But more quotes....
p. 204-6 THE western land, nervous under the beginning change. The Western States, nervous as horses before a thunder storm. The great owners, nervous, sensing a change, knowing nothing of the nature of the change. The great owners, striking at the immediate thing, the widening government, the growing labor unity; striking at new tares, at plans; not knowing these things are results, not causes. Results, not causes; results, not causes. The causes lie deep and simply-the causes are a hunger in a stomach, multiplied a million times; a hunger in a single soul, hunger for joy and some security, multiplied a million times; muscles and mind aching to grow, to work, to create, multiplied a million times. The last clear definite function of man--muscles aching to work, minds aching to create beyond the single need- this is man. To build a wall, to build a house, a dam, and in the wall and house and dam to put something of Manself, and to Manself take back something of the wall, the house, the dam; to take hard muscles from the lifting, to tale the clear lines and form from conceiving. For man, unlike any other…
The two men squatting in a ditch, the little fire, the side- meat stewing in a single pot, the silent, stone-eyed women; behind, the children listening with their souls to words their minds do not understand. The night draws down. The baby has a cold. Here, take this blanket. It's wool. It was my mother's blanket-take it for the baby. This is the thing to bomb. This is the beginning-from "I' "I" to "we." If you who own the things people must have could understand this, you might preserve yourself. If you could separate causes from results, if you could know that Paine, Marx, Jefferson, Lenin, were results, not causes, you might survive. But that you cannot know. For the quality of owning freezes you forever into "I," and cuts you off forever from the "we."
P. 448 And hunger did not skulk about, but the world was soft and easy, and a man could reach the place he started for. The stars came down wonder- fully close and the sky was soft. Death was a friend, and sleep was death's brother.
I just finished reading The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck. I was inspired to read this book in the author's normal genre, fiction, by Travels with Charley: In Search of America. There is some controversy as to whether Travels was somewhat fictionalized and I see the point. This doesn't take anything away from these works. Grapes was controversial at the time it was released (link), and was burned in Kern County, California. Travels was controversial for other reasons. It seems that for a rather gentle man, he aroused some controversy.
While Charley reads like a somewhat novelized version of a non-fiction travelogue, Grapes reads like a compiled story of how life really was for the wretchedly poor of the Depression and Dust Bowl eras. I have to say it is one of the saddest books that I have read, but would gladly read it again, and highly recommend it. Without wanting to create a spoiler, the story tells of an Oklahoma family ousted from the land by the Dust Bowl, that relocated, along with thousands of others, to California, a supposed land of opportunity. The failure of this opportunity for so many illustrates that Americans are not always their brother's keeper.
One quibble I have is that the book, perhaps, a bit too pessimistic. Many have come to America in misery or, as the Joad family of Grapes migrated within the country in equal misery. My sunnier view is that these migrations may not have served the generation that moved well, but gave the next generations a real chance that they never would have had in Europe or in Oklahoma.
One quote I like from The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck - "The stars came down wonderfully close and the sky was soft.Death was a friend, and sleep was death's brother." I will not post the other quote that gives the book its title. You'll have to read it for that one. But more quotes....
p. 204-6 THE western land, nervous under the beginning change. The Western States, nervous as horses before a thunder storm. The great owners, nervous, sensing a change, knowing nothing of the nature of the change. The great owners, striking at the immediate thing, the widening government, the growing labor unity; striking at new tares, at plans; not knowing these things are results, not causes. Results, not causes; results, not causes. The causes lie deep and simply-the causes are a hunger in a stomach, multiplied a million times; a hunger in a single soul, hunger for joy and some security, multiplied a million times; muscles and mind aching to grow, to work, to create, multiplied a million times. The last clear definite function of man--muscles aching to work, minds aching to create beyond the single need- this is man. To build a wall, to build a house, a dam, and in the wall and house and dam to put something of Manself, and to Manself take back something of the wall, the house, the dam; to take hard muscles from the lifting, to tale the clear lines and form from conceiving. For man, unlike any other…
The two men squatting in a ditch, the little fire, the side- meat stewing in a single pot, the silent, stone-eyed women; behind, the children listening with their souls to words their minds do not understand. The night draws down. The baby has a cold. Here, take this blanket. It's wool. It was my mother's blanket-take it for the baby. This is the thing to bomb. This is the beginning-from "I' "I" to "we." If you who own the things people must have could understand this, you might preserve yourself. If you could separate causes from results, if you could know that Paine, Marx, Jefferson, Lenin, were results, not causes, you might survive. But that you cannot know. For the quality of owning freezes you forever into "I," and cuts you off forever from the "we."
P. 448 And hunger did not skulk about, but the world was soft and easy, and a man could reach the place he started for. The stars came down wonder- fully close and the sky was soft. Death was a friend, and sleep was death's brother.
Thank you for reminding me again why Steinbeck like Whitman captures the cadence of America…
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The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck 8-13-2022
