John Steinbeck describes the life of a poor family through his exquisite and eloquent use of imagery in The Grapes of Wrath. He shows the struggles of the Joad family as they move to California in hopes of finding work and money in a genious story of the life of the 1930?s. In this story, he accentuates anger, fear, strength, and camaraderie as a driving force for families in the early twentieth century. Steinbeck?s metaphors affix emotion to the story and highlight what makes the lower class a respectable group of people. He uses intercalary chapters to emphasize on particular points and develop mental pictures of the Joads? life as the way of life in the early twentieth century. According to Steinbeck, life as the lower class in the early twentieth century was difficult, unfair and the only thing that kept the people moving on was the determination and hope that life would take a turn for the better.
English: John Steinbeck
Trailer for the 1940 black and white film The Grap...
To reach California the Joads travel U.S. Highway ...In the early twentieth century, life as the lower class was very austere in the eyes of John Steinbeck. Early on in The Grapes of Wrath he tells us of a turtle who is crossing a vast road in the middle of nowhere when a large pick-up truck drives by and knocks the turtle on its back. ?Lying on its back, the turtle was tight in its shell for a long time. But at last its legs waved in the air, reaching for something to pull it over? (22). This example symbolizes the struggle of the Joads as the proletariat in society. They are constantly ?flipped? on their backs by the ?greater? people in their community. They struggle to live and survive just as the turtle does on its back. As the novel progresses, Steinbeck describes the struggle for...