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1 Introduction 1
2 A Brief Introduction to The Grapes of Wrath 3
2.1 The Story of The Grapes of Wrath 3
2.2 Brief Analysis of Major Characters 4
2.3 Previous studies on the Novel 5
3 The Theme and the Background of the Novel 7
3.1 The Author and His Philosophical Views on Inpidual and Community 7
3.2 Social and Economic Background of the Novel 7
4 The Development of the Theme—From Inpidual to Community 9
4.1 The Transition of Major Characters 9
4.2 The Change of the “Family” Structure 15
5 Effective Devices of Narration to Develop the Theme 18
5.1 The Use of a Balanced-structure 18
5.2 The Change of Points of View 19
5.3 The Use of Symbolism 19
6 Conclusion 21
Bibliography 22
Acknowledgments
1 Introduction
John Steinbeck, born in California, is one of the most famous novelists in the 20th century America. As a novelist and journalist, he writes short story as well. At his early age, he worked as a fruit picker so he was familiar with the land and the workers. Instead of graduating from Stanford, he was determined to be a labor while writing. Through the experiences among working class, he had a good command of the language characteristic and manners of working people. Thus he began to write novels in 1929 and he regularly used his story to explore the severely abused people’s lives. Among all his works, he is memoried by his masterpiece The Grapes of Wrath.
The miserable-farm-workers-centered The Grapes of Wrath soared to the top of the bestseller, selling nearly half a million copies. Most readers speak highly of it by virtue of its authentic characteristics. Despite that many Oklahomans and Californians bitterly attacked the book regarding those characters uglifying the image of the local people, a large majority highly praised the novel. The story of the Joad family embodied chaotic period in American history and, in the words of critic Robert DeMott, “entered both the American consciousness and conscience. ” (1996:659) Interacted with each other, the migrant workers realized the importance of unity, not only in the inpidual family but also in the social family.
The Grapes of Wrath is a masterpiece of the author’s direct observation. This novel was inspiring while full of bitterness and struggle, however, it was not extremely that despair. The author collected the country’s current disgrace and disruption, the hopelessness, dirty life and the broken family. The author is willing to create a drama which is really human via those farmers’ suffering, and epic in its scope and scale. The novel plays a leading role in appreciating the endurance and dignity of human sprit so as to improve the nation’s awareness of the solemnness of the problem to a large extent.
Not exploring the inpidual ideas or struggles, this novel embodied the universal ideas or struggles. What this paper is mainly interested in is the main characters’ specific physical change and ideological level through a series of disasters and events. In addition, the landless workers’ development of their behaviors and thoughts of this novel is expressed and developed. In this thesis, this paper will discuss what the migrant workers really suffered from and how they managed to overcome them, thus revealing the transition they finally turn out to be as well as the whole society.
2 A Brief Introduction to The Grapes of Wrath
As we all know, almost each masterpiece is dependent on its author’s elaborative observation and explanation of the real society, thus we should be acquainted with main plot, major characters as well as their personalities of this novel.