Continuing what I said in my previous entry, I am still very happy with this book. This is my first time ever reading Steinbeck, and I have found every aspect of it so far to be amazing. In my first journal entry, I showed some worry that the book might start to get boring, as I have heard from many people that it does, but it does not seem to be headed in that direction. And I'm pretty sure that its safe to say that I don't expect it to suddenly become terrible, seeing as I'm already 122 pages in and still loving every second of it.
As for the plot of the story, I predict that when everybody arrives in California, things are not going to be as good as they had all expected them to be. I caught some foreshadowing during the part where Tom (younger) is talking to his mother in the kitchen and he mentions that he knew a guy from California who said that it wasn't as good as people made it seem. And it was shown very strongly towards the end of the last chapter, where the mechanic is explaining to them how he has seen people going back the way they came, and he told them that they wouldn't be able to find work there. Also, so far the entire story has had a very melancholic vibe to it. The author has an amazing ability to convey the sadness that is present in every one of the characters. I feel like he is going to keep that emotion which he has instilled in us readers, and continue to use it throughout the book. By having the Joads go on this huge trip and look forward to a prosperous future, and then have it not be there when they arrived would do an excellent job of continuing the ever-present melancholy in this story.
Although I spent the majority of the last entry talking about his writing style, I am still in awe at how amazingly he can convey emotion through his vivid imagery and get the reader to emotionally relate to how all of the characters in the story feel. He describes things in a way that is easily comprehensible, yet still extremely detailed, which are two things that combine to make this novel so incredible. He has an amazing talent for capturing and conveying human emotions within his novels. I have found this to be a large portion of why I am enjoying this book so much because in all honesty, the plot hasn't become very intricate, yet he still has a way of captivating readers. I'm already looking forward to continuing reading this novel.
-Nick Kennedy
Good thoughts pointing out Steinbeck's possible foreshadowing and describing how he captures character emotion! I can't believe in 9th or 10th grade in pre-IB they didn't have you read Of Mice and Men by Steinbeck. It's a really short read, you should pick it up sometime. It's another classic!
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