Grapes of Wrath Assignment 2: Chapters 15-16

I'll start this entry off by answering your question as to whether or not I read until chapter 16. Last night I stayed up late finishing the reading, and towards the end of the night I started to feel really gross. When I woke up this morning, I still felt terrible, and decided that it would be best to not go to school, and I didn't get around to writing this entry until just now.

I've got a few questions regarding chapter 15 and it's significance to the story. It was another chapter not talking specifically about the Joad family. After I thought about it for awhile, I recalled in the Socratic circle the other day how we talked about whether or not Steinbeck was being biased in his portrayal of the entire situation. We seemed to agree that he was remaining unbiased and just telling the reader what was going on. I feel that this chapter was intended to show the reader how this whole situation was affecting affecting all of the other people in the country. It showed a variety of opinions from different people. For example, some of the truckers in the diner seemed to have a strong dislike for all of the people who were migrating, while Al, the cook in the diner, seemed to be sympathetic for them, even giving them things that they couldn't fully pay for. This author was just trying to show how the people who weren't forced off of their land were affected.

An idea that has seemed to be recurring throughout the book is that there won't actually be any work out in California, and that people will not be able to succeed or even survive. Throughout the book people have been bringing it up, questioning it's legitimacy, but there were no first hand accounts of what it was actually like. Just people speculating and worrying. In this portion of the reading, a man talks to Pa and the other men and tells them of how horrible it is out in California. He talks about the numbers of people all heading West, and about how there isn't enough work for them all. He claims to have seen it himself. What I find interesting is how at the end of Chapter 16, Pa starts to inform Ma about what the man said regarding California, and Tom stops him. I can't figure out as to why he did this. I'm thinking that he did it because just didn't want her to worry. He probably assumed that it was best if she didn't worry, because they wouldn't be able to go someplace else anyway. I'm taking all of these hints and making the prediction that these people are not going to find anything they had hoped for in California. On the back of the book, it is described as "tragic,"and I feel that that will be what makes it so tragic. The author has put a huge amount of emphasis on all the dreams and aspirations of the Joad family and the people accompanying them. By doing this he creates a strong emotional connection with the characters, and when it turns out that they have nothing and no place to go, it will leave a stronger impact on the reader.

Another thing that the author puts a noticeable amount of emphasis on is how fragile the cars that everybody is driving out to California are. This is done to show the readers how desperate the people are to get to California. These people are forced to stop often, and they seem to be slowly be making their way towards what they think is going to be a new future. The variety of troubles that they face along the way shows how strong and determined to find a better life they are and again build sympathy for them. Another tactic of the author that works surprisingly well.

One last thing I'd like to mention before the end of this post is the man with one eye. I remember Mrs. Libertucci mentioning how Steinbeck tries to have every type of person represented in the book, and I've been trying with little avail to figure out what he could represent. He seems to be a kind of person who makes things seem worse then they are and who entangels himself in a web of self loathing. What this could all be representing I'm not sure, but his character added an interesting aspect to that particular aspect of the story. Again, I'm still happy with this book, and I am greatly looking forward to the fischbowl tomorrow in class.