I just finished chapter 14, and I still an thoroughly satisfied with the book. One aspect of the book that I find to be particularly interesting are the chapters in which Steinbeck doesn't talk about the Joad family. Earlier in the book, he had the chapter regarding the turtle and a few chapters intended to show the reader what was going on throughout the entire country, but in this reading, these chapters are a comment on society and the human race as a whole. Specifically chapter 14, he is making a huge statement about the human spirit, and what separates us from all other species. He comments on humans bonding in times of need, so that they together may become stronger. This adds to the story immensly, and brings into the readers mind that this story is not just an entertaining tale and that it is a commentary on the state of the country and society as a whole. This message becomes more and more clear with every chapter. That, combined with his beautiful and talented writing style, leaves no question as to why it is regarded as one of the best works of literature in American history.
One aspect of the book that I picked up on was how kind the people who the Joad family encounters are. It is inspiring how they are able to find people on the road, and after having only known them for a few hours, be able to plan the rest of their trips so that they can make it easier for the both of them. Another example of this profound kindness is when Grampa is sick, the family that the Joads were camped next to offered to take him into their bed without any thought or remorse. There just seems to be kindhearted-ness everywhere. What I really find interesting is that when this book was written, it wasn't intended to say anything about the kind-ness of the average person. Back then, it was just accepted that people would have helped each other out if they were able to. It wasn't anything out of the ordinary. Having been raised in today's world, I find this to be unusual. It shows how society has changed and become much more self centered than it used to be. People today often will not help somebody else if it has any substantial cost for themselves. This book shows how back then, it was commonplace. It is very intriguing how as society changes, the messages that a book conveys also change, due to the social norms that we are accustomed to.
In these recent chapters, Grampa suffers a stroke, and dies while on the road. At first I considered this to be a turning point in the story, and that it was going to be very important to the story. But after they buried him, things didn't seem to be much different than they were before, and this sort of caught me off guard. I expected it to have a greater impact on the characters, but when I began to think about, I realized that Grampa was simply a background character in the story. I was sure that his death was symbolic of something, but I honestly couldn't figure out what it was. It may have been just done to add something interesting to the story, but the chances of that are slim. Maybe as the book progresses it will become more clear.
Other than that, I haven't got much else to comment on. I still find it amazing how Steinbeck is able to capture the emotion of a moment and convey it so expertly to the reader, and I am very excited to continue the reading.
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Did you read up until and including chapter 16? Good commentary so far. I think Grandpa's death was supposed to show how leaving his land sucked his spirit out. It goes back to that idea of ownership we talked about in class. Bring up grandpa's death in the fischbowl tomorrow.
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