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Example research essay topic: Grapes Of Wrath Rose Of Sharon - 1,585 words

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... ction with the characters of this story, the events themselves reveal Steinbeck's second major area of symbolism. He uses the events to shape his characters, as well as tell his story -- symbolic to the test of mortal life, the very reason we are here, so the Bible teaches us. There are several examples that illustrate how triumphant the human spirit can be in times of trouble and mental fatigue. The trek West itself reveals just how committed the Joad's were to their dreams. They risk everything just to find work and a place to live -- the basics.

Each event serves as one more essential hurdle each main character must adapt to in order to fully disclose his / her own symbolism. For instance, Tom first gets his idea of transportation when he sees the tractor at the beginning of the story and remembers that tractors are just now starting to cover the planes continually. He knows the family must be able to make it in some kind of machine. When Tom visits the car dealer, he comes away with a car that doesn't quite fit the family's needs, but Tom makes it work. He adapts. He, along with the rest of the family, learns to utilize every item they have.

They discover the value of each item, which becomes clearer each day as their circumstances become harsher. Next, Steinbeck uses each major event to exhibit the kindness of the human spirit. A main example here is when the waitress in the caf lets the poor migrant have a free loaf of bread just to continue his journey. She is then rewarded with two big tips from the next customers, who are truckers that come through to eat. In this event, "kindness breeds kindness" (Carlson, 97).

Another occasion is when Rose of Sharon takes care of the old man in the barn. She ends up symbolically gaining a child where before she had lost her own. These instances not only demonstrate that kindness of the human spirit, they lend a hand in keeping the bigger picture of remaining humble and obedient to Christian principles visible, including that of the Golden Rule, as key to this family's mental, if not financial, survival. The third and final major area of symbolism in the Grapes of Wrath is the role that nature plays throughout the story. It is unquestionable that nature plays a big part in the lives of the Joad's simply because their journey takes place in the middle of the planes where weather, such as rain, can easily become a harsh condition. There is the ever-present reality that they haven't much shelter from the turbulent weather, thus they have no option but to trudge forward.

Weather is exposed as both a destroying and regenerative force. "Steinbeck goes on to depict in lyrical prose the disintegration of the house before the almost delicate onslaught of nature: rain, weeds, dust, wind" (Isherwood, 79). Nature then knows that the house is no longer useful to the Joad's and "reclaims it as its own" (Isherwood, 79). Some of the most interesting proofs of the nature symbolism come the "inter chapters." Steinbeck includes several chapters throughout the novel which simply act as a reference to some other idea, that at first glance, have no meaning to the story, but, on further inspection, prove some of Steinbeck's main points. The most famous of these is the journey of the turtle. Steinbeck opens a chapter by describing a turtle that is struggling to cross a highway.

He goes into great detail to explain much about the turtle and its own little journey, but he really doesn't say much about the purpose. That is because it becomes very clear. The turtle is heading somewhere and must cross a road. It struggles and struggles and when it finally gets close to its destination, a truck comes by and knocks it across the road unharmed. The moral here is that the turtle made it across, but if it had tried any less, if it had endured any less diligently, it might have been hit by the tire instead of just being brushed aside by it. There is also the chapter about the ant lion trap, which is analogous to the fact that most farmers were scurrying around trying to acquire land and supplies to live but have to avoid being caught at the same time.

Of course, not everyone can succeed, so Steinbeck inserts the story of the Joad's dog being hit by a truck. Not everyone is going to be as lucky as the turtle in their efforts, and this lesson comes at a price to the Joad's. Each machine taking over where laborers once reigned is an event that pushes the level of adaptation to adversity for each family. "One man on a tractor can take the place of twelve or fourteen families. " With this statement from the novel, Steinbeck illustrates how machines add to the complexity of the situation. Not only are the machines primarily responsible for forcing the families to migrate, they also directly cause several deaths, requiring each character affected to dig into his / her capacity to suffer and endure. The machines also represent the widening inhumanity of the Depression years. "Tom sees the 'No Riders's ticker on the tractor as an example of how inhuman machinery has become" (Mcelderry Jr. , 128). Ironically, when the Joad's meet at the beginning of their journey, they must meet at the truck, which is seen as the only "real" thing left, since the house has been demolished.

The truck was never meant to be of any real significance in the first place, for it is another machine. As each event progresses, we see Steinbeck using animals and nature intertwined with these events to depict people and things, and to foreshadow things to come. One example of these descriptions is the reference to Muley Grave's sex drive in his younger days, when "he describes his first experience as 'snorting like a buck deer, randy as a billy goat" (Mcelderry Jr. , 130). Then, when moths are circling the fire, they are referred to as being like farmers circling a town, looking for opportunity and waiting to enter.

The animals are used even to foreshadow death, be it the Joad's dog or Rose of Sharon's baby, by the circling of buzzard's overhead. So the use of symbolic content goes. Although Steinbeck created this highly acclaimed world of symbolism, it is not without its faults, at least according to some interpretations. He goes to great lengths to convey life of the migrant farm workers of the 1930 's, in terms of universals and the more of the time, but unfortunately, some found his conclusions far too artificial. "Complete literalness in such matters doesn't necessarily simulate life in literature" (Sillen, 4). The dispute here is whether or not Steinbeck is attempting to over-glorify the attempts of the migrants.

Many Midwesterners did feel quite a bit of harshness enter their lives when trying to live through the Great Depression, but it is hard to say if the Joad's had life as tough as most. However, Henry Moore states that the shining examples of good symbolism and truth in The Grapes of Wrath come in the inter chapters, such as the turtle and the tractor tales. The problem, as he states it, is that "the contrapuntal chapters about the Joad family don't always have the continuous strength to carry them" (Moore, 6). Basically, Dr Moore is saying that if Steinbeck really wanted to use symbolism in this story to explain the trials and tribulations of the migrants, he should have kept the story more realistic and down-to-earth in its approach of the topic. Overall, however, The Grapes of Wrath did appeal to the midwestern migrants. Steinbeck managed to explain the significance of the many events of the Depression era through his use of symbolism.

By using characters, nature and events as his vessels, Steinbeck keeps the reader interested while conveying his own thoughts and beliefs. He won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1962, while The Grapes of Wrath won the Pulitzer Prize in 1939. Looks like he was at least on the right track. Bibliography: Bibliography Cannon, Gerald The Pauline Apostleship of Tom Joad pp. 118 - 122 Modern Fiction Studies, 1962 Carlson, Eric W. Symbolism in The Grapes of Wrath pp. 96 - 102 New York: Hill and Wang, 1958 Carpenter, Frederic I. The Philosophical Joad's pp. 80 - 89 Southern Review, V. 1941 Crockett, H.

Kelly The Bible and The Grapes of Wrath pp. 105 - 114 Norman, Okla: University of Oklahoma Press, 1962 De Schweinitz, George Steinbeck and Christianity pp. 103 - 104 Baltimore: John Hopkins University Press, 1958 Dougherty, Charles T. The Christ Figure in The Grapes of Wrath pp. 115 - 118 New York: R. D. M. Corporation, 1962 French, Warren The Education of the Heart pp. 204 - 208 New York: Grove Press, 1961 Isherwood, Christopher The Tragedy of Eldorado pp. 76 - 79 Pacific Historical Review VIII, 1939 Mcelderry Jr. , B. R.

The Grapes of Wrath: In the Light of Modern Critical Theory pp. 126 - 133 New York: Macmillan, 1944 Shockley, Martin Christian Symbolism in The Grapes of Wrath pp. 90 - 95 Antioch Review XVIII, 1956 Sillen, Samuel Censoring The Grapes of Wrath pp. 3 - 7 Los Angeles: Haynes Corporation, 1939 Steinbeck, John The Grapes of Wrath New York: Tedlock and Wicker, 1939


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