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Opinion
From Library Staff
From Library Staff
Challenged for language and sexual references in the book.
The story of a farm family's Depression-era journey from the Dustbowl of Oklahoma to the California migrant labor camps in search of a better life. A classic book still popular for book groups.
From the critics
Community Activity
Quotes
Add a Quote“And the little screaming fact that sounds through all history: repression works only to strengthen and knit the repressed.”
“And the little screaming fact that sounds through all history: repression works only to strengthen and knit the repressed.”
“And this you can know- fear the time when Manself will not suffer and die for a concept, for this one quality is man, distinctive in the universe.”
“Sure, cried the tenant men, but it’s our land…We were born on it, and we got killed on it, died on it. Even if it’s no good, it’s still ours….That’s what makes ownership, not a paper with numbers on it."
"We’re sorry. It’s not us. It’s the monster. The bank isn’t like a man."
"Yes, but the bank is only made of men."
"No, you’re wrong there—quite wrong there. The bank is something else than men. It happens that every man in a bank hates what the bank does, and yet the bank does it. The bank is something more than men, I tell you. It’s the monster. Men made it, but they can’t control it.”
“Our people are good people; our people are kind people. Pray God some day kind people won't all be poor.”
“Before I knowed it, I was sayin' out loud, 'The hell with it! There ain't no sin and there ain't no virtue. There's just stuff people do. It's all part of the same thing.' . . . . I says, 'What's this call, this sperit?' An' I says, 'It's love. I love people so much I'm fit to bust, sometimes.' . . . . I figgered, 'Why do we got to hang it on God or Jesus? Maybe,' I figgered, 'maybe it's all men an' all women we love; maybe that's the Holy Sperit-the human sperit-the whole shebang. Maybe all men got one big soul ever'body's a part of.' Now I sat there thinkin' it, an' all of a suddent-I knew it. I knew it so deep down that it was true, and I still know it.”
“...and in the eyes of the people there is the failure; and in the eyes of the hungry there is a growing wrath. In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage.”
Pa sniffed. "Seems like times is changed," he said sarcastically. "Time was when a man said what we'd do. Seems like women is tellin' now. Seems like it's purty near time to get out a stick."
Ma put the clean dripping tin dish out on a box. She smiled down at her work. "You get your stick, Pa," she said. "Times when they's food an' a place to set, then maybe you can use your stick an' keep your skin whole. But you ain't a-doin' your job, either a-thinkin' or a-workin'. If you was, why, you could use your stick, an' women folks'd sniffle their nose an' creep-mouse aroun'. But you jus' get you a stick now an' you ain't lickin' no woman; you're a-fightin', 'cause I got a stick all laid out too."
Pa grinned with embarrassment. "Now it ain't good to have the little fellas hear you talkin' like that," he said.
"You get some bacon inside the little fellas 'fore you come tellin' what else is good for 'em," said Ma.
LOVE this! Ma is such a strong and wonderful character.
Age
Add Age Suitabilityrolandtshen thinks this title is suitable for between the ages of 1 and 2
Notices
Add NoticesSexual Content: Not actual sex scenes, but many references to laying with girls in the field. One character grabs a girl by the ankles when she tries to leave and makes her have sex, although she relents a bit of the way through.
Violence: A woman's hand is shot off and a main character's head is crushed, although this is not described graphically.
Coarse Language: Son-of-a-bitch, Goddammit, nigger; and others are used copiously.
Comment
Add a CommentEveryone I know who was forced to read The Grapes of Wrath in high school hates it. Anyone who got to it later tends to love it. I read it in 10th grade, and therefore have an irrational anger at it still.
The Grapes of Wrath can truly be called the Great American novel of the 1900s (except, perhaps, for To Kill a Mockingbird). It tells the tale of a migrant family from Oklahoma forced to flee their home after the bank takes their land during the Great Depression. They travel to California, supposedly a bountiful country offering up copious jobs, and soon come face to face with the harsh reality of poverty and inequality deeply rooted in American society.
This book has faced much criticism for being communist or socialist propaganda. To an extent, this is true. John Steinbeck was a strong believer in socialism, and his opinions are clear through his writing. However, the flaws in capitalism portrayed in this book are true, and whether you are a fan of socialism or not the horrors of the Great Depression should not be ignored.
Steinbeck does not hold back in his description of the harsh conditions migrant families (called Okies as a derogatory term) are forced to endure. Many people better off than them turn a blind eye to their need, insisting that Okies are not human because no human could stand to live in such conditions. Starvation of children, illness, and death abound, and oftentimes people cannot afford a simple burial for a family member. Yet these workers do not choose to stand idly by. Many choose to take a stand in the form of unions and strikes but are squashed down by company owners.
But beyond being a political novel, this book tells of brave heroism that everyday people can accomplish. Ma, in a world run by men who are breaking, takes control of the family and makes sure all are accounted for. Casy, an ex-preacher, keeps the family's spirits alive with his incessant, spiritual chatter, and Tom Joad refuses to stand up to the oppression of humanity.
A must-read book for all people, the Grapes of Wrath is a classic that will never die. Mixing heartbreak, humor, simple, poetic prose, and the qualities of an epic, it is a book no one could ever forget.
the pace was too slow for me. I give it 1 stars
Despite its 1930's publication date and an arduous pace reflective of the time, the story this book tells about progress and its effect on those who are left behind is just as relevant now as it was then. Some of the statements made seemed so current that I felt they were anachronistic and had to check the publication date to remind myself that the book was written when it was set.
the pace is slow, but that's the tempo that works for the story. Absolutely the best book I've ever read
It started slow. I finally got interested, but it was such a depressing story throughout!
Funny & Epic.Loved it.
A really fantastic story. I admit that I skim-read every other chapter, when the narration was omniscient and attributed to no known characters, but the main story following the Joad's was great.
This novel centres on the Joad family as they journey to California after being uprooted from their land during the Dust Bowl. Steinbeck's description of the farmers-become-migrants, their hopes, fears and pluck as they face hardship and prejudice stirs feelings of empathy and admiration.
I read this when I was 16 and it devastated me - the ending was so complexly bittersweet that I cried for 2 hours over it! Steinbeck drags you through the mud and the dirt and the hunger and the desperation and the indignation that the characters are experiencing, and you experience it right along with them. Harrowing, intense, depressing, and beautiful. Everyone should read this book!