It's time for second semester core literature! This semester we will read - The Grapes of Wrath by Steinbeck.Please complete the following:
1) Get a copy of the book
2) Start an analysis notebook
3) Enter the following notes in your notebook:
-symbol-a is a word, place, character, or object that means something beyond what it is on a literal level.
-symbolism- the act of using a word, place, character, or object in such a way.
-motif - a recurring object, concept, or structure in a work of literature. A motif may also be two contrasting elements in a work, such as good and evil.
4) Cite two examples of symbolism or motif.
example:
Whoever said a road is just a road has not read The Grapes of Wrath. From the minute we watch Tom Joad return home after four years in prison, roads take on great meaning. His "dark quiet eyes became amused as he stared along the road" (2.53), the road that will take him home at last. Then, Route 66 is "the mother road, the road of flight" (12.1), and it is the lifeline, the thing that allows thousands of families to pursue their hopes and dreams. But it is also the road that leads to their misery in California.
5) Comment on a classmate's post.
5 comments:
The first example of symbolism in The Grapes of Wrath is the turtle crossing the road. The turtle is slowly but surely crossing the road and even though he is hit by a car and flipped over, he works and works and works until he his able to flip himself over and continue on his journey. This can be seen as a metaphor for the migrants in general and the Joads in particular, as they continue to push towards their destination even though they are faced with incredible hardships. The turtle has a to carry it's shell on it's back in the same way that the migrants have to carry everything they own with them. The turtle is a symbol of hope that the migrants will be able to survive.
The second symbol is the cats (tractors) that plow Turku the farmers land and knock their houses down. These cats represent the merciless banks willing to take everything away from the migrants.
Oops! I meant to say through.
I believe that an example of symbolism in The Grapes of Wrath is how they use the bank as a symbol of evil and how it is a monster. The monster sends out a man in a machine who destroys your property and then takes it. An example of a motif is how the people want to destroy this monster the bank and they wont give up. They start threatening the man in the machine saying that they will kill him and they wont give up until the bank leaves them and there property alone. But they cant because the bank cant be beaten theres always someone else to send to take what they believe is theres.
Within the first pages of any book by Steinbeck, we become entranced in the meanings and uses of imagery Steinbeck uses. The dusty willow tree in which Tom Joad and his companion take refuge under in the hot weather, may also stand for the beauty amongst the dusty dirt roads, a sign of hope, "ahead of him, beside the road, a scrawny, dusty willow tree cast a speckled shadow," (18.20).Then, the turtle whom carried on to the opposite side of the road, even after being mulled over by a truck, the turtle kept hauling on to it's original destination, "his front wheel struck the edge of the shell, flipped the turtle and swerved to hit it," (15.32) it is perhaps foreshadowing the events ahead and how they will struggle, but keep on to their destination.
I like what Annie Trail said about the turtle. Its a great symbol of the effort it takes to over come difficult times.
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