1. Wrath of the Machine<br />By:<br />Peter Derks<br />Mr. Kabachia<br />Humanities 30-1<br />October 24, 2009<br />Hearing the two songs played, I believe the Rage Against the Machine's (RATM) version of The Ghost of Tom Joad does the most influential job of portraying the dominant narrative tone in John Steinbeck's novel The Grapes of Wrath. The dominant narrative tone in his novel is an accelerated anger created by the continues struggles forced upon the migrants. Each event throughout the novel builds upon the frustration of an already struggling family, which is the Joads. A lack of food, shelter, and work emerges from the migrants as a wrath at the men of knowledge or ,in RATM's opinion, the machine. Tom Joad shows a strong characteristic when he speaks quot;
[wherever there is] a fight so hungry people can eat, I'll be therequot;
. The characteristic he displays is that of a revolutionary, because he wishes to make change in the world. RATM and Tom Joad share the same perspective to promote equality and freedom from oppression in their respective societies. <br />The reason RATM does a better job, as opposed to Bruce Springsteen, of presenting anger is because quot;
The Ghost of Tom Joadquot;
speaks of anger and revolution. Phrases within the text depicting these emotions include: quot;
New World Orderquot;
, quot;
NO REST!quot;
, quot;
gun in your handquot;
, and quot;
strugglin' for a place to standquot;
. RATM also uses lighting to convey their message of anger towards the machine, there is red lighting in times where revolutionary words are spoken such as quot;
You'll see me!quot;
, and calm lighting (green/blue) when the verses speak of desperation. RATM uses powerful music that entertains the audience, making them think about the music and want to hear it again and again, which is why they chose to do this song. The Ghost of Tom Joad emphasizes that the migrants deserve to be treated equally through revolution and RATM makes the audience share this belief, rather than simply hope this equality as in Bruce Springsteen's version.<br />