Grapes of wrath chapters 12 18

1. “The Grapes of
Wrath”
Discussion notes 12-18

2. • A means of understanding the physical and
spiritual world.
• A philosophical, religious, literary, and social
movement which reached its peak in the 1830s-
1840s.
• Emerson (as in, Ralph Waldo) proclaimed a form
of transcendentalism whose genesis was in his
abiding belief that each person could be in touch
with the god within, as well as with the divine
currents of the universe.
American
Transcendentalism

3. • Emerson looked for primary truth in the fundamental
nature of the human mind. We have more in the mind
than enters it through the senses.
• In his essay “Self Reliance” he asserts one of
transcendentalism’s fundamental tenets: the dignity, the
ultimate sanctity, of each human being.
American
Transcendentalism

4. • It’s murky, though.
• Transcendentalism’s commitment to the individual is a
commitment to the soul or spirit that each person
possesses in common with all other human beings.
• “There is one mind common to all individual men.”
American
Transcendentalism

5. • That means there is a social imperative, too:
• The well-being of all individuals is the basic purpose for all
social organizations.
• Autonomous individuals cannot exist apart from others.
• There is a fundamental unity, a basic similarity, in all human
experience, which is more important than the many obvious
differences.
• This gave every human a sense of responsibility of self-esteem;
everyone is part of something much bigger than
themselves.
• He called this being part of something he called the
“Oversoul.”
• Who does that sound like?
American
Transcendentalism

6. • “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.’
• Casy
Transcendentalism

7. Discussion notes: Chapters 12-14
• The Joads, perhaps subconsciously,
have begun to follow Casy’s spiritual
vision. Their merger with the Wilsons
shows this:
• When the Wilsons open their tent
to the Joads, they are saying,
“Welcome, brothers and sisters.”
• Mrs. Wilson answers Ma’s thanks
for help by saying: “People [have
the need] to help. Ma later replies:
“You can’t let help go unwanted.”

8. Theme: Anger and confusion:
• Anger, in many guises, dominates the book, and
Steinbeck warns of this in Chapter 14:
• Californians’ fear of the migrants turns to anger: “Keep two men
apart; make them hate, fear, suspect each other.”
• If you don’t, then “I lost my land” is changed: a cell is split, and
from its splitting grows the thing you hate: “We lost our land.”
• The danger is here, for two men are not as lonely and perplexed
as one. And from this first “we,” there grows a still more
dangerous thing:
• “I have a little food” + “I have none” = We have a little food.”
Discussion notes: chapters 12-
14

9. Discussion notes: Chapters 12-14
• This spontaneous sharing is
seen when the Wilsons offer
their tent for Grandpa to die in;
Mrs. Wilson gives up a quilt to
bury him in; she tears a page
from her Bible for Tom to write
a eulogy on.
• Ma then pledges to care for
Mrs. Wilson, and Pa later says,
“We almost got a [family]
bond.”
• “I” becomes “We.”

10. • Became the dominant literary movement in American fiction
by the turn of the 20th century.
• Early naturalistic writers included Stephen Crane (“The Red
Badge of Courage”); Jack London (“The Call of the Wild”);
Theodore Dreiser (“An American Tragedy”).
• Many of their stories manifested Darwin’s theory of “survival
of the fittest.”
• Naturalism is a form of extreme realism: “Human beings are
animals in a natural world, responding to environmental forces
and internal stresses and drives, over none of which they have
control and none of which they fully understand.”1
1. C. Hugh Holman and William Harmon. A Handbook to Literature, 5th ed. (New York: Macmillan, 1986).
Naturalism

11. • At the heart of this ideology is pessimistic
Determinism: the notion that the causes of human
tragedy lie beyond the powers of the individual.
• The movement was influenced by Marxist
theory, which holds that class struggle is the
central element of social change in Western
society.
• This was coupled with economic problems
stemming from urbanization of America at the
end of the 19th century.
• This combination portrayed socio-economic
forces that overwhelm individual lives.
Naturalism

12. • Naturalists focused on the lives of lower-class
characters struggling for survival in an alien and
often hostile society: a society insensitive to their
personal needs for fulfillment or self-expression.
• Their stories are often told by an “all-knowing”
narrator who can relate deterministic factors far
beyond the knowledge of the characters affected
by them.
Naturalism

13. • The tendency in naturalistic works is that no one emerges
triumphant, because simple survival constitutes a moral
victory. Beaten down by an inhuman system and bad
luck, many of the naturalist writers’ characters end as
suicide victims.
• John Steinbeck was not a dedicated student of American
naturalism, yet his themes and methods are often closely
tied to this literary movement.
• Some elements of The Grapes of Wrath might justify the
term “naturalistic,” but the characters also clearly make
humane choices or decisions that allow them to overcome
obstacles and move forward. They do more than survive.
Naturalism

14. Discussion notes: Chapters 15-18
• By chapter 17, the migrant
families develop certain
expectations as a society:
• Rules, rights, and customs are
developed.
• “They shared their lives, their
food, and the things they hoped for
in the new country…twenty
families became one family, the
children were the children of all.”
• “I” shifts to “We”
• No one tells each other what they
have to do. They do it because
their survival depends on it.

15. Discussion notes: Chapters 15-18
• Allusion: reference to a person,
event, place, or phrase outside of a
story that the writer assumes the
reader will recognize.
• An allusive reference can be real
or fictional.
• A literary allusion refers to another
written work, art piece, book, etc.
• By chapter 18, when the Joads
cross the desert into California, we
see Biblical allusions galore.

16. • Steinbeck enlarges the significance of his Okies’
experiences by associating them with those of the
Israelites (the chosen people) in the Old Testament, and,
thus, suggesting their human and historical significance.
• Although not formally divided as such, the novel falls
into three parts.
• The drought and dispossession in Oklahoma (chapters 1-
11): corresponds to the oppression and bondage of the
Israelites in Egypt.
• The journey on Route 66 (chapters 12-18): corresponds
to their Exodus and wandering into the wilderness.
• The arrival in California (chapters 19-30): corresponds to
their entrance into the Land of Canaan.
Discussion notes: Chapters 15-18

17. • Other parallels:
• The plagues in Egypt: the drought in Oklahoma.
• Egyptian oppressors: the bank officials.
• Hostile Canaanites: hostile Californians (“goddamned
Okies”).
• The “Promised Land” in both instances is first viewed
from a mountaintop (chapter 18 in the novel).
• 12 tribes of Israel: 12 members of the Joad family
(counting Connie).
Discussion notes: Chapters 15-
18

18. • Identify instances where we see the shift from “I” to “We.” Recognize how
this connects to Transcendentalism.
• Particularly re-visit
• Chapter 17: Review the “society” that sets up nightly on the road: the
rules, the customs, punishments, etc.
• Chapter 18: The conversation between Sairy Wilson and Casy before the
families separate.
• also:
• Mae, the waitress at the diner (chapter 15) and what happens there?
• The one-eyed man at the junkyard, how Tom reacts to him, and Tom and
Al’s purpose for going there (chapter 16)?
• The declining number of Joads?
The Grapes of Wrath: Test
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