JSTOR for The Grapes of Wrath

Sources:

1. "To Tom, Who Lived It": John Steinbeck and the Man from Weedpatch
Jackson J. Benson and John Steinbeck
Journal of Modern Literature, Vol. 5, No. 2 (Apr., 1976), pp. 151-210
Published by: Indiana University Press
http://www.jstor.org/stable/view/3830940?seq=4&Search=yes&term=grapes&term=wrath&term=john&term=steinbeck&list=hide&searchUri=%2Faction%2FdoBasicSearch%3FQuery%3Dthe%2Bgrapes%2Bof%2Bwrath%2Bjohn%2Bsteinbeck%26gw%3Djtx%26prq%3Dthe%2Bgrapes%2Bof%2Bwrath%2Bjohn%2Bsteinback%26Search%3DSearch%26hp%3D25&item=18&ttl=868&returnArticleService=showArticle

2.The Grapes of Wrath as Fiction
Peter Lisca
PMLA, Vol. 72, No. 1 (Mar., 1957), pp. 296-309
Published by: Modern Language Association
http://www.jstor.org/action/showArticle?doi=10.2307/460231&Search=yes&term=grapes&term=wrath&term=john&term=steinbeck&item=4&returnArticleService=showArticle&ttl=868&searchUri=%2Faction%2FdoBasicResults%3Fhp%3D25%26la%3D%26gw%3Djtx%26jcpsi%3D1%26artsi%3D1%26Query%3Dthe%2Bgrapes%2Bof%2Bwrath%2Bjohn%2Bsteinbeck%26sbq%3Dthe%2Bgrapes%2Bof%2Bwrath%2Bjohn%2Bsteinbeck%26prq%3Dthe%2Bgrapes%2Bof%2Bwrath%2Bjohn%2Bsteinback%26si%3D1%26jtxsi%3D1

3.The Grapes of Wrath (1940): Thematic Emphasis Through Visual Style
Vivian C. Sobchack
American Quarterly, Vol. 31, No. 5, Special Issue: Film and American Studies (Winter, 1979), pp. 596-615
Published by: The Johns Hopkins University Press
http://www.jstor.org/action/showArticle?doi=10.2307/2712428&Search=yes&term=grapes&term=wrath&term=john&term=steinbeck&item=13&returnArticleService=showArticle&ttl=868&searchUri=%2Faction%2FdoBasicResults%3Fhp%3D25%26la%3D%26gw%3Djtx%26jcpsi%3D1%26artsi%3D1%26Query%3Dthe%2Bgrapes%2Bof%2Bwrath%2Bjohn%2Bsteinbeck%26sbq%3Dthe%2Bgrapes%2Bof%2Bwrath%2Bjohn%2Bsteinbeck%26prq%3Dthe%2Bgrapes%2Bof%2Bwrath%2Bjohn%2Bsteinback%26si%3D1%26jtxsi%3D1

"Her Kind" by Anne Sexton

After reading Anne Sexton's "Her Kind" I immediately realized something: I had no idea what I had just read. So of course, being the diligent student I am, I re-read it enough times to make at least some sense of it. As I read the lines over and over again, it became clear that Sexton (who I am quite sure is the speaker) had severe mental problems. I don't mean that as a joke, I really do mean that there was something wrong with her. "Her Kind" is a poem that is dripping with sadness, regret, and depression. The speaker is truly suffering, so as the readers, we should open our eyes to her pain.

Sexton's reason for using words such as "possessed," "haunting," and "out of mind" in the first line is because the speaker has been taken over by her mental state. She has thought of doing "evil" to others because she suffers from a lack of appreciation. Important to the understanding of the poem is Sexton's own life. Sexton suffered from bipolar disorder for the last twenty years of her life. After much psychotherapy, she still believed that her existence was meaningless, and that her future was hopeless. Although I do not believe Sexton's poem is an autobiography, I do believe knowing this key fact makes it easier to understand the meaning of this complicated (and even at some times, ambiguous) poem.

Sexton's underlying tone is very feminist. By calling herself a "possessed witch" she is providing social commentary on the hardships women have had to face. From the dawn of time, women have been labeled as evil and crafty. For that very reason, Sexton comments on the role of women. She speaks about "fix[ing] supper for the worms and the elves," and how they "whine." These lines show that while she has fed and provided for her ungrateful family, she continues to earn no respect from them. In this stanza, she is playing the role of an unnoticed mother. While Sexton's poem is very specific to her own hardships, she is making a statement that many women can relate to.

The third and final stanza of the poem has a slightly different tone. Sexton addresses this "driver" directly and is almost testing his limits. She calls herself a "survivor." She has taken on all the miseries of life, she has suffered countless times (both because of her own mental state and because of others), and she is finally ready for it all to be over. Because she has experienced all these hardships, she believes that death is now a viable option. She does not believe that taking her own life would be sinful--she is "not ashamed to die." Again, knowing a bit about Sexton's life is helpful. Although the last few lines can easily be interpreted as embracing death (and perhaps suicide), it is even easier to understand Sexton's welcoming of death when one discovers that her own death took place when she committed suicide by locking herself in her car and poisoning herself with carbon monoxide at the young age of forty five.

Sexton's melancholy poem can be interpreted in many ways. However, regardless of who the reader is, we can all agree that her poem is sad, and that the speaker is searching for an escape.

Discussion Questions:

1. What do you believe has driven the speaker to insanity?

2. Do you read this poem as a confession? If not, why is the speaker admitting to having such twisted thoughts?

3. At the end of the poem, does the speaker seem to have given up? (i.e., what is her reason for accepting death?)

4. Who is the "driver" and why does she address this individual in the last stanza?

(626).

The Depression Caused by the Great Depression

My first impression of John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath is that Steinbeck is attempting to portray a society that no longer has anything to live for. Once I began reading, the nature of the novel depressed me. Descriptions of the roads, the houses, and the people were all overshadowed by one thing: loneliness. The dusty, empty roads seemed relatively irrelevant to me. But then I realized something: this particular novel was on Mr. Martin's dreaded ID Paper Book List. Thus, I concluded that this novel was a portrayal of something greater than what it seemed. Then it became obvious to me. This novel was intended to be depressing--it was a portrayal of the Great Depression.

Tom Joad, an ex-convict, has just been released from prison after having been locked up for four years for having "killed a guy" (13). Little does he know how much things have changed since. On his journey home, his encounter with the truck driver is meant to foreshadow the hopelessness of the situation. The truck driver lives a monotonous life. He drives his truck day after day only to hear stories of more families falling apart. Which is why he expresses his concern to Tom Joad when Joad tells him of his family farm. The trucker tells Joad of the many farms and fields that have been destroyed by the infamous Dust Bowl. Joad begins to feel disillusioned. He almost denies that anything would happen to his family's farm that was built on hard work and sweat.

Joad then encounters Jim Casy, a preacher he once knew in his youth. Casy's complete reversal of character is just another indication of how much things have changed since Joad's imprisonment. Steinbeck puts these two characters in the beginning of the novel to make two distinct points. His introduction of the novel with a complete stranger to Joad is simply there to throw Joad off. He is returning to his seemingly perfect life when someone who he has completely no relation to tells him that everything has changed. For this very reason, Joad does not pay attention to the trucker's warnings.

However, when he is reconnected with Casy, a childhood figure, he realizes that the warnings of the trucker must have had some validity. Joad then begins to understand the magnitude of what has happened since he has been away. Casy is somewhat of a wake-up call. Things aren't as perfect as he once imagined.

While I have not gotten extremely far in the novel, I have read enough to understand the point Steinbeck is trying to make about the Great Depression. Steinbeck is attempting to show the extent to which this event in history affected the lives of millions of people. As I read more, I will be able to prove that point better (469).