Grapes of Wrath

1: Weedpatch > Boxcars

2: McAlester, OK

Chapter One: Steinbeck focuses on the destruction caused by the dustbowl.
  Photo Source
A dust storm coming. See Smithonian video of Dust Storm

Count how many times Steinbeck repeats the word "dust" in this chapter. Find a description of the dust and it's affect that you can picture in your mind. What elements of this chapter might be important to understanding the major themes of the novel? Pay particular attention to the descriptions in the last few paragraphs.

Steinbeck spends much time in this chapter describing very tiny details such as Tom's hat and bees buzzing around. Make a list of the "tiny" things that Steinbeck spends time describing. What might Steinbeck be trying to set up with these descriptions so early in the story?

If you were the truck driver, would you have obeyed your boss' rule to not pick up riders? How would you describe the personalities of the truck driver and the passenger in this chapter? Does Steinbeck want us to like either of them?

3: Joad's Place?

Chapter Five: The banks, the landowners, and even old friends help evict the farmers.
The chapter refers to the banks as "the monster." What characteristics of monsters does Steinbeck associate with the banks? What specific pressures "force" the bankers, landowners, and even old friends to make the "uncaring" decisions that they make? If you were a banker, landowner, or old friend whose family was also hungry, would you have participated in the evictions? Were there "other" choices that could have been made that would have been both realistic and kinder?

Steinbeck spends much time discussing the monsters' "disconnect" from the land and nature's processes. How does this disconnect "feed" the monster? How "connected" to the land and nature's processes are you? Is that "really" as much of a problem today as Steinbeck suggests is was then? In what ways are large corporations (Costco, WalMart, Safeway, etc) impacting small business owners in "our" community?

Ask some adults of various ages if they've heard about "Sticking it to the man." How does this phrase relate to the themes in this chapter?

  Photo Source
Devastations caused by the dust storms

4: Uncle John's Place?

Chapter Eight: At Uncle John's house, we meet several members of the Joad family who will be making the trip to California.
  Photo Source
"Pretty Boy" Floyd
Read the official FBI version of the "Pretty Boy" Floyd story.

If you had to make a quick judgment about the following characters, how would you describe each one's character in one sentence? Uncle John? Pa Joad? Ma Joad? Grandpa Joad? Grandma Joad?

In this chapter we learn more about Uncle John, Rosasharn (see biblical reference to Rose of Sharon? Connie? Which of these characters do you think Steinbeck wants us to like? Why?

Steinbeck spends several pages describing the slaughter of some pigs. Have you hunted or fished and had to kill and clean food before you could eat it? Have you ever grown vegetables and had to work the soil, tend the plants, and wait before you could harvest and eat? When we buy food at supermarkets have we separated ourselves from "something important" sort of like the bankers in earlier chapters who owned land that they didn't work?

  Photo Source
Families had to leave everything behind that they could not pack onto their old beat-up cars.

Towards the end of the chapter, Grandpa suddenly declares that he "ain't goin'." This is odd given how much he talked about how much he was looking forward to eating grapes and oranges out in California. What's gotten into Grandpa? Have you ever experienced an older person who was forced to leave his or her home, perhaps to move closer to family because he or she couldn't take care of him or herself adequately or into an assisted living situation? How easy do you suppose it is to leave a place where so much of one's life has been lived to move to a place where so little has meaning or memories?

5: Sallisaw, OK

Chapter 12: The Joads finally begin their journey
Photo Source

Route 66 is called the Mother Road and has become a cherished part of American history. Read more about...Route 66

6: Gore, OK

7: Warner, OK

8: Checotah, OK

9: Henryetta, OK

10: Castle, OK

11: Paden, OK

Chapter 13: The Joad family is finally on Route 66 heading west towards "California."

As Steinbeck begins his description of the Joad family journey, he gives many examples of how they are treated right from the outset. Identify some of the positive and negative foreshadowing that Steinbeck provides.

  Photo Source

Typical gas station along Route 66. Though this photograph was taken much later, it can be seen to be a Shell station. Shell stations were always painted in yellows. This may be one of the "big company stations" mentioned in the chapter.

At one point in the chapter, a gas station attendant tells the family, “There ain’t room enough for you an’ me, for your kind an’ my kind, for rich and poor together all in one country.” Do you think this was true? Is it true today? Is there "room" for new immigrants in California today? What signs of hope does Steinbeck give?

How are the economic forces that are affecting the Joads similar to the economic forces that are beginning to affect the independent service station attendant who does not offer the Joads much compassion at first?

  Photo Source
1936 Lincoln Zephyr

Why do you suppose Steinbeck includes the scene with the Lincoln Zephyr and the other large car that whisks by killing the Joad's dog?

12: Meeker, OK

13: Harrah, OK

14: Oklahoma City, OK

Ch. 13: As the journey begins, the Joads quickly enter unknown territory...
Why does Steinbeck include the scene where Rose of Sharon and Connie laugh at the fashions they see people wearing in Oklahoma City?

15: Bethany, OK

16: DAY 1

Chapter Thirteen: The Joads camp on the outskirts of Bethany, Oklahoma at the end of the first day of their journey. They've traveled almost 200 miles.
Does the encounter with Ivy and Sairy Wilson offer "realistic" hope to the Joads? What might the symbolism be in Grandpa's dying before the family even gets out of Oklahoma? Grandpa's burial is described in great detail. Dealing with the death of a loved one is never easy, but maybe some things should be difficult because they are important. Have you ever had to do something that was very difficult, but you did it "because you knew you had to"? Did you ever perform a "funeral" for a pet? What was the experience like?

Read more about Thomas Paine, Karl Marx, Thomas Jefferson and Vladimir Lenin.

In the United States, two of these men are seen as "good guys" and the other two are often described as "bad guys." What do they all have in common that might have led Steinbeck to reference them at this point in the story?

Chapter Fifteen: An encounter with prejudice against the migrants at a roadside cafe
In the previous chapter, Steinbeck introduces the growing prejudice against the migrants. What happens in this chapter that causes Mae's prejudice to fade? What is the message in this chapter that might have value in our times?

17: El Reno, OK

18: Bridgeport, OK

19: Clinton, OK

20: Elk City, OK

21: Sayre, OK

22: Texola, OK

Mentioned in Chapter Two when Tom told the trucker that he had a story to tell “in every joint from here to Texola.” Tom uses this "measure" to indicate a long distance. Use the Google Earth ruler to determine how far away Texola was.

23: Shamrock, TX

24: Alanreed, TX

25: Groom, TX

26: Amarillo, TX

27: DAY 2

441 Miles

First paragraphs of Chapter Sixteen:
Steinbeck has the Joads spend the second night just outside of Amarillo, Texas. Then in a matter of paragraphs, he has them cross the Texas Panhandle and into New Mexico, where they spend the third night.

28: Wildorado, TX

29: Vega, TX

30: Boise, TX (?)

31: Glenrio, TX (?)

32: Santa Rosa, NM

33: DAY 3

611 Miles

Chapter Sixteen: The Wilson's car breaks down outside of Santa Rosa, NM
Connie and Rosesharn tell the family about "their dreams." Ma gets upset realizing that the family might break up. Have you ever made a choice that required you to "abandon" something or someone that you really cared about? Have you ever given up a dream because you realized it would upset someone you cared about?

Many people find the scene where Ma revolts and threatens to "whup" Pa to be funny, but in the end there's a sadness too. Have you ever found something to be funny and then realized it was sort of sad? How does this scene help explain the old saying, "I had to laugh so I wouldn't cry"?

Casey hints that he is worried about what is happening in the country and Tom doesn't want to deal with it. He just wants to "put one foot in front a the other." Do you think Tom is wise not to worry too much or is he in denial about something he should really be thinking about? Have you ever "put something important out of your mind" because you just didn't want to think about it? How'd that work out for you?

Tom has a lengthy conversation with a one-eyed service station attendant. What are your opinions of Tom's advice to the one-eyed man? Was Tom being cruel or helpful?

At one point in the chapter Tom gets upset because the family is too poor to pay fifty cents to camp. Tom complains and the man responds,...
  "Well, we all got to make a livin'."
  "Yeah," Tom said. "On''y I wisht they was some way to make her 'thout takin' her away from somebody else."

We all have to make a living. The question is, do we have to take advantage of others to do so? What kinds of jobs require people to take advantage of others?

Though not educated, the Joad family is hard working and proud, but they have fallen on hard times through no fault of their own. Yet, because they must be very frugal with their money and because they have to scrape just to get food, they are perceived as vagrants and bums who are "no better than animals." Why are some people prejudiced against the less fortunate and therefore allow themselves to treat the unfortunate as bad people not worthy of compassion?

Near the very end of the chapter, Tom responds to a taunt that he is "one of these here troublemakers" by saying, "Damn right,...I'm bolshevisky."
See if you can figure out what he's saying by reading this short definition of  Bolshevik. Do you think Tom seriously considers himself to be a Bolshevik? Why?

34: Santa Fe, NM

35: Somewhere Along the Road...

Chapter Seventeen: Life in the camps
Compare the way the famiies on the road treat strangers with the way the migrants as a group are treated by non-migrants.

Steinbeck describes the "evolution" of civilization among the migrants. What are the driving forces behind some of the rules and behaviors that evolve in this chapter? Are those the same forces behind some of the "social rules" we have regarding things like waiting in line, cell phone "manners", behavior in elevators, other people's privacy, etc.?

The migrants spend much time "connecting" to each other, often finding links to friends, listening to music together, etc. Have you ever had an experience with "strangers" that involved spending a short time together "finding connections"? Think about summer camps and family vacations when "you were on the road."

One of the "rules" of the camps was that those who had, shared and that it was considered unkind and impolite to "eat well" among those who had so little. Compare this social rule to the tendency we have developed to "show off" our fancy clothing labels and "bling, bling." What are the forces behind the current popularity of ostentatious behavior today?

At the end of the chapter, Steinbeck mentions several specific song titles that were popular songs for the migrants to sing in the camps. Though each song was known by several names, much can be told about the lives of the migrants by the songs they chose to sing. Read some of the lyrics below and discuss why you think these particular songs were so popular.

36: Albuquerque, NM

37: Las Lunas, NM

38: Gallup, NM

39: Holbrook, AZ

40: Joseph City, AZ

41: Winslow, AZ

42: Flagstaff, AZ

DAY 4: 983 Miles

The Painted Desert
Photo Source

43: Oatman, AZ

44: Topock, AZ

45: Needles, CA

46: DAY 4

Chapter Eighteen (continued): As the family enters California, they camp outside of Needles, CA.
  Photo Source
in the Mojave Desert

The Joads encounter a man and his son heading east. The man explains that California isn't as great as the migrants believe it will be. What are some of the "truths" the man reveals to the Joads?

The man tells them that all the land is already owned by the super rich. He tells the Joads of "a fella, newspaper fellas near the coast, got a million acres..." The Joads can't imagine why anyone would need as much as this man, especially when so many folks are starving.

Read about William Randolph Hearst. Do you believe that there are ethical questions connected to excess wealth, particularly in times when many people are suffering from hunger and poverty?

What do you think of Noah's decision to simply leave the family?

Even thought Ma believes in God, she is upset by the insistence of a group of "other religious" women on holding a prayer meeting for Grandma. Do you believe that it is okay for people of one belief system to impose it on people of different beliefs, if they have "no doubt" that their beliefs are the only "true" beliefs? How is this "playing out in Iraq? How is this idea connected to the American rule of separation of church and state?

When the sheriff shows up, he is not interested in helping the poor migrants. His job seems to be to protect the wealthy from the poor. If law enforcement is supposed to serve and protect, who is the sheriff serving and protecting in this scene?

What are some of the reasons the people use in order to permit themselves to be prejudiced against the migrants? Are these reasons reasonable?

47: Barstow, CA

48: Tehachapi Pass, CA

Should the super wealthy in the United States feel more obligation towards helping poor Americans? Would your opinion be affected by knowing that current estimates are that over 51% of the wealth in the United States is in the hands of only 5% of the population?

Read more about distribution of wealth in America at...
The Growing Wage Gap
Wealth, Inheritence and the Estate Tax

Read about the origins of

The land ownership shifts from individual farmers to corporations who care only about profit for their investors. Steinbeck "plants the seeds of growing discontent" among the people whose needs are being forgotten. If Steinbeck is being truthful, do you think the poor are justified in their growing anger with the rich? Why? If you were one of the immigrants being treated like criminals anyway, would you have "broken the law" and tried to raise some food in a "secret garden" on someone else's property?

At what point does injustice justify breaking the law? Should Martin Luther King jr. have "obeyed the laws" that he was breaking?

49: Bakersfield, CA

Chapter 20: Life in a Hooverville is described.
  Photo Source
Hooverville near Bakersfield

Grandma's body is simply left with the coroner's office because the Joad's can not afford to bury her. What did Grandma ever do to "deserve" this indignity?

Find the explanations for the following questions...
• What are some of the "real" reasons why the sheriffs are so active about making the migrants move on?
• Why did the employers print up so many of the yellow handbills if they didn't need so many workers?
• What is the blacklist? What's the real purpose behind it?

After listening to the stranger for awhile, Tom talks with Casey for a bit. Explain what Casey means when he says the migrants are , "... beating their wings like a bird in a attic. Gonna bust their wings on a dusty wind a tryin' ta get out." Why is this a good image to capture the feelings that must be growing among the migrants?

This would be a good time to start thinking about the book's title. What is the "wrath" in the title referring to?

More questions to think about...
• What do you make of the scene where Ma is torn between feeding other people's children and feeding her own family? • Compare the way people in the camp relate to each other now with how they did earlier when they were still "on the way" to California? What has happened to their "hope"?
• Why is Floyd so insistent that the work contractor specify exactly how much he's willing to pay?
• Why is the contractor so reluctant to state how much he's willing to pay?
• When the contractor tells the deputy that Floyd was, "...talkin' red, agitating trouble," he is accusing Floyd of being a communist sympathizer. Do a Google Search for "Communist Sympathizer" and make a list of famous people who were accused of "talkin' red." Why do you suppose many Americans were interested in communism as a possible solution to the economic problems Steinbeck describes in this chapter? • Who was at fault for the shooting of the woman with a "hand which had no knuckles. The fingers hung on strings against her pal, and the torn flesh was white an bloodless"? Was Casey's reaction justified?

By the end of the chapter several characters seem to be "at the end of the rope." What is your opinion of Connie apparently running off, Uncle John going to get drunk, Rosasharn wanting to stay and wait for Connie, and Tom's building anger and talk about getting violent? Have you ever been at a point where you felt you'd just had enough and weren't going to take it any more? What hope does the Joad family actually have for finding happiness? What are their options? What would you have done if you had had the constant string of bad experiences that they have? Would you keep a positive attitude or would begin to feel the wrath?

50: Weedpatch, CA (Pt I)

Chapter 21: "And the anger began to ferment."
Explain how the anger is rising between the migrants and the land owners? Which side attracts your compassion? If the landowners don't want the Oakies then why do they continue to put out more flyers advertising for work than there is work for? Immigration is always a controversial subject. Do you see parallels today to the situation described in Chapter 21?

  Photo Source

See more pictures of Arvin Federal Government Camp...
Online Archive of California

Read more about life in Weedpatch...
Weedpatchcamp.org

Weedpatch is described as a wonderful place set up by the government to help the less fortunate. Do you believe the less fortunate deserve help from the government? Was the government responsible for their poverty? Should the people responsible for the impoverishment of so many people be responsible for helping the victims of their actions?

Tom's first job is for Mr. Hines who is a "good" farmer who rwants to pay a fair wage, but who is "forced" to lower wages by the Farmer's Association and by the bank that he relies upon for "start up loans" every year. Does Mr. Hines have any other "realistic" options besides lowering wages?

The banks and large land owners tend to tie their dislike of the migrants to their being "red agitators." Google "red agitators" and find out where this term appears elsewhere in our history. Do you think that it provides an explanation or an excuse for the kinds of behaviors that Steinbeck attributes to the banks and large land owners? What small businesses today are having to fight against the economic advantages of their "big business" competitors? What are some of the advantages that big businesses have over "small businesses"?

A "brown woman" scares Rose of Sharon by telling her that dancing and acting is a sin and that God punished two other pregnant women who had sinned. The woman believes her beliefs are the true beliefs and that everyone else is a sinner. Did the woman do the right thing by scaring Rose of Sharon into believing she was also a sinner and that something bad would probably happen to her baby?

Is Weedpatch "too good to be true"? What elements of life in Weedpatch seem improbable to you? What elements of life in Weedpatch seem to be quite possible?

51: Weedpatch (Pt II)

Chapter 23: Simple pleasures provide some relief from the poverty.
Even without money, the mighrants find temporary relief from their miseries through storytelling, alcohol, playing music, dancing, and prayer meetings. What is it about these free activities that brings pleasure? Try to look a bit deeper than the surface for your answers.

Today we sometimes let ourselves believe that there is no happiness without a cool car, hip clothes, cell phones, and other luxuries reserved for those with money. Could you be happy without all the luxuries that you have and take for granted? What was the best time you ever had that really didn't cost a dime? Did that experience have anything in common with the experiences Steinbeck describes in this chapter?

Early in the chapter some of the migrant men discuss the question of relief (welfare) as being one complaint that the landowners have. The migrants mention government "subsidies" and say "ain't that relief?" See if you can find some statistics on how much money the government gives to big corporations in subsidies?

A recurring accusation of the land owners and law enforcement is that the migrants are "reds." What is behind this accusation? Does Steinbeck give any indications in the story that this accusation is true?

The men realize that the land owners, knowing that "someone" will work for less money if his family is hungry, are playing one man's poverty against another man's poverty in order to keep dropping wages, What do you believe would happen today if the government did not have minimum wage laws?

At the end of the chapter it is discovered that the men who helped the land owners by trying to start a riot in the camp were actually migrant men themselves. They explained that they did it because their families were hungry too. If your family was starving, would you turn on your neighbors if "someone" paid you to? Really?

When Al tells the blond girl that he does intend to marry her and promises that he'll come back for her and that they will go to Hollywood together, do you:
(a) admire the blond girl for maintaining a positive attitude and belieiving Al.
(b) not admire the blond girl for being foolish enough to believe Al.

The night before the Joads leave, some of the men get together and talk about labor strikes and labor unions. How do strikes and labor unions offer some hope to the working class?

52: Pixley, CA

53: "east" of Pixley

Chapter 26 (continued): Somewhere east of Pixley, CA, the Joads hope for work picking peaches.
As the Joads approach the peach ranch, they get very suspicious that "something is going on." What are some of the events that raise their suspicions?

The Joads are told that they would not get paid in cash right away, but that they would receive credit at the company store. How were company stores another way that the poor were taken advantage of?

When Tom meets up with Casey, Casey has become a union organizer. Explain how "uniting" (creating a union) gives the workers any more power than they had before. Explain why it is sometimes difficult to get the workers to support the union that is actually trying to help them.

After Tom kills a man he feels no regret. Does this change your opinion of whether he is a good person or not? Many people feel it is "good" to kill other human beings in times of war, in self defense or as a death penalty. How would you justify or condemn Tom's action when he killed another man? Earlier Casey told his killer that he was "starving children." Should it be considered "murder" if an employer pays so little that his or her employees can not survive and feed their children?

Food for thought... The American Revolution was fought to end exploitation by England. Is killing exploiters an acceptable reaction to exploitation?
Cartoon Source
Read this article on the working poor.
See this chart to understand the relative purchasing power of the minimum wage over the last 50 years.

54: Boxcars...

Chapters 27-30: The end of the road

Ch. 27: Picking Cotton
The cotton pickers had to buy their bags from the farmers for a dollar. (Remember when a dollar was an entire day's income for 6 people at the peach orchard?) Why do the farmers not only accept this, but believe it's a good deal? Is it really a good deal to have to pay to work for someone?

The pickers, realizing that they are being cheated by "crooked scales," begin to "cheat back" by putting rocks and dirt clods in their bags, saying, "Why not? I'm jus' balancin' the crooked scales." Are times when cheating another person is justified? Why?

At one point they wonder about the rumors of cotton picking machines that will put hand pickers out of work. What are some of the inventions and "advancements" that have been made in the last 50 years that have put thousands of people out of work? What kinds of technologies and "advancements" are being developed today that will put workers out of work in the near future? Brainstorm a list of jobs that existed 10 years ago that simply do not exist, at least in our country, anymore.

Photo Source

Steinbeck begins this chapter with the most optimistic description of the Joad's situation in the book and then crashes our hopes by having Ruthie tell about Tom killing a man. Why do you think Steinbeck created this hope and then immediately dashed the hope he had just created?

Many scholars believe that the most important moment in the book is Tom's "speech" telling Ma,, "...Wherever they's a fight so hungry people can eat, I'll be there..." Find and reread this "speech." Why might scholars place so much importance on this speech?

Photo Source
See Lyrics to Bruce Springsteen's song, The Ghost of Tom Joad.

Why would Bruce Springsteen write this tribute to Tom Joad so many years after the depression ended? What relevance does it have to our times?

By the end of the chapter Tom has gone off to fight injustice, Al is engaged, Rosasharn is due, Ma is making all the decisions, and it's beginning to rain. Are Steinbeck's "signals" mixed? Do you think he's heading for a happy ending or an unhappy ending? Why?

Many students find the ending of this story to be quite disturbing. However, scholars sometimes interpret this unusual ending as a sign of great optimism. Can you speculate on where and why scholars find optimism in this scene?

55: Tulare, CA