FOR USE IN SCHOOLS AND LIBRARIES ONLY. Depicts the hardships and suffering endured by the Joads as they journey from Oklahoma to California during the Depression.
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When The Grapes of Wrath was published in 1939, America, still recovering from the Great Depression, came face to face with itself in a startling, lyrical way. John Steinbeck gathered the country's recent shames and devastations--the Hoovervilles, the desperate, dirty children, the dissolution of kin, the oppressive labor conditions--in the Joad family. Then he set them down on a westward-running road, local dialect and all, for the world to acknowledge. For this marvel of observation and perception, he won the Pulitzer in 1940.
The prize must have come, at least in part, because alongside the poverty and dispossession, Steinbeck chronicled the Joads' refusal, even inability, to let go of their faltering but unmistakable hold on human dignity. Witnessing their degeneration from Oklahoma farmers to a diminished band of migrant workers is nothing short of crushing. The Joads lose family members to death and cowardice as they go, and are challenged by everything from weather to the authorities to the California locals themselves. As Tom Joad puts it: "They're a-workin' away at our spirits. They're a tryin' to make us cringe an' crawl like a whipped bitch. They tryin' to break us. Why, Jesus Christ, Ma, they comes a time when the on'y way a fella can keep his decency is by takin' a sock at a cop. They're workin' on our decency."
The point, though, is that decency remains intact, if somewhat battle-scarred, and this, as much as the depression and the plight of the "Okies," is a part of American history. When the California of their dreams proves to be less than edenic, Ma tells Tom: "You got to have patience. Why, Tom--us people will go on livin' when all them people is gone. Why, Tom, we're the people that live. They ain't gonna wipe us out. Why, we're the people--we go on." It's almost as if she's talking about the very novel she inhabits, for Steinbeck's characters, more than most literary creations, do go on. They continue, now as much as ever, to illuminate and humanize an era for generations of readers who, thankfully, have no experiential point of reference for understanding the depression. The book's final, haunting image of Rose of Sharon--Rosasharn, as they call her--the eldest Joad daughter, forcing the milk intended for her stillborn baby onto a starving stranger, is a lesson on the grandest scale. "'You got to,'" she says, simply. And so do we all. --Melanie RehakAbout the Author:
Nobel Prize-winning author John Steinbeck is remembered as one of the greatest and best-loved American writers of the twentieth century. From September 2000, his complete works will be published by Penguin.
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Book Description Penguin Books, 1976. Paperback. Book Condition: New. THE BOOK IS BRAND NEW. MAY HAVE SCHOOL MARKINGS OR MINOR SHELF WEAR.MULTIPLE COPIES AVAILABLE. FAST SHIPPING. WE OFFER FREE TRACKING NUMBER UPON FAST SHIPMENT OF YOUR ORDER. PLEASE LET US KNOW IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS AND WE WILL GET BACK TO YOU ASAP. Thank you for your interest. Bookseller Inventory # 0140042393-N
Book Description Penguin Books, 1976. Book Condition: New. Brand New, Unread Copy in Perfect Condition. A+ Customer Service! Summary: "Traces the migration of an Oklahoma Dust Bowl family to California and their subsequent hardships as migrant farm workers."--Amazon.com. Bookseller Inventory # ABE_book_new_0140042393
Book Description Penguin Books, 1976. Paperback. Book Condition: New. Student edition. Bookseller Inventory # DADAX0140042393
Book Description Penguin Books, 1976. Paperback. Book Condition: New. book. Bookseller Inventory # 0140042393
Book Description Penguin Books, 1976. Paperback. Book Condition: New. Bookseller Inventory # P110140042393