Animal imagery abounds in The Grapes of Wrath. An early chapter describes a turtle's journey to cross a road only to be hit by a truck (Chapter 3). Muley Graves describes himself as an animal when he claims, "I was mean like a wolf. Now I'm mean like a weasel" (57). In addition the family dog meets an untimely end on the first stop on their journey (130) .
Choose at least one such image from the chapters we have read. What is the symbolic value of the image? What is it telling us about themes, characters or ideas in this novel? What is the point of all this animal imagery?
An instance of animal imagery that I thought really resonated with the novel's theme and characters was the turtle image at the start of the book. Firstly, I think the turtle's journey was intentionally written at the beginning to figuratively foreshadow our characters' narrative and the story in a mere couple of sentences. Chapter 3 describes a turtle that is journeying on the path of a highway. One woman tries to avoid hitting the turtle, while another driver doesn't and intentionally sends it flying. However, the turtle seems unfazed by these sudden disruptions, calmly flips over, and continues on its arduous journey. Later, Tom Joad picks up the same turtle and decides to bring it home to his brother, only to let it go later and watch it stubbornly continue its random travels. This animal imagery is used extremely wittily, as Steinbeck connects the mere turtle to the immigrants in the novel. The turtles' journey is the great migration of the settlers, in this example, the Joads. Some people try to help them, for example, the Wilsons, the communities on the stops, the one-eyed man, while some try to “run them over”: the dirty car salesman, the corrupt sheriff, and the banking system. However, facing both people trying to help and those trying to knock them off course, the Joads stay true to their turtle-like travel, overcoming being “flipped over”. The moment Tom captures the turtle is a collision between the literal and the figurative, as Tom is a turtle of his own. I also believe that Tom capturing the turtle and then letting it go can be interpreted figuratively, as with the huggard man or the father and son, who are trying to convince the Joads to turn back for a good reason. However, they are unknowingly intervening with this stubborn travel, as “They’re always goin’ someplace. They always seem to want to get there” (p.44). Tom Joad, describing the turtle in Chapter 6, unknowingly foreshadows his future journey to California. The only thing that will end this travel is the Joads actually reaching their destination.
ReplyDeleteThe repeated animal imagery in The Grapes of Wrath serves as a reminder of the irony that humans, who are part of nature and often live in tandem with it, consistently try to destroy it, despite nature always winning out in the grand scheme. Characters in the novel often describe themselves as animals, with Muley Graves comparing himself to a weasel (Steinbeck, 57), and Steinbeck describing the distinct similarities between an ever-moving turtle and the migrant families. The families have been thrust out into the same wild the animals occupy, yet again and again, they choose violence against it. While the men of the Joad family were driving, "A cat whipped out from the side of the road and Al swerved to hit it" (Steinbeck, 182). He missed, but in that moment, Al must have felt powerful. What Al doesn't realize is that he is just like the cat, running from a powerful machine. The large corporations swerve to hit the families, taking their land, and sometimes their lives. Instead of gleaning wisdom from that, the families inflict the same cruelty on creatures they feel are beneath them. And so the cycle continues. The wind blows a grasshopper into a car, which Joad kills, thoughtlessly "crush[ing] its hard skull-like head with his fingers" (Steinbeck, 12). He then later finds out he's out of a home, thrown to the wind, just like the grasshopper, left to pray that nobody crushes him. But nature always grows back, showcased by the natural world slowly reclaiming the abandoned houses, "The mice...And weasels came in…and the brown owls flew…The weeds sprang up in front of the doorstep where they had not been allowed, and the grass grew up through the porch boards" (116). Nature grows back despite it all, and if the humans realize they, too, are part of nature, maybe they'll have just a taste of its resilience.
ReplyDeleteIn the book Grapes of Wrath, animal imagery is quite often used to describe the many themes that are incorporated into the story. Animals are used throughout the story to show the reader the different challenges and hardships that characters must face during their journey to California. One of the big challenges that people have to face is learning how to adapt. An example of this happening is when Muley Graves, a man who has been kicked off his land but has decided to stay and roam the nearby hills, compares himself to a weasel.(Steinbeck 57) In the natural world, weasels are highly adaptable animals, thriving in environments that other animals can't. Like a weasel, Muley Graves has decided to adapt and live the lifestyle of a wandering man, living off the land with the tools at his disposal, just like a weasel. Another example of adaptation in this story is in Chapter 11, when the Joads leave their house for good and head out west. The animals that had once depended on the people for food and shelter found themselves displaced, but quickly found another source of food, wild mice and gophers.(Steinbeck 116) Just like many people in this story, these cats had to adapt and find another source of food and shelter. In conclusion, Steinbeck draws brilliant comparisons from the natural world to illustrate the many problems that people have to overcome during the infamous Great Depression.
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