The Grapes of Wrath

The Grapes of Wrath is a work of fiction written by John Steinbeck and published in 1939. The novel won the Pulitzer Prize in 1940 and it is frequently read in American high school and college literature classes. A celebrated Hollywood film version was made in 1940, starring Henry Fonda and directed by John Ford.

Related Topics:
John Steinbeck - 1939 - Pulitzer Prize - 1940 - Hollywood - Henry Fonda - John Ford

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Set in the Great Depression, the popular proletarian novel, in which descriptive, narrative, and philosophical passages succeed one another, tells the story of a family of sharecroppers, the Joads — 'Okie' farmers driven from their land by drought and the Dust Bowl, and forced to endure the hardships of migrant workers moving West. The novel details the nearly hopeless situation of the downtrodden American farmer in the years of the Great Depression, and emphasizes communitarian solutions to the social problems brought about by industrialization.

Related Topics:
Great Depression - Proletarian - Novel - Sharecroppers - Okie - Dust Bowl - Migrant workers

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The title is a reference to the Battle Hymn of the Republic, by Julia Ward Howe: "Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord,He has trampled out the vintage where the Grapes of Wrath are stored,He has loosed the fateful lightning of his terrible, swift sword,His Truth is marching on!"

Related Topics:
The Battle Hymn of the Republic - Julia Ward Howe

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Grapes of Wrath also refers to a passage from the Book of Revelation: "And the angel thrust in his sickle into the earth, and gathered the vine of the earth, and cast it into the great winepress of the wrath of God" (14:19).

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Steinbeck wrote this book, along with Of Mice and Men, in what is now Monte Sereno, California, in his home at 16250 Greenwood Lane.

Related Topics:
Of Mice and Men - Monte Sereno, California

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