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.

Plot summary

Tom Joad is paroled from prison after serving time for manslaughter, and returns to find his parents' farm deserted. Finding his family nearby, he discovers that they are planning to leave for California. Like other Oklahoma farmers, they have seen their crops ruined by the Dust Bowl. Eastern banks and corporate farmers are repossessing the land, and the Joads have little choice but to look for work in the orchards and fields out west.

Related Topics:
Parole - Prison - Manslaughter - California - Oklahoma - Dust Bowl

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They are joined by a former preacher, named Casy, and a couple they meet on the road.

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En route to California, they discover the roads are choked with thousands of similarly-situated refugees, and that money is tight. They begin to suspect California may not be the answer to their problems. The elderly Joad grandparents, symbols of the old ways, die on the road to California.

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Upon arrival, they find there are dozens or scores of applicants for every job, and there is little to no hope of finding a stable community in which to live, or even of a steady income that can purchase the food they need to live. Their family is broken apart as the pregnant Rosasharn Joad's fiancee leaves to seek better opportunities.

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In response to the exploitation of this labor surplus, the workers begin to join trade unions, and the surviving members of the family are involved in strikes that turn violent. Tom Joad, the protagonist, kills a man, and must become a fugitive, promising that no matter where he runs, he will be a tireless advocate for the common man against the powerful. Rosasharn Joad miscarries, but at the conclusion of the novel, the family shows resoluteness in the face of defeat, and by committing to helping the other members of their community, hope to improve everyone's lives.

Related Topics:
Trade union - Strike

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When Steinbeck was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature (1962), the Swedish Academy called the book "an epic chronicle".

Related Topics:
Nobel Prize in Literature - 1962 - Swedish Academy

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