Nine Chapters Finished

I have finished reading the first nine chapters of The Grapes of Wrath. It still is very confusing but I can see the start of a plot. This is good because it is a sign the book is beginning to speed up; which will make the book easier to read. I have noticed however that every other chapter does not belong to anything in the book. It probably does, but I can not connect it to any of the characters yet because I still know very little about any of their backgrounds. But these chapters are so random; the chapter about the car dealer was so weird. It was just the car dealer talking the whole time and being annoying. I did not like how rude he was. Maybe that chapter was when Grampa and Pa went to the dealer and bought the truck. It is very confusing though. I had not even met Grampa or Pa yet when I read that chapter. Why would they introduce a story about Grampa and Pa before they were even introduced in the book?

There was also that chapter about all the junk that some people had to get rid of. I think that connects to when Pa and Ma were selling all of their "junk" to get money to go to California. Nothing about Pa or Ma is mentioned in this chapter with the junk though. Pa and Ma do not mention later in the story of the stuff that was sold in this auction; like harness, carts, seeders, or little bundles of hoes. This fact makes it hard to make the connection between Pa and Ma and getting rid of their "junk."

The very hint of a plot line is kind of nice to me. I am glad the mention that everyone is going to California is brought up. It means something exciting might happen and I will want to continue reading this book. It just took FOREVER for this evidence of a plot to appear.

Six Chapters Finished

I am through six chapters of the book Grapes of Wrath. I still am quite bored by this book. Through the first chapters all that I have been left with has been more questions. I am still left wondering what that turtle was involved in the book for. I do not know why but that turtle is really bugging me. Authors do not just put unimportant details like that into books. These are the facts I know about the turtle; it was described to well to be unimportant. It was involved in two maybe three chapters. There is no significance to the storyline. For some reason Joad holds on to the turtle for the longest time, and then he just lets go of the turtle because he does not want to hold onto it anymore. It is all very puzzling and misleading to me.

Another complaint I have about this book through the first six chapters is there is no plot so far. I have not figured out what is happening. Joad, Casey, and Muley talk about going to California but they do not decide if they are officially going to go or not. This book moves a little bit too slow for my taste, but maybe it will get better considering there are thirty chapters and 580 pages, but who knows? Some books are boring the whole way through.

There is one thing I like about this book, however. This "thing" is how descriptive John Steinbeck is with everything. As I am reading through this book it is like I can nearly reach out and touch them. He creates these images that are just so clear. I was complaining about the turtle, but as I was reading I felt like I was sitting on the side of that road and watching the turtle trying to walk and climb on top of the road. The book may move slow, but it feels like I am watching a television show.

Through Chapter4

I am through with reading the first four chapters of Grapes of Wrath. So far I do not know why two of the chapters were included. The first unnecessary chapter, which was Chapter One, talked about nothing but how dusty the Corn Belt was during the Dust Bowl in the Depression. I mean of course it is going to be dusty, it is THE DUST BOWL. I struggled to make it through this chapter without falling asleep. I think if it was longer than a handful of pages I might have.

The other unnecessary chapter was Chapter Three. All this chapter did was talk about some turtle walking around, going up a hill and onto the road. This leads me to wonder whether or not the turtle will eventually symbolize something. But as for now, this turtle has no significance to me at all and did not need to be included in the book.

I think it has been kind of hard to read the dialogs between Joad and the old priest/pastor. It is similar to reading the words of Nigger Jim from The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Most of the time I have to read through the phrase more than once to understand what they are saying. It really makes things difficult, and makes the book read a little slow.

One thing that confuses me so far about Joad is why he seems like a poor man. I can not figure out if he actually is poor or just wants to live that kind of life. I mean he has to hitchhike to get back to his road so that leads me to believe he may actually be poor. Then a contradiction to that would be Joad is dressed in completely new attire. I want to know why these two things are happening.

Another thing that is bugging me is the old priest. I want to know how a priest becomes a person that does "as many bad thing" as this old priest has done. He never tells us what he did that made him such a bad person so this makes me question him and what he has actually done.

I am sure these questions will all be answered as I continue reading.