Grapes of Wrath Finished Part Two

So I have finished reading The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck. I have already created one blog about some of my thoughts so in this blog I will have some secondary thoughts that may contradict those of the last blog.

So to me the Grapes of Wrath was extremely boring. It was very hard for me to get through this book. A lot of the book was about a whole lot of nothing. Instead of five hundred and eighty one pages this book could have been like three hundred and seventy seven pages. Then the book might have been a lot less boring. I mean half the book was about turtles, a car salesman, some dusty corn, and a whole bunch of other stuff that nobody cared about.

The ending was pretty lame to me. I thought it should have had something like a happy or sad ending instead of a what the heck just happened ending. John Steinbeck could have made the Joads get a nice job and from that job they were able to live nicely for the rest of their lives the end. Either that, or he should have made everyone die. Kind of like some movies are. It was really disappointing. The ending to this book was kind of like the ending to Toy Story Three. If I would have known Andy was going to end up just trading Woody, Buzz, and all of their pals to some little girl, I would have saved myself the time and money instead of wasting it. The ending was just very disappointing to me.

One more thing that really bothered me was Casy. Was he a priest? Was he an alcoholic? Was he a wise man? I am not very sure at all. Some of the time he was all of these things and his personality kind of got thrown around a lot. According to this blog, John Steinbeck fails at writing novels.

Grapes of Wrath Finished

I have just finished the book Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck. My mind is still kind of thinking about the book a bunch. Just everything was so weird at the end and it made me kind of confused. Everything is very random. Like the flood. And Rose of Sharon nursing that old man, if he can be qualified as an old man. He is more like a middle aged man since his son is still very young. I officially figured out that the every other chapter scheme created a painting type thing that showed how the Americans of this time were reacting to the changes in the dust bowl. It also showed what the land was like, how it looked, what it seemed to feel in a sense. Then there was these random situations that were happening at this time. They also occurred a lot which is why they were included.

This book had a lot to do with the Bible. There were a lot of similar images from the Bible that were seen here. When the dead baby was floating down the creek it symbolized Moses when he was a child floating down the river. Moses ended up saving his people from suffering and led them through the desert. This dead baby seemed to take the burden of the rough times that were happening in this era with it. After this dead baby went down the river all of the suffering went with it. So in a since it took its people's suffering away.

Then when Rose of Sharon was nursing the middle aged man with a son it created the image of the Virgin Mary. You often see pictures of Mary nurturing Jesus and the world. So when you read the words of the image of Rose of Sharon nursing this weak and malnourished man you get such a strong image in your mind. It makes you think of the Virgin Mary.

26 Chapters Done

I am through twenty six chapters of the incredible novel that is The Grapes of Wrath. The Grapes of Wrath is written by a genius, John Steinbeck. Reading through this book has been quite the incredible journey and it is very interesting to read this huge "painting" that John Steinbeck has created. I now fully understand basically every other chapter is telling the stories of America; whether it be the land, the people, or the situations that were happening during this migration.

The Grapes of Wrath is starting to become quite the drama novel. So much has happened in the past three chapters. I mean Tom is a murderer again! I understand why he killed the police man, but it is still killing somebody. Also the family actually found a job, sure it is not very much at all; but it is still a job. They were able to feed themselves and survive again. Yes, they were still hungry, but a little is better than nothing.

It is cool to read about how the people whom are staying in the government camp are planning to demonstrate against the low wages. I love to read about people who are having a tough time and who care enough to fight for what they deserve. Not too many people are willing to do this kind of thing. It is very creative of John Steinbeck to add this to the story.

In chapter twenty five we finally get why the novel is called The Grapes of Wrath. The novel states, "In the souls of the people, the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage.” The California vineyards start to go bad and these grapes in these vineyards are the grapes of wrath.

I can not wait until I get to read these last three chapters of the novel and see how John Steinbeck has decided to end this amazing and creative novel. I just hope he does not ruin the story with the ending.