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Overview
Overview
Renowned first as a novel, and then as a prize-winning motion picture, the story of the Joad family and their flight from the dust bowl of Oklahoma is familiar to all. Desperately proud, but reduced to poverty by the loss of their farm, the Joads pile their few possessions on a battered old truck and head west for California, hoping to find work and a better life. Led by the indomitable Ma Joad, who is determined to keep the family together at any cost, and by the volatile young Tom Joad, an ex-convict who grows increasingly impatient with the intolerance and exploitation that they encounter on their trek, the Joads must deal with death and terrible deprivation before reaching their destination--where their waning hopes are dealt a final blow by the stark realities of the Great Depression. And yet, despite the anguish and suffering that it depicts, the play becomes in the final essence a soaring and deeply moving affirmation of the indomitability of the human spirit and of the essential goodness and strength that--then as now--reside in the hearts and minds of the "common man," throughout the world.
- Format: TradePaperback
- Author: Steinbeck, John
- ISBN: 9780822204756
- Condition: Used
- Dimensions: 7.76 x 0.36
- Number Of Pages: 143
- Publication Year: 1991
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Still affecting lives with the challenge to hope
Jeff W. - 3 years 5 months agoThe saga of the Joad family's dire trek from the Oklahoma dustbowl to California was read by millions at its 1939 release. The book was a huge hit with the public and has been firmly embedded in high school curricula essentially ever since. It's a book that can change the trajectory of lives and challenge people to hope. It is easy to forget how far the world has come, and how quickly. There were no Motel 6s for the Joads, and they couldn't live on credit cards until things looked up. Modern readers do well to contemplate just how few generations separate them and their indoor plumbing from the crippling poverty of forebearers. For the Joads, during the Great Depression, survival came before material well-being. With this family, Steinbeck shows us the pride and dignity of a people who have suffered the loss of everything. This American tale transcends America and is universal: Jews fleeing the Cossacks, the Vietnamese boat people, evacuees of Hurricane Katrina all understand what Tom Joad understands, namely that he'll endure; wherever you look, he'll be there. The Grapes of Wrath is adored by high-brow and low-brow. It lends itself to retelling: in 1940 John Ford adapted Steinbeck's book for the cinema. Decades later it was seen by the young Bruce Springsteen and it affects his work and our lives still today.
HPB Staff Review -
Familial bonds drive perseverance.
Susan S. - 6 years 11 months agoThe Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck is a story about a family pushed around by the harsh realities of their time. They are pushed off their land by changing technologies and set out in search of a rumor of a better life. Their journey is, of course, fraught with difficulties, and the decisions they make are based on limited or faulty knowledge. Reading this story today, with our knowledge of history, we might guess that they are doomed right from the beginning. Yet they innocently persevere and stay together as much and as long as they can. They know that success means keeping those you love near. I really felt a connection to this family. Isn't their experience true for so many, even today? You do what you can, with what you know, and try to stay with the ones you love.
HPB Staff Review