'The Grapes of Wrath' by John Steinbeck

The Grapes of Wrath, John Steinbeck (4)

This book could have begun: ‘It was the worst of times, and it was the worst of times.’ There was no respite from hardship and tragedy for the Joads, the book’s central family. That being said, this classic, which describes one family’s escape from the dust bowl in Oklahoma to the imagined riches of California during the late 1930s, is not entirely a tragedy. Through a simple family Steinbeck keenly illustrates the determination of a matriarch to keep her family together and alive. Sometimes it was hard to determine if they were ignorant or innocent, particularly when the advertisement of the end of the rainbow (i.e. jobs in California) was obviously a ploy with all evidence leading to an overabundance of workers for the few jobs available. But it is more likely that they needed to believe in that future, as there was nothing left for them in Oklahoma. Steinbeck effectively uses a unique jump cut narrative where he alternates chapters of the main Joad drama with smaller ones containing background pertinent to migrants as a group. At first this seemed awkward, but quickly felt poetic. While it is not likely that one family met with all the adversity thrown at the Joads, the story brings alive the history of events during the Depression with colorful characters that have survived the test of time. I should add that it has a somewhat controversial ending – both when first written and amongst my friends – though we all agreed it was well worth reading.