We heard former first lady, Eleanor Roosevelt's thoughts about GOW the day we began this journey with the Joads.
"The Grapes of Wrath, by John Steinbeck, both repels and attracts you. The horrors of the picture, so well drawn, make you dread sometimes to begin the next chapter, and yet you cannot lay the book down or even skip a page. The book is coarse in spots, but life is coarse in spots, and the story is very beautiful in spots just as life is...Even from life's sorrows some good must come. What could be a better illustration than the closing chapter of this book?" ~ Eleanor Roosevelt, 1939
Along that same vein about the effect The Grapes of Wrath should have on its readers, John Steinbeck wrote to his editor:
"I've done my damndest to rip a reader's nerves to rags. I don't want him satisfied."
Did he succeed in doing that to you? If so, how did he accomplish it? If not, why weren't you affected in that way?
and what more appropriate music to wrap up our study than one more tune from The Boss.....
In preparation for GOW Writing assignment #2, today's journal is a quote analysis from part 1 of the novel. Your task is to analyse this quote for its literal/figurative meaning, the message it has (who said it, why he said it, what the context was for the quote, etc)for the story as a whole, and Steinbeck's intention in writing it.
"This here is my country. I b'long here. An' I don't give a goddamn if they's oranges an' grapes crowdin' a fella outa bed even. I ain't a−goin." --Granpa, Chapter 10, pg. 143
As the Joads face the final leg of their journey to the Promised Land, we see clearly how much adversity has plagued this family.
For example in Chapter 18 we see several examples of how this new land, this Promised Land, does not even want the Joads or others like them to be there to the point that is wears on even Ma.....
So how does a person or a family keep going on in spite of the adversity? What causes some people to keep going while others give up? And where do you see yourself along this continuum of perseverance.....do you keep fighting and moving no matter what? Or do you quickly give up and move on?
One symbol that is referred to numerous times in The Grapes of Wrath is the land turtle. We first meet him in chapter 3 as he attempts to make his way across the highway as he foreshadows to the reader the journey of the Joads and many other families just like them.
Your task today is to analyze this symbol through Chapter 17. Why does Steinbeck keep coming back to this creature as he unfolds the story of the Joads and other migrant families? A few facts about land turtles to help you make some connections:
1. The land turtle is characterised by a special bony or cartilaginous shell developed from their ribs that acts as a shield to their bodies.
2. Like other reptiles, turtles are ectotherms which means they can vary their internal temperature according to the environment.
3. Most turtles that spend most of their life on land have their eyes looking down at objects in front of them.
4. Turtles are thought to have exceptional night vision due to the unusually large number of rod cells in their retinas.
5. Turtles do not molt their skins all in one go, as snakes do, but continuously, in small pieces.
6. Land turtles have short, sturdy feet. They are well-known for moving slowly, in part because of their heavy, cumbersome shell, which restricts their stride length.
Listen to this song and the message of the lyrics.....how can you connect it to the story of the Joads and so many others who are on Route 66, headed to their Promised Land?
All The Right Moves Lyrics
All the right friends in all the wrong places So yeah, we're going down They've got all the right moves in all the right faces So yeah, we're going down
Just paint the picture of a perfect place They've got it better than what anyone's told you They'll be the King of Hearts, and you're the Queen of Spades And we'll fight for you like we were your soldiers
I know we've got it good But they've got it made And the grass is getting greener each day I know things are looking up But soon they'll take us down before anybody's knowing our name.
They've got all the right friends in all the right places So yeah, we're going down We've got all the right moves and all the wrong faces So yeah, we're going down They said, everybody knows, everybody knows where we're going Yeah, we're going down They said, everybody knows, everybody knows where we're going Yeah, we're going down
Do you think I'm special? Do you think I'm nice? Am I bright enough to shine in your spaces? Between the noise you hear And the sound you like Are we just sinking in an ocean of faces?
It can be possible that rain can fall, Only when it's over our heads The sun is shining everyday, but it's far away Over the world is death.
They've got, They've got all the right friends in all the wrong places So yeah, we're going down We've got all the right moves and and all the wrong faces So yeah, we're going down
They said, everybody knows, everybody knows where we're going Yeah, we're going down They said, everybody knows, everybody knows where we're going http://www.elyricsworld.com/all_the_right_moves_lyrics_one_republic.html Yeah, we're going down
It doesn't matter what you see. I know i could never be Someone that looks like you. It doesn't matter what you say I know i could never face someone that could sound like you.
All the right friends in all the wrong places So yeah, we're going down We've got all the right moves and all the wrong faces So yeah, we're going down
All the right friends in all the wrong places So yeah, we're going down We've got all the right moves and all the wrong faces So yeah, we're going down
They said, everybody knows everybody knows where we're going Yeah we're going down They said, everybody knows everybody knows where we're going Yeah we're going down
First-- Watch the following youtube about one man's view of how the story of the Grapes of Wrath is being repeated in the 21st century.
Second-- Watch the youtube excerpt from Michael Moore's documentary "Sicko" where he takes a group of US Citizens without healthcare (who also happen to be 9/11 rescue workers)who cannot get treatment in the US to a different kind of "promised land".
Your writing task is a response..... What do you think about the idea that the Grapes of Wrath is being repeated in the 21st century? What about this idea of people who need help in the US not being able to get it? The theme we are currently studying is the "American Dream", but both of these clips are lacking "dream-like" elements.
Using the first 11 chapters of The Grapes of Wrath, these 2 youtube videos, and your own knowledge and the current situation in the world (based on news sources that you have read/heard) and write a PERSONAL RESPONSE, as if it were a "Letter to the editor". A "letter to the editor" of a major newspaper is PERSONAL, PASSIONATE, and ARTICULATE. You must communicate your opinion about something in a way that others will pay attention to it and hopefully be motivated to ACTION.
Guidelines: No less than 2 full pages, double spaced Must have at least 2 text citations from The Grapes of Wrath (noted in the footnotes and on a bibliograpy page) Must have at least 2 citations from a news source (Danish, American, or others) Must be written from the 1st person perspective Must be written in a way that I am moved......
Listen to this song by Chris Knight called "Broken Plow" as it tells the story of the migrant farmer who has been forced to leave his home. How does the song make you feel? What does it make you think of from The Grapes of Wrath as you listen to the lyrics and to the melody?
Load up the old Dodge truck We’ll leave what we can’t sell Nobody needs a sharecropper’s tools or a dust filled well Take you one last look around shed you one last tear
For the broken plow, the broken dreams And the life we’re leaving here
Pull the lines down tight The kids can ride on top of the load In the cool of the night They can crawl underneath the tarp To stay out of the cold Eleven hundred miles of mountain and sand We’ll cross ‘em tired and torn If this beat up truck can carry us Far enough away from the storm
We’re going to California There’s work there for a man Too proud to beg for charity Too poor to make a stand Pray it’s just the land we’re losing Not my life’s blood that I leave On the handles of that broken plow That haunts me in my dreams
A man at a roadside station Don’t like dealing with my kind He’d beat me out of my last dollar And never look me in the eye I heard ‘em call us Okies Hell I don’t know what that means But something tells me the promised land Ain’t as promising as it seems
We’re going to California There’s work there for a man Too proud to beg for charity Too poor to make a stand Pray it’s just the land we’re losing Not my life’s blood that I leave On the handles of that broken plow That haunts me in my dreams
This restless road is full of strangers They ain’t no stranger than I am Hardened faces damn the dust and curse the wind That drove us from this life and home We’ll never know again
We’re going to California There’s work there for a man Too proud to beg for charity Too poor to make a stand Pray it’s just the land we’re losing Not my life’s blood that I leave On the handles of that broken plow That haunts me in my dreams
Woody Guthrie is known for the songs he wrote about the same time that the Joads and many other families were experiencing what we see in the story.....
Bruce Springsteen, as well as a few others, did a remake of Woody Guthrie's old song "This land is your land"...considered to be one of the greatest songs in American history....
Before singing it recently at a concert , Bruce said that he is not sure if this song is true anymore, but that it "oughta be"...
Listen and reflect on the words Woody Guthrie wrote as Springsteen sings....
Bruce Springsteen wrote a song about The Grapes of Wrath protagonist, Tom Joad. In fact, it was the title track for his album in 1995.
For most song writers this might be a strange topic for a song or for an album, but Springsteen tends to write lyrics that are about real life in America....about the working man...about the struggles that people go through in their everyday lives.
Your group's task is to analyze the music of the Boss, Bruce Springsteen. His WEBSITE has a comprehensive list of all of his albums, songs, and lyrics. You must find between 7 and 10 Springsteen songs that tell the story of the American dream.....(either the realized or unrealized dream)
You should not use the full lyrics from all the songs you choose, but you must choose 7-10 pieces (one piece from each song you choose) that you can put together to tell the story from beginning to end... where the dream begins, what man experiences in life, and what those experiences do to his dreams. You are actually DEVELOPING A PLOT that builds as you add one more element........ You should:
1. Create the setting 2. and introduce the character(s) 3. Then you will create actions/conflicts/situations for the character to experience 4. as you build up the rising action to the climax (highpoint) of the story 5....which leads to the falling action 6. ....and finally the denouement (resolution)... The Denouement is derived from the term in French and Latin for "untying the knot".... It may not be an ending that your character wanted, but it is a resolution from the events/struggles.
(Note: There is a "search the lyrics" feature that will help you find key words or phrases to get started.)
After you put these together to tell your story, you will tell it to the class as an electronic story book.....(using PPT or another format). Each piece (from each song) should have its own slide. AS you present it to us, one person will read the text as it cycles through the slideshow but with no commentary or explanation.....just the lyrics as they tell the story.
What is your definition of "family"? Is a family made up of only relatives or are there others that could be included? What keeps a family together? And of what importance is family today as compared to the time of the Joads?
The Dust Bowl was not like any other natural disaster. It was not a hurricane that lasted for a few hours....or a tornado that lasted for few minutes. Rather it was a disaster that went on for days....months....years....
This was the situation in which the Joads found themselves. The home, the land, and the work that they had known for so long had drastically changed to the point that it was replaced with dispair, disappointment, and destitution.
Watch this video called "The American Experience- Surviving the Dust Bowl" and make notes about what this natural disaster did to the farms, the communities, and the families across the southern US states.
John Steinbeck took the name for his novel from a very well-known song in US History "The Battle Hymn of the Republic".
First read through the lyrics and talk with your group about where the title came from. Then lsten to the song as you read the lyrics again and see if the tone of the music helps you decide why he chose a line from THIS SONG to represent 570+ pages....
The situation: Due to a situation beyond your control,your family is being forced to leave the only home you have ever known; the home where you and your siblings have all grown up; the home where you come to at the end of a long day when you just need a place where you feel safe; home....
The dilemma: You cannot take everything with you. There is very limited space in the truck that will move your family, so you have to prioritize what you will take and what you will leave.
The questions: What do you take with you and why? And what things would be the hardest to leave behind?
and what more appropriate music to wrap up our study than one more tune from The Boss.....
