The Grapes of Wrath – Themes (OCR A-Level English Literature): Revision Notes
The Grapes of Wrath – Themes
John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath explores several universal ideas through the experiences of the Joad family and other migrant workers during the Great Depression. The novel presents three major themes, each structured as a duality where contrasting ideas are examined. These themes interconnect and influence one another throughout the narrative.
The novel is set during the 1930s Great Depression, when economic collapse forced thousands of farming families from Oklahoma and surrounding states to migrate to California in search of work. This historical context is essential for understanding the social and economic forces that shape the characters' experiences.
Individual versus community
This is the most significant theme in the novel. Steinbeck uses his characters to show the journey from self-interest to collective responsibility.
The journey from individualism
At the start of the novel, Tom Joad represents individualism. Having just been released from prison, he is an outsider who focuses solely on his own concerns. When a truck driver gives him a lift, Tom resents the prying questions and wishes the driver would mind his own business. Throughout the story, Tom repeatedly advises focusing only on immediate problems rather than worrying about the future. He even shares this philosophy with Ma when she expresses concerns about their family's prospects.
Example: The Tractor Driver's Justification
In Chapter 5, a tractor driver plows over the homes of tenant farmers, despite being the son of one of these farmers himself. He justifies his actions by saying he needs to earn money to feed his own family. This demonstrates how personal necessity can drive individuals to act in ways that harm others, even their own community.
For these individualists, personal or family necessity drives them to act in ways that harm others.
The development of community
Steinbeck explores community on two interconnected levels: family and humanity.
Ma Joad demonstrates fierce determination to keep her family together. She adopts Tom's advice about focusing on daily problems without looking too far ahead, but combines this practical approach with kindness and unwavering commitment to her family. As hardships intensify for both her family and other migrants, Ma recognises the need to extend her sense of community beyond just her relatives to encompass all common people. This expanded vision is exemplified when she supports Rose of Sharon's decision to breastfeed a starving man at the novel's end.
Jim Casy's Philosophy
Jim Casy, the former preacher, serves as the novel's philosophical guide. Through his character, Steinbeck presents his view of human community. Casy believes all people are part of one collective soul, a concept related to the oversoul - an idea from transcendentalist writer Ralph Waldo Emerson suggesting that a universal spirit connects all living beings. According to this philosophy, when people unite for the common good, they gain the strength to overcome oppression.
Tom undergoes a profound transformation from individualist to community advocate. His love for his mother and family helps him reach beyond himself to care for others. While Ma's ideas about the strength and resilience of ordinary people influence him, the greatest impact comes from Casy. Eventually, Tom fully understands and embraces Casy's philosophy about collective action and unity.
We're the people that live. They ain't gonna wipe us out.
This quote from Ma captures the resilience and endurance of the community.
Selfishness versus kindness
Steinbeck contrasts numerous examples of selfishness and kindness throughout the narrative, showing how these opposing forces shape the migrants' experiences.
Examples of selfishness
The primary agents of selfishness are the major landowners and the Bank, driven by their desire for increased profits. These entities focus exclusively on maximising their earnings without concern for how they abuse others. They force tenant farmers to abandon their homes and deliberately attract far more workers than available jobs to keep wages low and prices high. This exploitation results in families being separated, people living in terrible conditions, and some starving to death.
Dehumanisation of Workers
Those who work for these selfish institutions become dehumanised, mechanically performing their duties without considering the harm they inflict. They commit terrible acts, such as destroying oranges rather than allowing starving people to eat them. This deliberate waste whilst people suffer highlights the extreme cruelty of the system.
Examples of kindness
In contrast, Steinbeck presents various examples of kindness, often occurring between ordinary people helping one another during difficult times:
- The Wilsons and Joads assist each other and form a small community whilst travelling together to California
- A waitress helps a migrant family with food
- The Wilkie family offers work to Tom, even though this means less work for themselves
- Mrs Wainwright helps Ma deliver Rose of Sharon's baby, despite having no family connection with the Joads
The impact on community
Kindness serves as the glue holding communities together. Kind individuals in the government camp encourage an efficient, strong and caring community. Casy brings migrants together to lead a strike out of concern for their welfare, ultimately dying a sacrificial death for their benefit - representing the ultimate act of kindness. Rose of Sharon's final act of breastfeeding the starving man symbolically forms a community with all humanity.
How Selfishness Destroys Community
Conversely, selfishness tears communities apart. Large landowners destroy the community of tenant farmers by forcing them from their land. In California, landowners constantly keep migrants moving to prevent them from uniting and forming a cohesive community. Keeping migrant workers oppressed and weak serves their selfish goals.
Meekness versus wrath
This theme explores how the migrants' passive acceptance of exploitation contrasts with the need for righteous anger to create change.
The exploitation of meekness
The meek attitude of the migrants allows landowners and the Bank to exploit them systematically. Migrants become docile puppets controlled by landowners acting as puppet masters. The landowners and Bank have created an elaborate system for their own advantage:
- In Oklahoma, owners force tenants off their land, creating thousands of unemployed people
- In California, landowners attract these displaced people to their large farms
- By creating high unemployment, landowners can have their crops picked for very low wages
The migrants' meekness allows them to be exploited within this system, resulting in constant abuse and starvation for some.
Channeling anger productively
For Steinbeck, migrants can rebel against this system by using their anger, or wrath. However, anger is a volatile emotion that must be channelled correctly. Tom gets angry when authority figures push him around, and he lashes out in ways that get him arrested, making him ineffective.
Ma Joad's Productive Use of Anger
Steinbeck's solution involves channelling anger for the common good. Ma demonstrates this ability when she uses her anger to stand up to her family and keep them together. When a mob stops the Joads near the Hooverville, both Tom and Ma become angry. However, Ma recognises the need to control both her anger and Tom's, understanding that lashing out at the mob would cause more harm than good.
When Tom kills the policeman who murdered Casy, he commits an act that is not for the common good and could easily result in his arrest and bring trouble to his family. However, whilst hiding, Tom comes to understand Casy's ideas, enabling him to focus his anger towards a cause that serves the community.
The significance of wrath
Because the migrants are oppressed, wrath builds within their souls. Chapter 25 ends with a powerful line that gives the novel its title:
In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing.
For Steinbeck, this growing wrath provides the impetus that will unite people to fight against oppression. Tom, Ma and Casy all feel this wrath and use it to benefit the community. In the government camp, migrants are angry with the police for attempting to disrupt their dance. However, they use their anger constructively by working as a community to prevent future disturbances.
The novel's title itself emphasises the importance of this righteous anger as a force for positive change. The biblical reference to "grapes of wrath" suggests both the accumulation of justified anger and the eventual harvest of justice that will come from it.
Exam tips
Tips for Writing About Themes
- When discussing themes, always support your points with specific textual examples
- Consider how the three themes interconnect - for instance, how kindness strengthens community or how wrath can be channelled for collective action
- Pay attention to character development, particularly Tom's transformation from individualist to community advocate
- Remember that Steinbeck presents these themes as dualities - be prepared to discuss both sides of each contrast
- The government camp serves as an important example of successful community organisation - useful for discussing all three themes
Key Points to Remember:
- Three major themes structured as dualities: Individual versus Community, Selfishness versus Kindness, and Meekness versus Wrath
- Individual versus Community is the most important theme, showing Tom's journey from self-focused ex-convict to community advocate, influenced by Ma's resilience and Casy's philosophy of the oversoul
- Kindness unites communities whilst selfishness tears them apart - examples include the Joads and Wilsons helping each other versus landowners exploiting migrants
- Wrath must be channelled constructively for the common good rather than expressed through ineffective individual violence
- The novel's title emphasises the importance of righteous anger as a force for positive change against oppression