Poem ch 16-19 (C)

This poem is from one of the migrant families talking about the theme fear. It explores the hardships they have gone through and how they evolved to eventually remake a lost community. How after losing everything they were able to share their stories and make a new community throughout the road trip to California.

Fear

We were forced off our lands

To take our things 

To move along

We were forced to fear

and go out there

and face the world

We moved along the dirty road

not knowing were

not knowing how

We learned to share

what little we had

what we didn't have

We learned to live

to share our sadness

to share our fear

Diary Entry ch.11-15 (C)

Dear Diary,
          Long days have passed since we left our home. It has been hard on the road and we have not found much luck in reaching California. I have become sick recently but we met some nice folks today. I fear that I will not make it to California but i'm glad that we have met the Joads. They have offered to help us and I know now that my husband will be fine if I don't make it. I told them that if I become too sick to go on that they must leave me behind, but they wont do it. They are good people and they have gone through some hard times as well. We lend them our tent were their Grandpa died, and they say they owe us because of it. Of course we said it was no problem, but they insisted to help. Times are hard for us and we are almost out of money. We have lost so much and I don't know if I will make it. I hope i do though.
                                                        Love,
                                                                Ms. Wilson

Transcendentalism CH 11-15 (H)

Transcendentalism is a philosophical idea that involves self-reliance. In The Grapes Of Wrath, this idea is an important one. As the farmers are kicked out of their homes and forced to move west, they only have themselves to count on. They have lost their main source of income, the land, and as times get worse they start to rely less on religion. Like the character Casey, who has lost faith in religion, the Joads are starting to depend less in God and more in each other. It also connects to them making actions that will change things and not waiting for a miracle to happen. The author, Steinbeck, has used this philosophy in the book as he is trying to show how important self-reliance is and where it will lead you rather than depend on a miracle to happen. It basically is showing that your actions will lead you someplace and if you don't take actions change will not happen.

Ch 1-10 Assignment G

Man V. Machine

"The thunder of the cylinders sounded through the country, became one with the air and the earth, so that earth and air muttered in sympathetic vibration. The driver could not control it-"(35).

"No man had touched the seed, or lusted for the growth. Men ate what they had not raised, had no connection with the bread"(36).

          The farmers in the novel are being forced to evacuate the land and they can not find a person to blame. The men who came and told them to leave do not have an answer to whose fault it is. As the tractors come and work their fields, it seems as though the farmers have no one to blame and so they blame the machine. When they see that the tractor can do the job of fourteen families, it is clear to them that if the tractor did not exist, then they would have no reason to leave their homes. There is also this perspective were you cant really appreciate the food if it is not grown by men, because there is no connection. The farmers are so used to living of the land that it feels wrong to get food they did not row themselves. It all eventually goes back to this great machine that the farmers have to compete against and its just this huge rivalry were it seems almost impossible to win. It all connects and it eventually leads to the departure of the farmers to California.

Assignment ch 1-10 Pride (F)

 "I built it with my hands. Straightened old nails to put the sheathing on. It's mine. I built it" (37).

 "Them dirty sons-a-bitches. I tell ya, men, i'm stayin'. They ain't gettin' rid a me. My pa come here fifty years ago. An' i ain't a-goin'"(47).

          Both of these quotes represent the great pride that the tenants have for the land and how they have come to it. As both quotes show, they feel great pride in the land because either they built their home in it or their family did. This pride leads them to not want to leave things behind. It builds as they believe that they are more worthy owners because they have put great work into all of it. They feel attachment towards the place they call home because they made it and they put in the hard work to have what they have. It essentially don't want to leave everything behind because they worked hard to obtain these things and it is something that makes them really proud. to be able to say that they live off the land.

Assignment 1-10 The Dust Bowl (A)

Assignment ch 1-10 love letter

                                                                 love letter

My Dearest Land,

          "The owners of the land came"(31). They have come to take you away from me. I can not stand the thought of loosing you over those who claim they own you. They come to take advantage of you because they believe you are going to waste. "If the dust only wouldn't fly"(32), then maybe I could keep having you to myself. I keep thinking that "Maybe the next year will be a good year"(32), but they keep answering me that "it's too late"(32). I don't think its too late, it will be too late if they plant cotton. "The monster has to have profits all the time"(32), and it does not care that we will be separated. The bank will separate us forever, but I do not know what to do anymore. I have "no clothes, torn an' ragged"(33), yet I stay here with you and now I am being kicked out. You are my land and I want to stay with you.

          It is unfair to come here and steal you from me as my "Grampa took up the land, and he had to kill the Indians and drive them away. And Pa was born here, and he killed weeds and snakes. An' we was born here"(33). How can they just come and say that I must leave you? They do not know how it is to love you. You who watched my father grow, you who watched me grow. How can I just leave? If i leave, you will not watch my kids grow. I have a reason to love you were I grew up, I want my kids to have the same love for you when i'm gone. I just hope that some miracle will happen so I can stay and continue loving you as I do now.

          Time is running out and I do not know what to do. "The tractors came over the roads"(35) and started their work on you. The men working them keep reminding us that we must leave you behind and find some other place to continue our life. "But if we go, where'll we go"(34)? My family and I have no idea what to do without you. I think that my family will leave as I have heard them talk already. But I will not give up on you. Even if they do leave it will be without me. I have no intentions of leaving you because you are all I know and all I ever want to know. I will never give up on you.

                                                   Love,

                                                            Muley Graves