The Grapes of Wrath is a classic novel written by John Steinbeck. This is the story of the Joads, an Oklahoma farm family. They and many others are driven from their home by the bank or the “monster”. The Joads are following suit in traveling to California, where jobs and opportunities are promised. They face many challenges and meet new people along the way. 

This book is slow at times. When reading it, I wanted to know what happened, I wanted to continue, but some parts were difficult to plow through. Some of the plot was predictable and a few characters felt as if they were unnecessary to the plot. Also, there are a few mentions of alcohol, smoking, and much cussing. 

I think throughout the novel we struggle with the idea of right and wrong. “The bank is something else than men. It happens that every man in the bank hates what the bank does, and yet the bank does it. The bank is something more than men, I tell you. It’s the monster. Men made it but they can’t control it.” This quote from chapter five, page thirty-five shows the reader that while what the bank is doing is wrong, the people apart of it are trying to make a living. They were in over their head. Some knew what they were doing and had the power to stop it, but most were caught in a messy situation, wanting nothing more than to provide a good life for their family. We see something similar with Uncle John and Tom Joad’s situation. The former pastor Casey, acts as the ‘wise owl’ that the other characters come to for help through their inner turmoil. Other themes include community, the value of human life, and the effects of selfishness.

A review from 1939 said, “[The book’s] power and importance do not lie in its political insight but in its intense humanity, its grasp of the spirit of an entire people traversing a wilderness, its kindliness, its humor, and its bitter indignation,” Clifton Fadiman, The New Yorker, wrote. The Grapes of Wrath is a beloved classic that so many have read and learned from. If you’re looking for a book to challenge and get you thinking, I recommend this book. 

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