Analysis of a Passage from The Grapes of Wrath Essay
Depicting the Dust Bowl exodus, The Grapes of Wrath is a literary masterpiece. Development and
hierarchy are portrayed. In the passage to be studied, almost at the beginning of the novel, Tom Joad,
who has just been released from prison, discovered his abandoned house. Travelling with Casy, a
former preacher, they met Muley Graves , one of his former neighbours who refused to leave the
country, after people have been tractored off. Hardly the only one to speak, Muley explained how he
then lived alone, wandering from one empty house to another. A certain evolution is present
throughout the passage that can be compared to a human being?s life. First, birth can be paralleled
with a kind of creation. Then, the adult is the one who makes a ... Show more content on
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This land becomes a part of them, of the family, of their lives, and Muley expresses the weighty
significance of that place, since he ?went in the room where Joe was born? (l30 1) so as to recollect
this arrival. Being at the very place where his child was born means to remember why he decided to
live there. He was the person in charge, and for that reason, he had to act for his new born baby who
was frail. Then, children have to discover the world, as it is something new for them.
Furthermore, Tom can be compared to a young child. Indeed, he has just been released from prison,
thus, he discovers life again. Definitely, he takes pleasure in cooking the meat, and in eating it: ?I
think we better eat her now? (l37), ?le?s eat this meat ?fore it?s smaller?n a cooked mouse? (l77 8). As
a child, he is only preoccupied by one thing, here it is the meat, and nothing else. This is also
noticeable in his discourse. Undeniably, he does not really communicate with the two others: ?Joad
turned the meat, and his eyes were inward? (l11). He is self centred. Therefore, at that step in the
novel, he can be associated with a child.
Moreover, this kind of selfishness is also obvious in the fact that he is not listening to what is said, or
actually, does not seem interested, as if he were not part of the debate. He is not aware of the others
yet. When he suggests that they ?better eat [the]
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