So today is one of those days where I'm sick and I don't go to school which means that I should use the time I am not in school to catch up on the multitude of homework that I have, but of course I don't. Today, instead of homework I, slept in till almost one, finished the Grapes Of Wrath by john steinbeck (that was homework but it wasn't homework that I needed to do, and plus it was kinda enjoyable.) and that is about it besides redesigning my blog. I put in fire which is pretty exciting.
After finishing the Grapes of Wrath i am left with a feeling of John steinbeck just kinda being done with the book.
The whole book is masterfully laid out, with the characters all believably developed, and yet, he ends it with a weird scene of Rosasharn letting an old fifty year old man drink the milk of her dead baby, in a barn, in the hay. Nothing is really resolved. Tom has to run away, Al stays with the Weinwraths to marry Aggie, Casy is killed, and Connie has already run off. The family is falling apart, something that Ma has been dead set against the whole book. The other characters may have developed into tougher people bet they all have the same problems. Uncle John is still worried about sinning, he still feels that even his thoughts are too sinful for him to remain in the company of other humans. Pa is still worried about getting a job, he still worries that the control of the family is now Ma's. Ruthie and Winfield are still just kids, confused about what is going on but still able to be cordial to each other, for the most part. Ruthie gets meaner as she becomes more and more aware of the families problems, but she still is too young to have serious worries, that she can express. Tom, though he is now on the run to for killing a man, still worries about what is right. He thinks he is pretty close, he wants to start a union, and try to help people, but he still is mre of an impulisive character. His emotions lead his actions and when he tries to restrain himself it is very hard for him. Al is still into girls, though he does find Aggie, she is still his main focus, Aggie and the truck are his chief concern.
The only character with new worries is Rosasharn. Her husband has run off, something she has now come to terms with, her baby was born, it was dead, but it is no longer weighing her down. She is the one who is basically going to become a new character have a new role if the book continued, and she is the one that ends the book, the one who does the weird, uncomfortable, akward thing of letting a much older man suck the milk out of her breast. After thinking it over, i think that Steinbeck is actually saying that Rosasharn is now much more important, is a better person, has more will to survive and make other people survive than anyone else in the book. And as the Joad's story continues, undocumented she will play a large part in keeping the family alive. Ma and her will become almost equals. They will both have gone through personal hardships that have made them stronger. Ma's is seeing her family breaking up, falling apart, and Rosasharn's is having her husband run off, and giving birth to a dead baby. Plus they share the hardships of being Okies on the road in the middle of the Great Depression.
So ya, thats what i think of the Grapes of Wrath. Sorry if a lot of the capitol letters aren't capitol, my shift keys are kinda flipping out. Don't feel like cooperating anymore. Now I actually have to go do homework, but if anybody does read this, then i hope you think i am really smart and insightful after reading that Joad bit. I just want you to know that, i made that all up and you probably shouldn't quote me.....I am only a sophmore in highschool afterall. And you may have noticed that I don't really know how to make sentances, I am just faking it.
Thanks for reading!
Iggy
P.S.
I have decided I should really get on with homework so i am not going to edit this, sorry if it makes it seem less insightful, i really do apologize.
