The Grapes of Wrath Hope Quotes

In the last part of May the sky grew pale and the clouds that had hung in high puffs for so long in the spring were dissipated. The sun flared down on the growing corn day after day until a line of brown spread along the edge of each green bayonet. The clouds appeared, and went away, and in a while they did not try any more. The weeds grew darker green to protect themselves, and they did not spread any more. The surface of the earth crusted, a thin hard crust, and as the sky became pale, so the earth became pale, pink in the red country and white in the gray country.

– John Steinbeck

The Grapes of Wrath, Chapter 1. Here Steinbeck plays the role of an artist painting a picture of the devastation caused to the land and crops by the drought. He uses detailed imagery and dark, descriptive language to express a sense of hopelessness and a land at war with natural events. The ears of corn are "green bayonets," clouds give up trying to appear as the sky grows paler, distressed weeds try to "protect themselves." Steinbeck uses personification to give human characteristics to lifeless objects like the clouds and weeds. Color imagery conveys how the life’s blood is draining the Oklahoma earth, as it crusts and turns pale, the red country now pink and the gray country white. It’s as if the land, the other central character after the Joad family, is dying a slow death.

The clouds appeared and went away, and in a while they did not try anymore.

– John Steinbeck

The Grapes of Wrath, Chapter 1. Here we have a description of the gray, cloudless skies over Oklahoma. The "Oakie" sharecroppers wonder when, if ever, the rains will come to provide life-giving water for their parched crops. The novel goes on to detail the powerful story of desperation and hopes, failures and hopelessness of those at the bottom of the socio-economic food chain, who face a system that dehumanizes and strips them of human dignity.

And as the sharp sun struck day after day, the leaves of the young corn became less stiff and erect; they bent in a curve at first, and then, as the central ribs of strength grew weak, each leaf tilted downward. Then it was June, and the sun shone more fiercely. The brown lines on the corn leaves widened and moved in on the central ribs.

– John Steinbeck

The Grapes of Wrath, Chapter 1. The opening chapter pitches us right into the drought in Oklahoma with its devastating effects on its agriculture. With the sharp summer sun striking daily, weakening and then withering the corn, Steinbeck’s language helps us visualize the farmers watching helplessly and hopelessly as their livelihoods die in front of their eyes. The harsh future facing families is also foreshadowed here.

A gentle wind followed the rain clouds, driving them on northward, a wind that softly clashed the drying corn. A day went by and the wind increased, steady, unbroken by gusts. The dust from the roads fluffed up and spread out and fell on the weeds beside the fields, and fell into the fields a little way. Now the wind grew strong and hard and it worked at the rain crust in the corn fields. Little by little the sky was darkened by the mixing dust, and the wind felt over the earth, loosened the dust, and carried it away. The wind grew stronger. The rain crust broke and the dust lifted up out of the fields and drove gray plumes into the air like sluggish smoke. The corn threshed the wind and made a dry, rushing sound. The finest dust did not settle back to earth now, but disappeared into the darkening sky.

– John Steinbeck

The Grapes of Wrath, Chapter 1. This passage describes how the wind takes up the dust and and spreads it across the land of Oklahoma. Steinbeck’s rich descriptive powers manage to immerse completely the reader in the devastation of the Dust Bowl. Personification makes the scene more vivid by inviting us to imagine the wind as a living being wreaking havoc on the earth. Color imagery describing the "gray plumes" of dust and the darkening sky paint a picture of natural ruin and diminishing hope.

The dawn came, but no day. In the gray sky a red sun appeared, a dim red circle that gave a little light, like dusk; and as that day advanced, the dusk slipped back toward darkness, and the wind cried and whimpered over the fallen corn.

– John Steinbeck

The Grapes of Wrath, Chapter 1. Here the wind is personified as it cries and whimpers over the ruined corn. This helps the reader visualize the farming families lamenting the loss of their crops and livelihoods. We also have the theme of false hope, as color imagery describes the appearance of a red sun, only to have much of its light blocked out by a gray sky caused by the dust storms.

Men stood by their fences and looked at the ruined corn, drying fast now, only a little green showing through the film of dust. The men were silent and they did not move often.

– John Steinbeck

The Grapes of Wrath, Chapter 1. This is the first time that the men are seen in the novel, as they survey their ruined crops of corn, blanketed in dust and parched by drought. At this point the men are viewed as decision-makers and authority figures in the sharecropper families. But as the novel progresses the Joad family gender roles will change and there will be a shift from patriarchy to matriarchy with Ma Joad assuming a leading role. Meanwhile as the man stand by their fences, the image of the disappearing green conjures up a picture of hope being extinguished by the dust. The men’s shock at the destruction of their labor is suggested by how they become silent and almost motionless, as their families wait to see what they will do.

And the women came out of the houses to stand beside their men – to feel whether this time the men would break. The women studied the men’s faces secretly, for the corn could go, as long as something else remained.

– John Steinbeck

The Grapes of Wrath, Chapter 1. As the men watch their ruined corn, the women watch the men. This passage reveals the hope of the women and how they support their men, following the dust storm’s devastation of the crops. Interestingly the possibility of the men’s spirits breaking is mentioned, but not the women. This suggests that the ones carrying the torch of inner strength and hope in the family are the women. As long as their men refuse to give up and hold onto the hope of a better crop next time, then all is not lost, they believe.

The children stood near by, drawing figures in the dust with bare toes, and the children sent exploring senses out to see whether men and women would break.

– John Steinbeck

The Grapes of Wrath, Chapter 1. When the people emerge from their homes after the dust storm, the numbness and subdued feelings of the parents spills over onto the children. They don’t run about shouting and playing as they normally would. Instead they quietly draw figures in the all-pervasive dust, waiting to discover if their fathers and mothers will break or not.

After a while the faces of the watching men lost their bemused perplexity and became hard and angry and resistant. Then the women knew that they were safe and that there was no break.

– John Steinbeck

The Grapes of Wrath, Chapter 1. Initially the poor Oklahoma tenant farmers are confused and bewildered by the Dust Bowl’s destruction of their crops. But that reaction soon turns to anger and resistance, as they refuse to break and their instincts of survival and perseverance kick in. Despite the dying crops, the women believe that their men are not broken and their faces reflect hope. The desire of the fathers and husbands to be seen as men, breadwinners who can still provide for their family, is evident here. Instead of sinking into despair and hopelessness, the men maintain their dignity and react with anger.

Then the women knew that they were safe and that there was no break. Then they asked, What’ll we do? And the men replied, I don’t know. But it was all right. The women knew it was all right, and the watching children knew it was all right. Women and children knew deep in themselves that no misfortune was too great to bear if their men were whole.

– John Steinbeck

The Grapes of Wrath, Chapter 1. Themes of family, dignity, power of unity, survival and perseverance are addressed in this passage. It spells out how individuals in the family depend on each other when the sharecroppers are faced with a natural disaster. Relieved women and children get reassurance from the men that they will not be broken by the environmental destruction of the Dust Bowl. Instead of being beaten down, the men react with anger and resistance. Human dignity is maintained. The families believe that they will survive as long as the men can hold it together and not give up.

The women went into the houses to their work, and the children began to play, but cautiously at first. As the day went forward the sun became less red. It flared down on the dust-blanketed land.

– John Steinbeck

The Grapes of Wrath, Chapter 1. Gender stereotypes are at play here here. The women, satisfied that their men aren’t "broken" but still "whole," return to their domestic duties and the children to their play. When the dust storm stikes, the women are the ones who keep life going in the household. Amid the grim and depressing picture painted in Chapter 1, there is evidence of hope as families carry on with normal routines and put their trust in their men. This hopefulness is reflected in color imagery, when the sun turns less red – the color of danger. Themes of perseverance and resistance are also touched on, with the sharecroppers refusing to be defeated by a hostile environment.

As the embankment grew steeper and steeper, the more frantic were the efforts of the land turtle. Pushing hind legs strained and slipped, boosting the shell along, and the horny head protruded as far as the neck could stretch. Little by little, the shell slid up the embankment until at last a parapet cut straight across its line of march, the shoulder of the road, a concrete wall four inches high. As though they worked independently the hind legs pushed the shell against the wall. The head upraised and peered over the wall to the broad smooth plain of cement. Now the hands, braced on top of the wall, strained and lifted, and the shell came slowly up and rested its front end on the wall.

– John Steinbeck

The Grapes of Wrath, Chapter 3. A land turtle slowly climbs up a steep embankment to get to the highway. The turtle represents isolation and struggle. It is a metaphor for and symbolizes the Joad family and other migrant families searching for a way out of their poverty and homelessness. The turtle’s journey demonstrates persistence in the face of adversity, hope in the face of hopelessness.

The wild oat head fell out and three of the spearhead seeds stuck in the ground. And as the turtle crawled on down the embankment, its shell dragged dirt over the seeds.

– John Steinbeck

The Grapes of Wrath, Chapter 3. The turtle finally succeeds in reaching the embankment on the other side of the highway. In doing so the turtle also plays its part in spreading new life. An oat beard stuck to the turtle’s shell falls to the ground and the animal drags dirt over the seeds, so giving new life to them. The turtle’s journey is a metaphor for the struggles of migrant workers like the Joads, demonstrating that adversity can be overcome with perseverance and there is hope of a new life for them in California.

Why don’t you go on west to California? There’s work there, and it never gets cold. Why, you can reach out anywhere and pick an orange. Why, there’s always some kind of crop to work in.

– John Steinbeck

The Grapes of Wrath, Chapter 5. The landowner, who has come to evict the tenant family from their home and farm, suggests that they travel to the Promised Land of California. The Golden State becomes the go-to destination for hundreds of thousands of migrants fleeing the misery of the Dust Bowl. But the promise of a better life turns out to be a false one, there aren’t enough jobs for all the unemployed migrants who overcrowd California.

"It’s mine. I built it. You bump it down – I’ll be in the window with a rifle. You even come too close and I’ll pot you like a rabbit."
"It’s not me. There’s nothing I can do. I’ll lose my job if I don’t do it. And look – suppose you kill me? They’ll just hang you, but long before you’re hung there’ll be another guy on the tractor, and he’ll bump the house down. You’re not killing the right guy."
"That’s so," the tenant said. "Who gave you orders? I’ll go after him. He’s the one to kill."
"You’re wrong. He got his orders from the bank. The bank told him, ‘Clear those people out or it’s your job.’"
"Well, there’s a president of the bank. There’s a board of directors. I’ll fill up the magazine of the rifle and go into the bank."
The driver said, "Fellow was telling me the bank gets orders from the East. The orders were, ‘Make the land show profit or we’ll close you up.’"
"But where does it stop? Who can we shoot? I don’t aim to starve to death before I kill the man that’s starving me."
"I don’t know. Maybe there’s nobody to shoot. Maybe the thing isn’t men at all."

– John Steinbeck

The Grapes of Wrath, Chapter 5. This passage is a conversation between an evicted tenant farmer and tractor driver, hired to bulldoze the tenant’s land. It’s revealing and shows the destructive power of capitalism. It also portrays the hopelessness and powerlessness of the tenant farmer in fighting the capitalist banking system. In desperation, the tenant says that before he starves to death, he wants to kill the man who is starving him. Ironically many tenants will die trying to achieve this goal. The tenant want to fight the bank. But the bank is a giant faceless corporation that is too big to fight, as the tractor driver points out.

"I gotta see them folks that’s gone out on the road. I got a feelin’ I got to see them. They gonna need help no preachin’ can give ’em. Hope of heaven when their lives ain’t lived? Holy Sperit when their own sperit is downcast an’ sad? They gonna need help. They got to live before they can afford to die."

– John Steinbeck

The Grapes of Wrath, Chapter 6. Preacher Jim Casy’s spiritual journey has brought him to a new realization. Despite his own troubles and rejection of traditional Christianity, he wants to reach out to helps others. His role is to bring hope and spiritual rejuvenation to the homeless, dispossessed migrants, he decides.

Maybe we can start again, in the new rich land – in California, where the fruit grows. We’ll start over.
But you can’t start. Only a baby can start. You and me – why, we’re all that’s been. The anger of a moment, the thousand pictures, that’s us. This land, this red land, is us; and the flood years and the dust years and the drought years are us. We can’t start again.

– John Steinbeck

The Grapes of Wrath, Chapter 9. Tenant farmers discuss the question of starting again in the new rich land of California. Steinbeck is commenting on the hopelessness felt by the tenant farmers. The passage begins on an optimistic note that tenant farmers can restart new lives in California. But the tone then significantly changes. A mood of despondancy takes over, as the farmers realize that the umbilical cord that bonded them to the land has been broken, that connection which was their source of life and meaning is gone, and they can’t start again. It’s all a deception.

"But I like to think how nice it’s gonna be, maybe, in California. Never cold. An’ fruit ever’place, an’ people just bein’ in the nicest places, little white houses in among the orange trees. I wonder – that is, if we all get jobs an’ all work – maybe we can get one of them little white houses. An’ the little fellas go out an’ pick oranges right off the tree. They ain’t gonna be able to stand it, they’ll get to yellin’ so."

– John Steinbeck

The Grapes of Wrath, Chapter 10. The theme of hope rings through Ma Joad’s words of positivity when she dreams of what it will be like in California when they get there. As the family loads up their jalopy, Ma fantasizes about the American Dream of owning a little white house and living a bountiful life in the Golden State. It almost sounds too good to be true!

And still the family stood about like dream walkers, their eyes focused panoramically, seeing no detail, but the whole dawn, the whole land, the whole texture of the country at once.

– John Steinbeck

The Grapes of Wrath, Chapter 10. Steinbeck describes the moment of departure for the migrating Joads, in terms of their American dream. The family is part of a bigger movement of hundreds of thousands of migrants who will take Highway 66 to California. All have been lured by a collective dream of hope and plenty in the West. What will this new land bring to the Joads? This passage reflects the grand scale of their dream as they leave Oklahoma and head off into the unknown.
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