John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath: Chapter 3

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John Steinbeck's "The Grapes of Wrath": Chapter 3

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Abstract

The chapter under study is an extract from John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath. Situated at the beginning of the novel, chapter 3 offers a very detailed description of a land turtle trying to reach the other side of the highway. Its journey is described as a very slow and painful one, full of obstacles that it will have to overcome in order to reach its goal. In this short chapter, the reader is given numerous elements which will help him not only to understand what is happening to the turtle but also what will happen later in the novel. In chapter 2 we had been introduced to the protagonist, Tom Joad, who was going back home after having spent four years in prison. This character is not present in chapter 3 which starts with the description of a struggling ecosystem. The author by using many literary techniques leads us to read this passage as a double layered narrative, full of hidden elements that we will have to discover in order to reach the essence of the chapter.

Tags: John Steinbeck's short stories, John Steinbeck's books, John Steinbeck's qoutes, John Steinbeck's facts, John Steinbeck's works

Introduction.
A resilient ecological system.
1. An apparent fixity.
2. A hidden activity.
3. The turtle as the representative of determination.
A highly metaphorical passage.
1. Heaven and Hell revisited.
2. The burning highway and the Red Sea.
3. The law of the strongest.
The reader's response to the text.
1. Chapter three as a narrative bridge.
2. Chapter three as a narrative bridge.
Conclusion.

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[...] This determinism is highlighted by the fact that the turtle l.21-22 “stared straight ahead” and when it faces obstacles which prevent it from going on, the land turtle faces these obstacles and overcome them l.47 higher and higher the hind legs boosted it, until at last the centre of balance was reached, the front tipped down, the front legs scratch at the pavement, and it was Even when the turtle almost gets hit by the light truck, it manages to get back to its feet l.65-66: front foot caught a piece of quartz and little by little the shell pulled over and flopped upright.” The turtle shows its resilience to survive and to adapt itself to the obstacles and dangers it meets on its way. [...]

[...] In chapter two p.9 beginning of the reader is introduced to Tom Joad, the protagonist who is “walking along the edge of the highway” and seems to be following the same path as the land turtle which is crawling the road side”. Both of them are lonely and apparently walking in the same direction since they meet in chapter four. The verbs of movement used throughout the chapter emphasize the idea of migration and the highway that the land turtle has to cross is highly metaphorical. [...]

[...] Conclusion In conclusion we can say that the chapter under scrutiny is very symbolical. By showing the ecosystem's resilience to tolerate disturbance without collapsing, the author shows using metaphors and repetitions both nature and man's desire to survive developing an adaptive capacity in order to overcome the dust bowl. Chapter 3 through its description of the land turtle trying to cross the highway foreshadows the story of the migrant farmers of Oklahoma and of the Joads. John Steinbeck in this [...]

[...] The role played by chapter 3 is to provide indirect comments which suggest something about the personal tragedies of the main characters, that is to say the dust bowl farmers. These comments help give the reader an understanding of what the characters are going through by showing metaphorically their actual and future struggle and explain the history of the period that they lived in. For example the car which almost hit the land turtle emphasizes the difficulty of men to adapt them to modernity l.60-63: front wheel struck the hedge of the shell, flipped the turtle like a tiddly-wink, spun it like a coin, and rolled it off the highway.” The slow turtle can not compete with the car's pace, nor can it avoid being hit by it. [...]

[...] Insects live under the shade of grass protected from heat, whereas the turtle is above this active world, struggling to walk with its big shell which makes it slow and heavy. The “high-domed shell” the turtle is dragging recalls Dante's nine circle of Hell because of its rounded shape. Indeed, the circles of Hell are concentric, each new one representing further and further evil, culminating in the center of the earth, where Satan is held, bound. Each circle's sin is punished in a fashion fitting their crime. [...]

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