In Chapter 13 the Joads stop at a service station and of course something good doesn't happen. Why would something good happen to this family? The wrath of the grapes is fully directed at the Joad family. Anyway... their dog gets run over. Cut in half by a hit and run driver with "burst intestines" (Steinbeck 130). Basically it was a slightly gruesome way to kill off the dog that takes food away from the kids and from the pregnant Rose of Sharon. I guess being ran over is better than Pa shooting him and sending the dog to "the farm". The death of the dog just surprised me a little bit. I wasn't expecting it. I had forgot about the dog. Then the dog I had forgot about was killed in cold blood. So that is why the death startled me. I don't think it had any hidden meaning or reading in between the lines secret symbol, but just a death.
Then Grampa died 8 pages later! Bam! The wrath of the grapes strikes hard! The difference this time is that Grampa is an old man and he didn't even want to go to California (see chapter 10 blog post for drug inducing convincing) so his death didn't come as such a surprise. Just like Casy said, "Grampa died the minute you took 'im off the place." (Steinbeck 146). All the stubborn old man wanted to do was to die on his farmland. He was born and raised there, and felt like he should die on that land. It was only a matter of time before he died. Luckily it was a quick death and he didn't suffer much. Now that he is gone, Granma will probably die too. She is an old woman who has relied on her man for to many years to survive without him. Hopefully she will go peacefully too (but if she doesn't go, then boo to Steinbeck for killing the dog, and not Granma. Granma has a solid reason for why she should die, and the dog only went because he strayed in front of a car and now the Joads can save their food scraps).
Steinbeck, John. The Grapes of Wrath. New York: Penguin, 2006. Print.
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