Grapes of Wrath Chapters 10, 11, and 12

Grampa is excited about going to California and exclaims, "Come time we get to California I'll have a big bunch a grapes in my han' all the time, a-nibblin' off it all the time, by God!" (Steinbeck 103) I feel like since the book is called Grapes of Wrath, then that statement has to be ironic. Eating a big juicy bunch of grapes in peace everyday does not seem wrath-provoking. Speaking of wrath-provoking, without being too literal here, grapes are going to be vengeful and take revenge on the Joads? Obviously the grapes will be a symbol at some point in the book. When I finish reading the novel I am sure it will make more sense.

Grampa also decides that he doesn't really want to go to California (Steinbeck 111). So the solution to that problem is to drug him and make him go anyway! (sarcastic exclamation mark, just wanted to made sure my tone was portrayed) I understand why they couldn't leave him because he is slightly crazy and would have a hard time living by himself. But to drug his coffee, I am pretty sure that is elder abuse. They could have convinced him, or because he is a stubborn old man they could have figured something else out besides drugging him. Oh well. I guess the spiked coffee did the trick.

Chapter 11 was another slightly depressing short-odd-numbered-anecdote-historical-story. The new workers on the land do not have the same blood and sweat connection with the land like the former farmers that grew up there. The new workers just do their job and go home. The bond with the man and his land no longer exists. It reminds me of the Native Americans being forced off there land so that the white people could use it for their personal gain. The connection and appreciation for the land surrounding them was lost.

Chapter 12 (gasp) breaks the pattern. Instead of being a Joad chapter, it is another historical story! There was a particular quote that I enjoyed in this chapter, "An' the fella says, I done it, an' ever' time since then when I hear a business man talkin' about service, I wonder who's gettin' screwed." (Steinbeck 121) Although that is a generalization, a lot of salesmen are con men and cheat people out of stuff (oh wait, that is a generalization too...). The statement just struck me as funny. The bluntness of the way the man said it was comical.

Steinbeck, John. The Grapes of Wrath. New York: Penguin, 2006. Print.