‘Grapes of Wrath’ Yields Harvest of Fine Thinking

You’d think after nearly 25 years of teaching, I could no longer be moved by student writing. But once again, thanks to some wonderful students and a magnificent book, I have actually been moved to tears.

These are my American Literature classes and they consist of mostly 16-year-olds who look and behave pretty much like teenagers anywhere. Among them there are band members, football players, singers, drill team members, girls who play water polo, boys who wrestle, drama students, and cheerleaders.

We spent a good three weeks on “The Grapes of Wrath” and in case you’ve forgotten, this book set in the Great Depression runs well over 500 pages and is a challenge no matter how you look at it. These students kept journals throughout our reading and on the last page of those journals I asked them to respond to the novel as a whole and what they got out of it. There were some complaints, but the vast majority were clearly overwhelmed by Steinbeck’s great epic about the plight of a migrant-worker family named the Joads, and were not afraid to say so. This generation is often accused of being self-absorbed and concerned only with the means to affluence. I think these responses show an entirely different side.

One girl described the feelings she experienced while reading the book. “It stirred up anger in me. For days at a time I would have this urge to stop corruption wherever I saw it. I don’t know, but this book made me want to consider social work or something that could help people. I often felt helpless as I read about the migrants’ plight and I don’t want to stand by if I see such things happening again.”

Another young man easily saw the connections to the present. “Today the game is the same, but the names have changed. The ‘Okies’ have been replaced by Mexican immigrants who may still work in the fields, but also in sweatshops making clothes for some designer’s spring line. Why is this still going on? The answer is unfortunately the same--profit.”

This student admitted, “It may seem ridiculous but my eating habits changed while reading this book. I now serve myself smaller portions and I don’t waste food like I did before. It’s made it hard to throw away leftovers. I kept thinking that people like the Joads would have eaten everything. It’s hard to believe that a single book could have this kind of an impact.”

A Vietnamese American girl identified with the Joad family’s move to California. “This book affected me so much because this migration reminded me of how my own family came to America, only we came by sea. My parents faced many hardships and prejudice, just like the Joads did, but they kept on working to make a good life for me.”

Another young woman could also relate to the novel. “I sometimes forgot, as I was reading, that these things happened to people right here in this state. I’ve been to these places like Bakersfield and Pixley. Real human beings actually went through these miserable experiences. Maybe even some of them were relatives of mine.”

Perhaps one of the most profound comments came in response to the death of character Jim Casey, the former preacher who is killed leading a labor strike. “I wasn’t so surprised at Casey’s death as I was at how it was plowed under by the false allegations of the police. How many more events like this have taken place which no one has noticed? How many other times have people like Casey been obscured into oblivion by the sensational? The truth is so flexible in situations like this because of prejudice and ignorance. Casey could have been the reincarnation of Christ himself and it all would have turned out exactly the same.”

Such small scraps from the vast richness of these journals hardly do them justice, but they do give a glimpse of just how beautifully and honestly students will respond to meaningful literature and serious issues. What continues to amaze me (and would Steinbeck as well) is that each new generation brings its own perspective and insight to “The Grapes of Wrath.” To be there when students first express their outrage that the things in this book actually happened in America, but needn’t have, is to know what teaching is all about.