GOW+Chapter+21

Focus questions



=__**Argument:**__=


 * //During the Great Depression, numerous impoverished families migrated to the western United States. These families went in search of a new life that would begin with the financial stability that the western farmlands had to offer. In chapter 21 of The Grapes of Wrath, John Steinbeck chooses to depict both the living condition and state of mind of both the ordinary displaced farmer and the entire United States during this difficult time. When the Great Depression was beginning to take it's toll on the farmers, the farmers were forced to change with the time. Because of so many years of isolation from the rest of the United States, the farmers had to slowly grow accustomed to the "new" and modern world by leaving behined their old way of life.//**

Comment 1

=ORGANIZATION:=

Chapter 21 is an expository chapter. The chapter deals with the overall change which the farmers undergo during their migration to California as well as the responses they received from the established workers of California. Steinbeck uses cause and effect in Chapter 21 to prove his argument.

Steinbeck uses imagery in his paragraphs to illustrate the negative effects that the mass migration has had on the local people. He shows the hostility of the people by using descriptive language.

“Squads with pick handles, clerks and store keepers with shotguns, guarding the world against their own people.”

Steinbeck also provides evidence of suffering on the behalf of the migrants. He structures his paragraphs with long descriptive sentences to further illustrate the negative impact of the mass migration; this time on behalf of the farmer migrants.

“The granaries were full and the children of the poor grew up rachitic, and the pustules of pellagra swelled on their sides.”

Comment 2

=__**TONE and MOOD:**__=

Steinbeck’s uses a monotonous voice which creates a serious and matter-of-fact tone. Throughout the chapter, Steinbeck consistently maintains a negative tone which puts an emphasis on the negative effects that the mass migration has had on both the migrant farmers and the Californian's. Comment 3

Steinbecks main point in this chapter is to show that both the locals and the migrants suffer as a result to the migration. The whole chapter maintains a serious and matter-of-fact tone which creates a serious mood. He achieves this mood by using negatives of words like lived and died, eaten or starved. “Those families which have lived on a piece of land, who had lived and died on forty acres, had eaten or starved on the produce of forty acres, had now the whole west to rove in.

The literary devices that Steinbeck chooses to use to use are metaphores to create a image about how the farmers had to live. Farmers at this time would be moving from place to place in search for money and food to be able to survive and frred their families. Farmers al so moved in groups of people because since the Depressin was so great so many of them were moving and ended up together. An example of that would be:

“On the highway the people moved like ants and searched for work, for food.”

5. Does the language have rhythm?

Yes, overall the chapter 21 follow the same rhythm and bases itself on showing the reader the pain the farmer were going throught. Most of the sentences have a few words that show the emotional state of the farmers. Two examples of this would be:

“And the migrants streamed in on the highway and their hunger was in their eyes, and their need was in their eyes.”

“They had no argument, no system, nothing but their numbers and their needs.”

6. Are the sentences long or short? Where does the author use short sentences or fragments for special emphasis? Where are there long sentences or run-ons for special effect?

Most of the sentences tend to be long with a few short ones here and there. The long sentences are used in order to show the reader the long and difficult time journey that the farmers were going through. They demonstate the difficulty of their journy and the stuggle they have to deal with because of the Great Drepression.An example of this could be:

“The movement changed them; the highways, the camps along the road, the fear of hunger and the hunger itself, changed them” Comment 4

When looking at the sentence structure in chapter 21, one immediately sees the various compound sentences that Steinbeck chooses to use in order to make his point much stronger. Later on though, he decides to switch to much stronger yet shorter sentences.

Steinbeck chooses to use these kinds of sentence structures in order to “inform” the reader, then almost instead of going around things he decides to go straight to the point and almost force the idea upon the reader by almost being stern.

“Those families which had lived on a little piece of land, who had lived and died on forty acres, had eaten or starved on the produce of forty acres, had now the whole west to rove in.” (EXAMPLE OF A COMPOUND SENTENCE)

Steinbeck also chooses to make his point through the use of repeating certain words in order to emphasize the point that he is trying to make in phrases such as:

--“The prices stayed up” (pg 283) --“Changed them” (pg 282) --“Work” (pg 284)

Also, Steinbeck uses repetition in order to inform the reader about the farmers/ United States current condition. He does this by repeating the word //**"had"**// a total of six times and the word //**"changed"**// a total of five times.

=__**Argument:**__=


 * //During the Great Depression, numerous impoverished families migrated to the western United States. These families went in search of a new life that would begin with the financial stability that the western farmlands had to offer. In chapter 21 of The Grapes of Wrath, John Steinbeck chooses to depict both the living condition and state of mind of both the ordinary displaced farmer and the entire United States during this difficult time. When the Great Depression was beginning to take it's toll on the farmers, the farmers were forced to change with the time. Because of so many years of isolation from the rest of the United States, the farmers had to slowly grow accustomed to the "new" and modern world by leaving behined their old way of life.//**

Comment 5

chapter 21 bibliography

ACorrea KGalvan DLeon Per3