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Steinbeck's Grapes of Wrath - Different Endings in the Book and Film
What a Difference an Ending Can Make
In John Steinbeck's "The Grapes of Wrath," Ma finds Tom where he is hiding out from the law and gives him money so he can escape and survive. Tom comforts Ma that she will see him wherever there is injustice. This implies that Tom will find ways to fight for the working people. After Tom leaves there is a terrible flood. Rosasharn has her baby during the storm while the men fight the water but fail to keep it from entering their railroad car. Rosasharn's baby is born dead because of so much hardship, deprivation, and instability. The family is forced to flee the rising water and find higher ground. Ma spots a barn where they can take shelter. In the barn they find a man dying from starvation. He is so far gone, he can't keep down the bread his son stole for him to eat. Rosasharn's breasts are full of milk because she just had a baby, so Ma asks Rosasharn to feed the dying man. In the end of the book Rosasharn agrees and goes to him.
In the film version there is no flood, Rosasharn does not give birth, and the baby does not die. When Tom leaves at the end, his speech to Ma about fighting injustice seems almost victorious, as though Tom were a hero instead of a victim. After he leaves, Ma and Pa get in their old truck and head for a different part of the state, hoping to get work. Pa admits to Ma that he's not good for much anymore, and Ma gives him a nice talk. She tells him the people will always go on because the backbone of the country is the people. Although the Joads are still poor, the film ending leaves hope for better times, whereas Steinbeck's ending is tragic and leaves no hope that anything will improve. The film, on the other hand, suggests an indomitable human spirit which keeps on fighting and can never be destroyed.
Finally, redemption is possible and is achieved by some: when Hester, Pearl and Dimmesdale all stand on the public scaffold, Dimmesdale falls fatally ill and Pearl kisses him, the spell of sinfulness is broken for them (Hawthorne 175), while Chillingworth "positively withered up, shrivelled away and almost vanished from mortal sight" because his plan to destroy Dimmesdale were simultaneously broken (Hawthorne 175). In sum, Puritan religious views are highly
As one writer says, not reading this novel "…deprives individuals and communities of the opportunity to respond to an ethical imperative insisting on virtuous treatment of our fellow human beings" (George, 83). This is a tremendous summation of fundamentally what Steinbeck is trying to achieve with a novel like of Mice and Men, and a notion which sums up most likely Steinbeck's strongest motivation for writing the novel. However, as one
Ed. Peter Lisca and Kevin Hearle. New York, NY: Penguin, 1997. 604-615. Outline Thesis: The three critical appraisals this essay will examine shows a changing "magnification." Each of our three critics has the "Okies" under the microscopic; but they employ three different lenses to examine their subjects. As we move from Reed to Owens to Gladstein, the calibration of the microscope moves steadily away. The movement starts with a narrow aperture, and
She describes the transcendental experience of a starry night: "Every pointed star gets driven into your body. It's like that. Hot and sharp and -- lovely" (p. 345) It is a moment that shows the close connection of the painful and the sublime for Elisa, a connection that she understands perhaps because the brutal and tender nature of gardening. The most profound contradiction in the story comes at the end,
Pearl, by John Steinbeck, has been noted as one of the most highly regarded novels in United States since World War II. Its appealing characters and obvious allegory have helped to make it a mainstay in American literature. A parable is a short work, usually fictitious, that illustrates a lesson, often on the subject of good and evil and the novel reads like a one; rich in religious overtones of
I. Introduction A. Elisa Allen is the protagonist of John Steinbeck’s short story “The Chrysanthemums.” Louise Mallard is the protagonist of Kate Chopin’s “The Story of An Hour.” B. Both Elisa and Louise are products of their social and historical contexts, particularly when it comes to gender norms. C. Elisa and Louise are passive protagonists, because patriarchy has stripped them of political agency. Thesis: By creating passive protagonists in their respective short stories, Steinbeck