Blog 35

I am seriously just out of ideas to write blogs about to get to fifty. This will be my final blog about The Grapes of Wrath. I am just going to analyze and give some thoughts about the final chapters of the book by Steinbeck.

The final chapters and ending of The Grapes of Wrath are probably some of the most memorable and meaningful chapters of the whole entire book. At the end Tom has to continue the legacy of his dear friend Jim Casey as he promises that he is going to live his life being devoted to something bigger than himself. The death of Jim Casey makes Tom Joad realize the truth of Casey's teachings. Tom then realizes that a person's best thing to do is not just think of yourself, but think of the greater good to your group and everyone. Do not just think of yourself because that does not do any good. Tom ends up having to leave his family to go off and fight for social justice. He finially completes the transformation that has been going on throught the whole entire novel and began several pages before the end. Tom ends up not having enough energy or patience to even think about the future at all. Initially he goes off to lead the struggle toward making the future much better and more kind for everyone.

With Tom being gone, the Joad family also has no food and no water. The Joad family begins to fall back even more. In the final chapter of the book they are not in a very good spot. They literally have nothing and this is just heartbreaking because as a reader the whole book the reader is just wanting them to beat out poverty and the Great Depression. HOwever, the book ends on a surprising hopefull note. The rain comes at the end and it represents a damaging force that is a threat that could wash away the few things that the Joad family have left(Steinbeck 234). Even though it is a threat it also represents some hope and a renewal. The drought is then over and maybe just maybe the families can just start over.





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