Grapes of Wrath
How does California seem to modern America? Violent. Crowded. Filled with bad people. People who live in cities and have lost touch with the earth. These people are portrayed in John Steinbeck's Grapes of Wrath as Californians. Yet, people from the Midwest flocked to California seeking prosperity and opportunity. Their land had been taken by the banks and turned into cotton fields. They were left homeless and desperate. These people sought to work in the fields where they could eat a peach or sit under a tree to relax. But there wasn't a California as they had imagined. In fact, the world they entered into when they arrived in California was a cold one. The locals excluded the newcomers and forced them to leave. The locals tormented the foreigners, calling them 'Okies' and telling them that they are unwanted. There was no work and when there was, the workers were underpaid and forced to work for low wages. California was hell. But John Steinbeck creates this novel to fit the "romance" archetype. In this archetype, the hero makes a journey, encounters problems in his path which he overcomes, and reaches his final destination. The hero of the novel must be larger than li
fe, strong, and different from others. " The other characters in the text are glorified and larger than life. An example of this theory would be that of the human race and the main character, Wang Lung, in Pearl S. In the romance archetype, the romantic hero must be in touch with the earth. This California is described as a place where, "it'll be different out there-plenty work, an' ever'thing nice and green, an' little white houses an' oranges growin aroun'. The family must travel across the United States to re-connect with the earth and live happily. They's a fella, newspaper fella near the coast, got a million acres-. The fact that the Joads traveled from a terrible place to a better place fits the romance archetype. They envision that they can find it in California as well. It was the "Eden," which refers to the romance archetype once again. Then such a farmer became a store keeper, and kept a store. ' He must be in touch with the earth.
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Acceptance Essays
