This is a book that I read during my absence from the forums and I can't believe I forgot to ask about it (it bothered me for days)! Did anyone else not want it to end that way? Why was Rose of Sharon myseriously smiling? ugh!! :-?
This is a book that I read during my absence from the forums and I can't believe I forgot to ask about it (it bothered me for days)! Did anyone else not want it to end that way? Why was Rose of Sharon myseriously smiling? ugh!! :-?
Hwæt! We Gar-Dena in geardagum,/Þeodcuninga þrum gefrunon,/hu ða æþelingas ellen fremedon!
Oft Scyld Scefing sceaþena þreatum,/ monegum mægþum, meodosetla ofteah,/ egsode eorlas, syððan ærest wearð/ feasceaft funden; he þæs frofre gebad,/ weox under wolcnum, weorðmyndum þah,/ oðþæt him æghwylc þara ymbsittendra/ofer hronrade hyran scolde,/gomban gyldan. Þæt wæs god cyning!
I refuse to beleive that no one here has ever read this book. Or have we just dwindled our talks about them all together on this forum? (I'm getting rather bored with AbdoRinbo's antics) :-?
Hwæt! We Gar-Dena in geardagum,/Þeodcuninga þrum gefrunon,/hu ða æþelingas ellen fremedon!
Oft Scyld Scefing sceaþena þreatum,/ monegum mægþum, meodosetla ofteah,/ egsode eorlas, syððan ærest wearð/ feasceaft funden; he þæs frofre gebad,/ weox under wolcnum, weorðmyndum þah,/ oðþæt him æghwylc þara ymbsittendra/ofer hronrade hyran scolde,/gomban gyldan. Þæt wæs god cyning!
Oh, I've read it. I just don't remeber the ending very well. I remember what happened, sure. But I don't remember the "smiling" incident. Sorry.
I really liked that book, except for the symbolic chapters that I thought interrupted the flow of the narrative. Other than those irritations, I didn't have a problem with the book. Even with the shocking ending.
Nullus Anxietas
It's been many years since I've read this one, but to the best of my recollection, that was another of Steinbeck's attempt to put just a bit of life-affirming faith at the end of this harrowing journey. Rose o' Sharon represented the continuity of life, and even though it appears life is defeated (the death of her child) she is, in the end, able to nurture life after all. Her smile is the knowledge that no matter present circumstances, life continues to find a way. She is the seed laying dormant deep in the earth waiting for spring to arrive.
Remember, "Rose of Sharon" is from the Song of Songs, which is loaded with references to fertility of one sort and another.
But then, I haven't read that on in some 20 years, so I could be wrong.
ihrocks
The revolution is just a T-shirt away -- Billy Bragg
I like your explaination better than what I was thinking of, irocks. I enjoyed Steinbecks descriptive way of writing very much, but that ending just gave me the creeps and I couldn't figure out why he would just leave the reader hanging. This 'continuity of life' makes a lot more sense. I wonder if I'd have figured this out on my own if a friend of mine hadn't alluded to the ending as being perverse before I finished the book.
Now I'm mad at myself because I should have thought of that on my own. :x
Hwæt! We Gar-Dena in geardagum,/Þeodcuninga þrum gefrunon,/hu ða æþelingas ellen fremedon!
Oft Scyld Scefing sceaþena þreatum,/ monegum mægþum, meodosetla ofteah,/ egsode eorlas, syððan ærest wearð/ feasceaft funden; he þæs frofre gebad,/ weox under wolcnum, weorðmyndum þah,/ oðþæt him æghwylc þara ymbsittendra/ofer hronrade hyran scolde,/gomban gyldan. Þæt wæs god cyning!
Don't beat yourself up too badly! You should be proud to have stuck with it and gotten to the end. It's not the happiest book on earth, which may explain why I haven't read it in 20 years.
ihrocks
The revolution is just a T-shirt away -- Billy Bragg
I am so loving this book! I had started reading it 3+ times in the past never appreciated/finished it so far and now I can hardly put it down. Always thought it to be a sad family story but now I see there is so much more to it.
Just thought I will let y'all know!
~
"It is not that I am mad; it is only that my head is different from yours.”
~
It's quite a tome, but worth every minute. Truly an American masterpiece. The ending is so touching! The Henry Fonda b&w movie is worth a watch, because of the charactarization, but the end had to change (not surprising given the year in which it was made - 1940).
i read the grapes of wrath ages ago but recently a friend of mine mentioned the beginning of the story- the turtle walking along the dust path being picked up by tom joad and carried away, and i think it was also on its back or something- and i wondered what it meant. its supposed to be the metaphor that tells you everything about the book right from the start but i cant figure it out, anyone have ideas?
I've actually started reading the Grapes of Wrath a week ago, but I haven't picked it up since. I've only read about 60 pages of it. I was talking to my sister who did read it, and she said that the turtle walking on the road basically symbolizes the Joad's journey to California, and when the turle was almost ran over by the cars reflects the struggles that they go through. I'm not quite sure that she means by that because I have not read the whole book. But hopefully that helps you.
I agree with Wander's sister's interpretation that the turtle Tom sees on the road symbolizes the Joad family's upcoming journey and struggle. Like the turtle, they have a very hard time travelling in their old truck but they do not give up. Everytime things go wrong, they start over with renewed determination.
~
"It is not that I am mad; it is only that my head is different from yours.”
~
Some other similarities:
The turtle is determined to go in one direction, though where and what for, Tom Joad does not know. Similarly the Joad family travels to California, resolved to get there, though they do not know exactly what they will do there.
The turtle is hit by a car and skidded off the road if I recall, much like the uncontrollable system that repeatedly deals out blows to the Joad family.
cheers for the thoughts
and also maybe when tom joad picks up the turtle, if the turtle does symbolise the joad family, then maybe it shows the futility of their struggle as in the end their lives are determined by the man (tom joad as the man, the government, and the turtle as the common people being picked up by the government at will and messed around)
this metaphor works on so many levels.
the car is a passenger car, holding common people. they work to not hurt the turtle. meaning people are good. the truck carrys goods. it is an industrial capitalist machine. it works to smash the turtle.
juxtapose man and nature. the truck becomes the dust bowl, the turtle becomes the joads.
the turtle is moving west. just like the rest of america. we've always expanded west. its what we do.
tom joad picks up the turtle, and it becomes his property. like when you owe too much money to the bank.
take it any way you like, its a beautiful thing. however, the most important thing to remember when reading this book, is the 1st page. read it over a few times. it was rewritten dozens of times.
Hello fellow readers
I just started reading one of the classics written by the great American writer John Steinbeck called Grapes of Wrath. I am still in the initial stages, where the stage is being set for the "main drama". So far, it seems interesting. The one thing I noted about his writing is how vividly he's described the hot, muggy days in the souther part of America. Right from "the shirts stained a darker color in the back" to the "dust-gathering corn". An interesting question he has raised through a character is on the relevance of religion and the concept of sin and virtue.
Has anyone else any thoughts to share on this book or writer in general?
From
Novellover
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote