The Grapes of Wrath

1. The Grapes of Wrath Chapters One - Three By Temoor Iftikhar

2. To the red country and part of the gray country of Oklahoma, the last rains came gently, and they did not cut the scarred earth. (Steinbeck, 1) In the last part of May the sky grew pale and the clouds that had hung in high puffs for so long in the spring were dissipated. (Steinbeck, 1) We can easily tell from the very start that the author uses very good description in his writing, so this won’t be an easy read. We can also interpret that the author uses much personification, Especially in the second quote.

3. As you read the second part of chapter one, it explains how the men hold the base of the family, if they break, their wives break, and then their children. If the men did happen to break, how do you think it would affect the children? In my opinion, it depends on the children’s ages. If they are young, its not likely they would know the difference. My guess is that if the are about 14 or more, they would have no choice but to help support their family.

4. You can tell that the truck driver is a very loquacious person, as most of this chapter is filled with his dialogue. You can also tell that he is somewhat friendly, or at least he tries to be. Its also easy to tell that Joad has a way with words, he recognizes what kind of person someone is and uses phrases that he knows will appeal to the listener. "Didn't you see the No Riders sticker on the win'shield?" "Sure- I seen it. But sometimes a guy'll be a good guy even if some rich bastard makes him carry a sticker." Why do you think what Joad said convinced the truck driver to let him in?

5. The truck driver really reminds me of a TV show, called Criminal Minds. The show is about an FBI team in which the pupils are trained for one thing: to study someone’s behavior, and use it to learn more about them. "Been doing a job?“……"Sure have," said the hitch-hiker. "Thought so. I seen your hands. Been swingin' a pick or an ax or a sledge. That shines up your hands. I notice all stuff like that. Take a pride in it." By taking a look at Joad’s hands, the truck driver can tell that he’s been working, which works kind of like the concept of Criminal Minds.

6. The truck driver seems like an extremely smart person. You can see it when he refuses the whiskey, as he needs to train his mind, not destroy it. "Yeah! A guy got to get ahead. Why, I'm thinkin' of takin' one of them correspondence school courses. Mechanical engineering. It's easy. Just study a few easy lessons at home. I'm thinkin' of it. Then I won't drive no truck. Then I'll tell other guys to drive trucks." Joad took a pint of whisky from his side coat pocket. "Sure you won't have a snort?" His voice was teasing. "No, by God. I won't touch it. A guy can't drink liquor all the time and study like I'm goin' to.“ (Steinbeck, 8) It seems like he’s convinced himself that the liquor to him is poison for his studying.

7. Why do you think the trucker decided to become a mechanical engineer? Why do you think he even decided to start off as a trucker? I guess the trucker needed some sort of job to start off his career. Trucking was probably an open job at the time, and he just happened to choose it. Later on, when he earned a bit from trucking, he decided to go ahead and start taking lessons to become a mechanical engineer. As he stated, its easy to become an engineer with a few lessons at home, and it probably pays more than being a trucker. And its most likely more interesting than driving around isolated areas of the country.

8. To me, it wasn’t that obvious that Joad was in prison. Especially that he was in prison for homicide. He seemed like a slightly arrogant farmer, nothing more. Why did Joad continuously tell the truck driver everything, while he said he wasn’t a nosy guy and didn’t want to know? I think that Joad really doesn’t care who knows, he just wants a reason to tell him, and his idea was to pass it over and say that the trucker was nosy.

9. Chapter three describes a habitat alongside the road, and a lone turtle who decides to try and climb onto the road. Steinbeck spends almost two pages describing just the turtle. Then there is a trucker who purposely swerves around to hit the turtle. Do you think the truck driver was the truck driver described in chapters one and two?The trucker did say someone will try and do anything to get a little fun out of trucking, as it was an extremely boring job.