The Grapes Of Wrath (Chapters 1-5)

As I didn't enjoy the film, I thought I would try and read the book and give a few comments on each chapter as I read it. In no way am I trying to analyse the whole novel, but the purpose of this is to just pick up simple ideas and link themes and aspects of style to that in Of Mice And Men. 

Chapter 1

• Recurring use of the colours red and grey to describe the atmosphere.
• Steinbeck opens the book with a detailed setting description, which he also does in OMAM.
• The time at which this is set seems to be roughly around the same time as OMAM due to the dust bowl which is heavily described in this paragraph. It introduces the issues with the dust bowl and how it affects the families.
• The book is in the third person narrative.

Chapter 2

• Dialect is similar to that in OMAM.
• Tom Joad has revealed he was put in prison for homicide, and he's going back home to see his family.

Chapter 3

• Pretty much a whole chapter dedicated to a turtle must have some significance. Maybe the vehicle trying/not trying to avoid it symbolises something later on in the book?
• Not much has happened at this point

Chapter 4

• On his walk home, Joad meets the old preacher, Jim Casy.
• Steinbeck uses very vivid descriptions of surroundings, even if they're just minor details.
• Alike Of Mice And Men, Steinbeck creates detailed character descriptions when they appear for the first time.
• Intense use of colloquial language is used. The way it is written is how it would be said; the dialect of the characters gives the reader an idea of where they come from.
• Casy tells Joad why he isn't a preacher any more, and that he believes theres no sin and no virtue.He believes the human spirit is the Holy spirit.
• Joad tells Casy about his life in prison, and that he missed not having many women around.
• Casy asks if he can join Joad on his way home and they arrive at the deserted farm.

Chapter 5

• His entire family have moved out to live with his uncle, John.
• A large company has taken over the land and cut labour costs.
• Miley says his family have also moved to California.
• They spend the night in/by a cave after almost being chased off the land that used to be theirs by police.

First impressions: Definitely not my kind of book, but so far it is alright. For someone who hardly reads, its definitely bearable. It's probably not great that I don't fully understand it but if I have the will power to carry on reading it may start to make more sense. However, the main thing I wanted to get out of reading this, was to look at Steinbeck's writing styles in his other books. From only reading the first 5 chapters it is clear that Steinbeck's writing style is extremely similar to that in Of Mice and Men, and most probably his other books too.