1982. In great literature, no scene of violence exists for its own sake. Choose a work of literary merit that confronts the reader or audience with a scene or scenes of violence. In a well-organized essay, explain how the scene or scenes contribute to the meaning of the complete work. Avoid plot summary.
In John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath, Jim Casy evolves into the voice of the oppressed and downtrodden farmers during the Dust Bowl. As a former preacher, he utilizes his natural skill as an orator to express the feelings of those around him into poignant and powerful words. Eventually though, his beliefs place him in direct conflict with strike breakers and bosses, those who work against and exploit others. He is shot down, which prompts Tom Joad to kill the man who shot Casy. The act of violence seems to stifle the voice of the oppressed, until Joad strikes back, symbolizing the tenacity and fortitude of the people’s will.
A motif throughout the Grapes of Wrath is the conflict between the wealthy and the destitute. Steinbeck shows the poles of the human spirit; those who can run over a starving dog and keep driving as if nothing happened, and those who sacrifice their own life to protect the less fortunate. Ma Joad gives whatever she can to the starving children of their camp, while the owners of the peach farm are willing to suck their workers of every last dime. He symbolically demonstrates this theme in the opening vignette, showing how there are people who will swerve to avoid harming an innocent turtle, and those who go out of their way to harm it.
Jim Casey is the spokesperson of the poor and helpless migrants, and so the act of violence against him by the strike breakers symbolically represents the oppression of the migrants. Though reluctant at first, Casey is able to speak for the powerless migrants who cannot speak for themselves. The administration of the peach farm, the powerful and wealthy, try to silence Casey in the ultimate form by killing him, but in the end they aren’t successful. They do kill Casey, but they also turn him into a martyr, inspiring Tom Joad to take his place and to fight back against the corrupt and evil, to fight for the people that need him. The act of violence then, becomes a metaphor for the struggle between the two groups.
The content of your essay seems to be brief and to the point. Your thesis is clear and leads the reader in the right direction. I feel, however, that you may need to limit the background info sentences to one line and you may also want to add an introductory sentence that leads the reader into your essay.
ReplyDeleteI feel that you may need to expand upon your scholarly analysis, demonstrating how the acts of violence connect to the work as a whole. A major part of your paragraphs is comprised of a summary of the specific section of the work. Are you able to relate the acts of violence and the oppression to the purpose and indication at large to the whole world? Even though you have adequately approached the prompt, you may want to expand upon your arguments and more deeply explain your position on the prompt.
I love that you decided to use The Grapes of Wrath for something! I was looking for a way to use it and couldn't find a good prompt that fit. You chose a great path for connecting it to the act of violence. You may want to explain how it connects to the novel as a whole. You do a good job of explaining the nature of the violence and what the characters represent, but if you added a little bit about how this single act changes the dynamic of the story, your essay would improve even more!
ReplyDeleteYour intro paragraph, was fine, although the bakround inforamtion includes summary. Your thesis answers the prompt, but the body paragrpah need more commentary support to tie into your thesis, and less summary. Good ideas are formed, but more elaboration is needed on the meaning of specfific acts of violence, in context of the meaning of the whole book.
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