Chapters 7-13: Personal Connections

I like the book after I have read the chapters but during the reading part I find it difficult to relate or stay awake. But after I have read the chapters I enjoy the message that is being said in them. I always feel behind on my reading, so when I am not reading I feel like it is a burden to read and that it is not fun.

I am enjoying The Grapes of Wrath, by John Steinbeck because I like how the story is fast moving, there are not long periods of time where they are not doing anything. An example of what I mean is on page 114.  "Al slipped in the low gear and let in the clutch. The truck shuddered and strained across the yard. And the second gear took hold. They crawled up the little hill, and the red dust arose about them." I think this is a good example because it shows that they did not wait a long time to get going and to leave the farm.

So far, the plot, characters, and themes in The Grapes of Wrath remind me of something important in my life. For me, when I had to move I had to leave my old house for my new one. Although it is not even close to comparing to what the families during the Dust Bowl had to do which was seeing their house get destroyed, leaving most of their possessions, and leaving animals. I think that the big idea of this book will be to be thankful for what you have in your life and do not take anything for granted.

I am looking forward to reading the rest of this book because I would like to see how the book ends. Also I would like to see what the message is behind the book. What's probably going to happen next is the Joad’s get to California and discover that there really is no jobs and that the land there is just as bad as to where they came from.

Re-Did Chapters 3-6 Economic and Political Pressures

The banks role is to make money off the land, sense they technically own the land they can do whatever they want with it. Considering that the land is almost dead they plant cotton which ruins the soil more, but the bank does not care because it is their last resort to try to make money. The bank is not a person it is a figure head, that way it is no one’s fault for what is happening to the people. The banks have a huge impact on the farmers and their families, now the farmers have nothing and are getting kicked off their land. The farmers have no money and are starving; now they have no home and no way of making money. The families are speechless and do not know what they are going to do. Some of the farmers decide to work with the bank to make money for their own families because they are, "look out for their own.". They in my eyes are doing the right thing; they are doing everything they can for the people they love even if it is hurting other families lives. They only get paid three dollars a day but that money sets food on the table for their family. Although from the people whose land is getting destroyed I do not think it is the right thing to do, all the farmers could try to gang up and over throw the bank instead of half of them working for the bank and the other half getting left with nothing.

Re-Did Chapter 1 and 2, Reflection on Tom Joad

When I first started reading about Tom Joad I was surprised at how he acted and how he said things in a certain way. How he asked the truck driver for a ride, he said it in a way that gave me the idea that he thought he was better than the truck driver. "Sure - I seen it.  But sometimes a guy'll be a good guy even if some rich bastard makes him carry a sticker." he put his words together so he basically cornered the driver so that he did not have a good outcome with either option, either way he was doing something bad. Also how at the end of the ride he casually told the truck driver that he was just released from jail and it was for killing someone, he told him with a smile on his face and acted like he did not care. His personality makes me think that he is devious and is a bad man. Also how the whole car ride Tom acted like he was not interested in what the driver was talking about, and how he kept smoking and drinking. When he talked about going to his dad’s house it sounded to me that he did not want to go home because he could not answer a lot of the drivers questions about his father, but in actuality it was just him not knowing because he had been in jail. The poor view the rich like they have had no impact by the economy or the Dust Bowl, and the poor just think that they are spoiled. He is a confusing character I was not expecting him to say he killed a man, the rest of the book should be interesting I can not guess what he is going to do.