The Grapes of Wrath · The Grapes of Wrath is a movie about families being pushed away from their homes and land during The Great Depression. In the beginning Tommy gets out of jail and returns to his home but none of his family is there. His family was forced off their land and left stranded. That is when they decided to go to California to find jobs. On the way to California the Grandpa dies.
As the strong-headed, independent and protagonistic Tom Joad heads toward the country to finally reunite with his family after serving four years in prison, he meets the preaching character, Jim Casy (ironically having the same initials as Jesus Christ). They both unfortunately observe how the horrific effects of a dust bowl during the depression impact the average hard working family. The Joad family prepares for the difficult journey across the country to the "promised" land where ignorance leads the Joad family to search for the American dream in the long lost land of California. Problems transpire contiguously as Grama and Grampa Joad die, their vehicle breaks down, money becomes a non-existant necessity, Tom gets into trouble after killing Casy's murderer, and the sickly, whiny daughter, Rose of Sharon, gives birth to a dead baby because of malnutrition. Grama and Grampa Joad cannot endure the difficult journey in the beginning, hence, at their old age, rot away in the back of the vehicle.
The Red Convertible: A Brother in Arms Louise Endrich’s short story “The Red Convertible” is about how even the bonds of family and friends may not be enough to subdue the trauma caused by war. The story begins in 1974 as our narrator, Lyman, a Native American, retells the story about his brother Henry and the red convertible they both owned. After buying it impulsively, both of the brothers spend the summer driving around the Dakotas, Montana, and taking a hitchhiker back to Alaska. When they return home, Henry is sent to Vietnam and does not return for three years. When he returns home, Lyman notices that his once carefree brother is now “jumpy and mean.” It’s obvious that the war has changed and traumatized Henry, most likely because he was a prisoner of war.
Most families, he says, including his own, have headed to California to look for work. The next morning, Tom and Jim set out for Tom’s Uncle John’s, where Muley assures them they will find the Joad clan. Upon arrival, Tom finds Ma and Pa Joad packing up the family’s few possessions. Having seen handbills advertising fruit-picking jobs in California, they envision the trip to California as their only hope of getting their lives back on track. The journey to California in a rickety used truck is long and arduous.
Review In the midst of the Great Depression, Tom Joad returns home to Oklahoma to see his family after four years of being in prison. Upon his arrival, Tom runs into an old friend by the name of Jim Casy who used to be a preacher, but had found a new meaning to life. The two travel together to the Joads’s house only to realize that there was nobody there. The Joads, just like many other families during the Dust Bowl, had been forced off of their farms. When Tom and Casy found the Joads, they were packing up their belongings to head out west.
“ THey did not find him for two weeks. Then the Nashville police caught him just outside the Nashville freight yards. He was walking along the railroad track; still heading south, still heading home.” pg 8 (Iron Age). The story shows examples of the god teacher archetype when T.J comes along. T.J shows the qualities compassionate, gives a gift, sacrificing, empowering, and persistence.
In the beginning of the movie, Tom was release from prison after four years. He was in prison because he killed a man during a fight. I saw Tom lacking sympathy for killing a man and just believes that he was guarding and protecting himself. If he were to be put in a similar situation for a second time, he would kill the person again. Tom’s mother, Ma Joad, was the strength of his family.
John Grady’s parents no longer talk to each other. After the funeral, John Grady meets his father and goes to a café to talk. John Grady and his father talk about his mother and the ranch. The father feels he has failed his son. He gives John Grady a new saddle.
That he saw this as a chance to be free. He knew that at this point he could completely disappear from his parents and society. He took the Virginia plates off the car so that it could not be identified and so that his parents would not be informed. Then he decided to burn all the money he had been given ultimately detaching him from society. He then explored the west for two months, “spellbound by the scale and power of the landscape, thrilled by minor brushes with the law …” (29) This shows that for the first time the only thing that had truly made him happy was solitude and knowing that he was on his own.
In 1987, my parents immigrated to the U.S. in search for a better life for their children. Having just suffered the loss of my two older brothers who were shot and killed defending our home during a robbery in Mexico, my parents began a new life in California. As a child I witnessed my parents working their social and economic ladder, either collecting cans, picking up newspapers, cardboard, and anything valuable to sell to provide for my two siblings and myself with food and shelter. I am the youngest of three, and my parents' only wish is for me to graduate, go on to college, and earn a degree. Despite my father being 60, he works long hours in our backyard fixing refrigerators.