Hi all!!

First, I'd like to thank you all for participating here

Second, to Irene: I completely agree with you about the final scene. That was aimed to give a strong impression, but what do you think about the beginning, the introduction of the character of Tom??. I find it boring still and not effective!! It's not as professional as the end. Anyway may you kiss your lovely son for me??

Third, to Foong, I feel that you have that deep sense for the poor but don't you think that the final scene is still completely fictional?? I may not hear much stories about the poor (I've seen pictures more and I believe picture is more expressive that words).

Please don't feel ashamed, 'cause you know we are human (to err is human). I mayself came to know characters and novels and love them so much, yet when asked, I just couldn't recall them easily!!

About the novels you mention, I have read or studied most of them , novels of Pearl, Dickens, Brontes(both sisters), Mitchel..etc. But I am really crazy of Jane Eyre and Tales of Two Cities by Dickens and novels written by Jane Austen.(a little bit romantic) I'll make sure to read The Thorn Birds one day.

Thaaaannnnk youuu aaaalllll

I enjoy talking to you. 

Hi again,

I agree that the author did this on purpose but as for the first encounter withTom I dislike it. His threat to the driver who gave him a lift didn't really reflect that deep politeness and respectful way of behavior Tom had had during the journey.(we have a saying in my mother tongue stated that you can't say I know a person deeply unless you accompany him/her in a journey whereas you can see him/her on his/her reality).But as for the character of the preacher, he is actually a man of thought and his talks reveal much about the mentality people at that time. He is a real hero.

But to Noah, I almost forget about him. I only considered him as what we call in literature study "flat character", not having that strong effect yet his presence serves the plot. I wondered some time while reading "where is he?" .I realize his impracticality. (I don't know I find the reason the father mentioned justifying his son's action is a funny one. Yet it presents the simplicity and naivety of them and clarifies some of their conventions).

Back to Noah, I find it inadequate thing from any professional writer to eliminate a character from his/her writing suddenly (e.g a sudden accident or escaping with no evident reason) but here the runaway of Noah is consistent to his character and his passive role. He seems he understood himself better. That's it.

Regards,

Dear Myth and Irene,

I don't know why I like to talk about Rose -of - Sharon.However, I'll wait for your comment on The Thorn birds., I think it will be very interesting because there is a lot of rumour about this terrific novel. Any comment - good or bad is better than "no comment', such as in The grape of Wrath: The vilification from the bankers, the Okies, made Steinbeck famous because  of a large extend read of his book.The end of this novel recalls me to the 22nd example of Showing Filial piety in ancient Chinese legend like this.: Grandma of Thoi Son Nam couldn't eat. Her daughter- in -law fed breast her to make her live longer.Sometimes, I think it's very ridiculous  (according to Steinbeck) if it's not grandma but grandad, what will be, will be? In my country, in the past, some rich people rented women to feed breast to their old parents. And there was a lot of rumour about  this subject, especially their fathers . And these women couldn't feed breast her children so they should drink  the rice soup. How pitiful it is!

Phuong Ninh

Since this thread is about the novel “The Grapes of Wrath” written by Steinbeck, I thought it would be informative to share with you the context for the novel.

Phuong Ninh Bao commented that Steinbeck did not really describe poor people, and that there are poorer people in her country than the Joads.

Hopefully, the context would shed light on the status of families like the Joads during the Depression in America.

The following was an excerpt from Spark Notes on the novel “The Grapes of Wrath”

John Steinbeck was born in Salinas, California, on February 27, 1902. He attended Stanford University without graduating, and though he lived briefly in New York, he remained a lifelong Californian. Steinbeck began writing novels in 1929, but he garnered little commercial or critical success until the publication of Tortilla Flat in 1935. Steinbeck frequently used his fiction to delve into the lives of society's most downtrodden citizens. A trio of novels in the late 1930s focused on the lives of migrant workers in California: In Dubious Battle, published in 1936, was followed by Of Mice and Men in 1937, and, in 1939, Steinbeck's masterpiece, The Grapes of Wrath.

During the early 1930s, a severe drought led to massive agricultural failure in parts of the southern Great Plains, particularly throughout western Oklahoma and the Texas panhandle. These areas had been heavily overcultivated by wheat farmers in the years following World War I and were covered with millions of acres of loose, exposed topsoil. In the absence of rain, crops withered and died; the topsoil, no longer anchored by growing roots, was picked up by the winds and carried in billowing clouds across the region. Huge dust storms blew across the area, at times blocking out the sun and even suffocating those unlucky enough to be caught unprepared. The afflicted region became known as the "Dust Bowl."

By the mid-1930s, the drought had crippled countless farm families, and America had fallen into the Great Depression. Unable to pay their mortgages or invest in the kinds of industrial equipment now necessitated by commercial competition, many Dust Bowl farmers were forced to leave their land. Without any real employment prospects, thousands of families nonetheless traveled to California in hopes of finding new means of survival. But the farm country of California quickly became overcrowded with the migrant workers. Jobs and food were scarce, and the migrants faced prejudice and hostility from the Californians, who labeled them with the derisive epithet "Okie." These workers and their families lived in cramped, impoverished camps called "Hoovervilles," named after President Hoover, who was blamed for the problems that led to the Great Depression. Many of the residents of these camps starved to death, unable to find work.

When Steinbeck decided to write a novel about the plight of migrant farm workers, he took his task very seriously. To prepare, he lived with an Oklahoma farm family and made the journey with them to California. When The Grapes of Wrath appeared, it soared to the top of the best-seller lists, selling nearly half a million copies. Although many Oklahomans and Californians reviled the book, considering Steinbeck's characters to be unflattering representations of their states' people, the large majority of readers and scholars praised the novel highly. The story of the Joad family captured a turbulent moment in American history, and, in the words of critic Robert DeMott, "entered both the American consciousness and conscience." In 1940, the novel was awarded the Pulitzer Prize and adapted to the screen. Although Steinbeck went on to have a productive literary career and won the Novel Prize for Literature in 1962, none of his later books had the impact of The Grapes of Wrath. He died in 1968.

Today, readers of The Grapes of Wrath often find fault with its excessive sentimentality and generally flat characterizations, which seem at odds with Steinbeck's otherwise realistic style of writing. However, in writing his novel, Steinbeck attempted not only to describe the plight of migrant workers during the Depression but also to offer a pointed criticism of the policies that had caused that plight. In light of this goal, Steinbeck's characters often emerge as idealized archetypes or epic heroes; rather than using them to explore the individual human psyche, the author presents them as embodiments of universal ideals or struggles. Thus, the novel stands as a chronicle of the Depression and as a commentary on the economic and social system that gave rise to it.

The correct verb is bread feast and not feed breast. The noun is breast feeding.

Should a mother breast feed her child within the first two years of his life? Studies have shown that breast fed infants are less likely to get sick than bottle fed infants.