One important text connection that is evident in The Grapes of Wrath is in its style. John Steinbeck’s style in The Grapes of Wrath shares similarities to his contemporary Zora Neale Hurston’s style in Their Eyes Were Watching God. In both of these books, the story is driven by the dialogue rather than the narrator. This gives the book a more personal feeling while keeping the book straightforward and genuine. It also develops the characters much better than narration can and gives the reader good imagery of the characters. Another similarity between The Grapes of Wrath and Their Eyes Were Watching God is the use of the natural dialect of the characters. This also gives the reader more insight about the social class of the characters and the imagery of the setting. The prevalence of dialogue in both of these novels gives these books a unique and intriguing feel.
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I agree with your text connection. Both novels use a large amount of dialogue to tell their stories. Although it may not seem evident at first, The Grapes of Wrath contains lots of dialogue masked by the fact that Steinbeck neglected quotes when referring to the tenants. The dialogue is very detailed and develops a strong insight into the lives and personalities of all the characters in the novel. Both of the novels contain this important quality.
ReplyDeleteBut I felt that the most important text connection was that to the world in context of the Great Depression. The events that the tenant farmers and the Joads face throughout the novel parallel those that the American farmer during the Depression had to go through. The novel gave a very realistic and vivid image of what the harsh life of tenant farmers during the Great Depression and the "Dust Bowl" really was like. It is the only piece of Depression literature that actually gives the reader a realistic sense of life in the Depression.