The Myth of the American
Frontier in John Steinbeck's the
Grapes of Wrath
Ghyath Manhel Hadi
‫ﺃﺳﻄﻮﺭﺓ ﺍﳊﺪﻭﺩ ﺍﻻﻣﺮﻳﻜﻴﺔ ﺍﳌﻔﺘﻮﺣﺔ ﰲ ﺭﻭﺍﻳﺔ ﻋﻨﺎﻗﻴﺪ ﺍﻟﻐﻀﺐ ﳉﻮﻥ ﺷﺘﻴﻨﺒﻚ‬
‫ﺍﳌﺪﺭﺱ ﺍﳌﺴﺎﻋﺪ‬
‫ﻏﻴﺎﺙ ﻣﻨﻬﻞ ﻫﺎﺩﻱ‬
‫ﺧﻼﺻﺔ‬
‫ن‬ ‫ ا‬ ‫ روا‬ ‫ود ا‬‫رة ا‬‫ أ‬ ‫ ا‬‫ر‬‫ث ا‬
‫دب‬‫ ا‬‫ر‬  ‫ب‬‫ ا‬ ‫دب ا‬ ‫ذ‬ ‫ ا‬‫وا‬‫ه ا‬  ‫ إذ‬.
 .‫ون ا‬‫ل ا‬ ‫ ا‬‫ ا‬ ‫ ا‬‫ ا‬ ، ‫ا‬
‫دب وا‬‫ ا‬‫ر‬   ‫رة‬‫ أ‬‫وده ا‬‫ب و‬‫ه ا‬ ‫ ا‬‫ا‬
‫ي‬‫ ا‬‫ ا‬ .‫ ا‬‫ ور‬ ‫ ا‬‫ ا‬ ‫ا‬ ‫ت‬‫ و‬‫ و‬‫ا‬
  ‫ن‬ ‫ و‬،‫ون و‬‫ن وا‬‫ر‬‫ ا‬‫رة و‬‫ ا‬  ‫را‬
‫د‬ ‫ ا‬‫ا‬‫ ا‬‫ وا‬‫رة أ‬‫ه ا‬   ‫ ا‬ ‫روا‬
 ‫ة‬‫ ا‬‫م‬‫م‬‫رب ا‬‫ إن ا‬.‫ب‬‫ ا‬ ‫ع ا‬‫و‬ ‫ل ا‬‫ وا‬‫ا‬
‫م‬‫م‬‫ة ا‬‫م‬‫ر ا‬  ‫ ا‬‫ ا‬‫ود ا‬‫اب ا‬   ‫ب‬‫ ا‬ ‫ة‬‫ا‬
.‫ ا‬ ‫ روا‬ ‫ي‬‫اع ا‬‫وا‬
‫رب ا‬‫ة ا‬‫ أ‬ ‫َاع وط‬‫ ا‬‫ا ا‬  ‫ ا‬‫ رؤ‬‫ر‬‫ ا‬‫و‬
‫ر‬‫ أ‬   .‫ ا‬‫ ا‬ ‫ل‬   ‫ذج‬  ‫ا‬
‫ ذ‬.‫ف وا‬ ‫ ا‬‫ود ا‬‫ذج ا‬ ‫رئ دا‬‫ ا‬  ‫و‬
 ‫ ر‬  ‫ر‬   ‫وا‬‫ت ا‬   ‫ي‬‫ذج ا‬‫ا‬
   ‫ر‬‫ت ا‬‫ت وا‬  ‫ ا‬  ‫ر‬‫ ا‬ .‫ب‬‫ا‬
‫ و‬.‫ وا‬‫ده ا‬‫ وأ‬‫وا‬‫ ا‬‫ن ا‬‫ن و‬‫ر ز‬‫ ا‬ 
1
‫م‬‫ ا‬‫ ا‬  ،‫ود ا‬‫رة و ا‬‫ ا‬    ‫ إ‬‫ر‬‫ا‬
‫ م‬ ‫ذج‬   ‫ ا‬‫ ا‬‫ و‬ ‫ن‬ ‫ت‬‫ة و‬  
‫ ا‬‫ ا‬  ‫ ا‬ .‫ود ا‬‫رة ا‬   ‫وا‬‫ا‬
.‫ ا‬‫ر‬‫ ا‬ 
I
Myth is a necessary component of the foundation of every culture. 1 It
reflects the collective subconscious of a people, their collective dreams and
the way they see themselves. Myth can be defined simply as "a story from
ancient times especially one that was told [….] to describe the early history
of a people." 2 Myths are tales, fables, and fantasies that help people to
make sense of their history. Myths find meaning in the events of the past.
However; they are less concerned with facts than with ideological essences.
3
The word frontier means "border" or "the line that separate two countries",
"the edge of land beyond which the country is wild and unknown". It also
means the limits of something." 4 In America the term became synonymous
with opportunity and the potential to achieve anything. 5 The frontier myth
can be seen as one of the foundations of the American dream of success and
prosperity. Early Americans saw a great potential in their land. This was
based on the huge opportunities provided by the western expansion. Waves
of migrants moved westward looking for land, opportunity and freedom.
They had to fight the natives, cultivate the land and face different dangers
and obstacles. This experience is believed to be essential to the shaping of
the American personality. 6 This belief was deeply rooted in American
culture and mentality. Through time it turned into a mythical folk story.
Generations of Americans spoke of the legendary heroes who fight the
monsters and occupied the land. Frederick Jackson Turner, an American
historian, stresses the importance of the frontier myth in shaping the
American character. In his "the significance of the frontier in American
History" he speaks of the significance of the frontier experience that gave
America the chance to look for new beginnings, and to meet
expectations.7Turner defines the frontier as" the existence of an area of free
land," and "the meeting point of savagery and civilization." He places the
frontier at the heart of American self-imagination.8
The frontier promotes individualism, one of the basic characteristics of
the American personality. Open land and space ensures that differences can
be tolerated with a minimum of bloodshed. Once the frontier is closed in
2
1890, Turner argues, Americans must find ways to live with their
differences in an enclosed space. Turner's systematic theories dominate the
mythic tensions of the American self-imagination all through the twentieth
century.9 The raw experience of the frontier does not define American
identity more than the narrative structure that delimits and describes that
experience. Turner's theory falls apart as history. 10However; he succeeds
brilliantly as a mythmaker. The rugged individualism of the frontier serves
as a metaphor for unregulated capitalism.11 The public attitude regarding
frontier thesis changes according to the public mood. It faced a lot of
criticism in the 1930s, a time when its great promises were far from actual
reality. 12
Turner's frontier thesis stands on premises that were regarded as "facts".
Among these premises were the survival of the fittest and the glorious
national future.13However, these "facts" turned to be "myths" through time,
Richard Slotkin, a "frontier" writer, says that the real western frontier was
a space defined less by maps and surveys than by
myths and illusions, projective fantasies, wild
anticipations and extravagant expectations"14
The west was a "Promise Land" to Americans. It embodied their vision
of living in a vast, fertile and promising free land. However, the westward
migration was hindered by some dangers and obstacles: the native Indians
and Mexicans at first, and the settlers who became landowners. That is why
the westward movement is related to violence and war.15The American
frontier can be reread as "a national trauma narrative and the violence of that
frontier history as a wound in the national psyche." 16It is a reminder of what
took place during the creation of the American nation. It tells the story of
the creation of the American dream. This narrative preserves the image of
the frontier as a contact zone.17
The frontier myth is essential to the story of creating the American
nation. It is a mythical vision of the American past. It is "at the heart of
American self-imagination."18After the close of the frontier in the late
nineteenth century, the myth survived. It turned to a way to explain the
nature of America. 19
After several waves of westward migration the density of population and
the limited amount of land proved the dream to be an illusion. People did
not find the promised land of wealth and richness any more. In spite of the
change in the facts, the myth of the rich western frontier in American culture
survived.
In the 1930s, the whole country starts to suffer immensely of the
international economic crises. States like Oklahoma, Kansas and parts of
3
Texas suffered immensely of the draught years called the Dust Bowl, a
period of dust storms caused by a severe drought that affected the farming
regions of the American Mid-west,20 Small farmers in these states lose their
lands, small businesses, houses and became severely displaced. They were
indebted to banks and big companies. Hence, they sought after any illusion
to escape their misery. The westward movement was continuing under the
pressure of the economic crises in the thirties. These circumstances led poor
farm workers to leave their farms and houses and look for the dream of
wealth and opportunities in the western states like California, which were
known for their vast territories and fertile lands. The myth of the western
"Promise Land" provided rich land owners, banks and companies in the
west with waves of poor immigrants and cheap labor. Clearly, this meant
that poor people get poorer and the rich benefited more and more. The
collapse of the dream of prosperity increases bitterness and social wrath
among poor farmers and lower classes of American society. 21
The frontier was a recurrent theme in American literature. 22It considered
the opportunities of America as a nation, the potential of the American
personality, and its ability to explore and face dangers, tame and explore
new lands, and achieve the impossible. The frontier was a challenge to the
American hero. The dangers he faces, the obstacles he overcomes are just
experiences that build up his personality and teaches him to survive. The
frontier theme was usually presented by facing the American hard working,
courageous, dreaming hero with the dangers and challenges of the
undiscovered new lands and experiences. He is either facing troubles of
establishing his roots in the new land or fighting against the natives.
The interest in the theme in American novel was clear. It did not only
offer a virgin land for exploring; but also a new horizon to see the American
hero faced with the new "promised land". Frontier stories played an
enormous role in creating the stereotype, frontier novel. It is a novel in
which displaced people are heading west, attempting to open new lands,
looking for riches and golden promises. They are usually confronted with a
variety of troubles. All these troubles do not weaken them. Instead, they
make them stronger. People change according to weather, circumstances,
etc.; but they never give up. Such a stereotypical image was present when
Steinbeck starts writing his The Grapes of Wrath. The mythical frontier
stereotype is apparent in the background of this novel. Richard Slotkin, a
frontier writer defines the frontier archetype:
As the "man who knows Indians," the frontier hero stands
between the opposed worlds of savagery and civilization,
acting sometimes as mediator or interpreter between races
4
and cultures but more often as civilizations most effective
instrument against savagery—;i man who knows how to
think
And Hghl like an Indian, to turn their own methods against
them. (16)
On the frontier, one must be somewhat savage in order to
23
secure and defend civilization.
This paper tries to show that John Steinbeck's the Grapes of Wrath, is
written in a frontier frame of mind with a frontier -like setting, in order to
show the falseness and uselessness of the old myth. He stresses the need to
re-direct the old frontier-spirit that led to the creation of the American
nation, a need to establish a new myth. America needs a reopening and a
rediscovery because the spirit it was built upon is now gone due to the
economic collapses and the social changes. In the west, the Okies
(Oklahomans) were not only looking for wealth and prosperity; they were
looking for their lost dream, their ideal state that their ancestors established
with blood and sacrifices. Steinbeck is saying that America was established
on a dream. It is Americans who decide if that dream can stand still or
collapse. The life experience the novel is presenting is an experience of
frontier struggle, a frontier novel with a closed frontier. People cannot stand
still when their living conditions are intolerable. They need to fight, to
move, to organize their action, and do something.
II
John Steinbeck was born on February 27 1902 in Salinas, California. As a
child, He was rebellious against self-discipline and responsibility. He was
looking forward to become a writer. He studied at Stanford University in
California, choosing only courses relevant to his literary aspirations. He
worked in a variety of jobs such as store clerk, cotton picker, and ranch
hand. Such works are relevant to the kind of characters and experiences he
narrates in his novels. They give him the necessary knowledge of details of
these professions. Because of these several experiences, he began to express
a deep sympathy and admiration towards the working class. He left Stanford
without a degree. Later, he worked to the newspaper New York American;
he was fired because "his style of writing was figurative and literary."24
In the 1930s, Steinbeck started his journalistic and literary career. He
produced a group of brilliant short stories, novels, and one play. He
achieved popularity with his first literary success Tortilla Flat (1935).
Steinbeck met some socialists and union organizers. This meeting led to
writing In Dubious Battle (1936), a novel about labor unrest in a California
orchard. It gives an account of a strike by agricultural laborers. Of Mice and
5
Men (1937) tells the tragic story of two migrant laborers. Soon after that,
Steinbeck wrote a series of articles for the San Francisco News about the
mass migration from the Dust Bowl to California. He was assigned to write
journalistic reports about the conditions of poor migrant families. His
journalistic writing experience led to his master piece The Grapes of Wrath
(1939).25
As a Californian, John Steinbeck was a "direct" witness of the great
western migration after the Dust Bowl, an event that was at the center of this
novel. 26 Steinbeck is known for his descriptions of the search for the
American dream and sympathy for the plight of the working class. His
works typically describe ordinary men and women faced with a plight that
requires them to join with others for the greater good. His characters grow
with an attention and care about their society. His social commentary was
influenced by his vision of people as parts of a larger whole. They must
work in concert to improve human life in general. Steinbeck draws many of
the factual details from his personal experience, as a farm worker and as an
investigating reporter.19 27His career as a journalist is influential to his style
of writing and the topics he chooses. He undertook a commission to write
seven linked articles for the San Francisco News about the miserable
situation of migrant farmers in California. This opportunity provided him
the funding and backing he needed to dig deeper into the problems
28
encountered by the migrant farm workers."20
This series of articles on
the plight of migratory farm laborers speak for the victims of the Great
Depression. They provided material for the The Grapes of Wrath.
Frederick Jackson Turner, the historian who stressed the importance of the
frontier in shaping the American character is a major source for Steinbeck.
Steinbeck was also, in many ways, a "literary descendant of Turner".29 As a
Westerner, Steinbeck depicted California as a microcosm of America after
the close of the frontier. Although his work has often been criticized as
regional or documentary,30 he was interested in the relationship between
myth and reality. His realism was enriched by a mythological depth.
Steinbeck's awareness of the nature and power of myth enriched his realistic
and documentary writing. 31
In addition to heavy religious, mainly biblical allusions, Steinbeck's
works show deep impacts of the various national myths of America,
especially those of the western frontier. These myths remained important to
Steinbeck throughout his life. They shaped his personal experience in
writing. The fundamental power of myth and language to shape experience
is a major concern in his works.32
6
Steinbeck took an important step by turning his journalistic,
documentary vocation into an artistic literary work. He used the facts,
numbers and actual experiences to build an artistic literary world, enriched
by a mythological depth. The myth of the American prosperous frontier
supplied him with the necessary cohesive link that knit the parts of the
novel.
III
The Grapes of Wrath recounts the migration of a dispossessed family from
the Oklahoma Dust Bowl to California. It chronicles their overall
exploitation by the cruel system of agriculture industry and economics. The
novel reflects Steinbeck's belief that individuals are connected to a large
drive functioning as a part of a group, they work to fulfill the will of a larger
entity. This process causes a shift from the "I" thinking into the "We"
thinking.33 The novel is an example of social protest in fiction, as well as a
convincing tribute to man's will to survive.34
A classic in the history of American novel, The Grapes of Wrath is set in
America during the 1930s. During that time period, Americans suffered
from the effects of the Great Depression, a time of severe economic crisis.
Additionally, most Americans—particularly farming families in Great
Plains states such as Oklahoma—struggled to escape the effects of the Dust
Bowl. The plot of the novel begins in Oklahoma, moves to the highway 66,
and ends up in California. The novel records the exodus of the Joad family,
led by the mother Ma Joad, from the Dust Bowl to the supposed "Eden" of
California. They are joined by Jim Casy, a Christ figure who sparks their
evolution from a self-contained, self-involved family unit to a part of the
migrant community which must work together for the greater good. During
the course of their travels, the family's grandmother and grandfather die and
Rose of Sharon, the Joads's married and pregnant daughter is abandoned by
her husband. The Joads make their way to California only to become
exploited workers in a migrant camp. Casy tries to organize the workers and
is murdered by thugs who work for the farm owners. Finally, the migrants
face a disastrous flood, during which Rose of Sharon's baby is stillborn. In
the ultimate affirmation of the Joads's recognition of their membership in
the human family, Rose of Sharon's gives her breast milk to a starving
migrant man in order to save his life.35
The Joad family is the focal point in the novel. The line of narration
follows their movement, accounts their personalities, and analyses their
fears and emotions. However, the novel is not merely the story of the Joads';
instead, it uses them as a focus point of a general scene. Steinbeck uses a
7
dual structure of narrative chapters- mainly dedicated to the Joad family and
their friends-and descriptive, general-image, or "long shots" chaptersmainly to give a naturalistic, comprehensive coverage of the general scene
of the westward movement and its outcomes. 36The structure of the novel
can be generally discussed in terms of the places where the events take
place. The novel starts, continues, and ends on the road. The road represents
the linking thread for the novel's moving parts. The beginning foreshadows
a long journey throughout the whole novel. The first part of the novel
happens in Oklahoma, where Tom comes out of prison, meets Jim Casy on
the way home and goes to his family who were getting ready to travel west.
The second major part of the novel is the journey to California. Most of the
events here take place on the highway 66. The last part of the novel happens
in California.37
This three part structure is important to the development of characters
throughout the novel. Steinbeck organizes The Grapes of Wrath by dividing
it into "interchapters," supporting landscape development and "narrative"
chapters supporting character interaction. He alternates the Joads's story
with intercalary chapters illustrating the conditions faced by the migrant
groups during their forced flight. The novel contains thirty total chapters,
sixteen interchapters and fourteen narrative chapters. The interchapters are
general landscape descriptions. They are much shorter than the narrative
chapters, normally two to five pages. But, the result is that nearly twenty
percent of the novel's text is dedicated purely to landscape development in
these interchapters. They contain no reference to any of the major characters
of the novel; Steinbeck dedicated them solely to describe the setting of the
novel.38
This structure is important to covering the frontier theme. The theme
grows with the growth and development of the characters. It starts like a
fantastic dream. Every member of the Joad family was dreaming of the
beautiful life and green landscapes of the fertile west. When they start to
make it come true, the family is divided to two parties. Grampa and
Gramma cling to their land. They refuse to leave. The family had to "make"
them leave. This results in the death of both. Gradually the myth of the
beautiful, fertile west collapses as the characters mature and become aware
of the reality of their illusion. Instead of the Garden of Eden, California
turns into a dystopia when they were there.
The Grapes of Wrath can be read as a refutation of the myth of the
frontier and an establishment of a new myth, i.e., the myth of the collective
spirit of the human kind. Throughout the novel, the motif of the old
American frontier is recurrent. The recurrent sub-narrative is mainly about
8
the frontier. The characters tell stories of the old fights with Indians, how
the land was first cultivated and how the Americans were planted in the new
land. They consider banks and large corporations that invade their lands and
territories as monstrous enemies. The whole system is monstrous. Banks
and corporations are inhuman forms of human community. They are built
on individual interests of shareholders. They are replacing every good,
simple and close to the land in life. People running them turn into machines.
The novel symbolizes the role of mechanization in the westward migration.
Machines and advanced tools were used by the frontier invaders to tame and
subdue the land. They are now used to steal the land from the poor farm
workers. The novel investigates the social phenomenon of a transitional
period.39An exchange seller says: "Didn't nobody tell you this is the machine
40
age?" The myth of the frontier is apparent in the characters' thinking. The
helpless farmers naively speak of fighting these "monsters" in the same way
their ancestors fought Indians and the dangers of the native land:
"the tenants cried: Grampa killed Indians, Pa killed
snakes for the land. May be we can kill banks—they're
worse than Indians and snakes, maybe we got to fight
to keep our land, like Pa and Grampa did..41
However; instead of fighting, and just like the frontier model, they decide
to escape to the west, looking for a fresh start, a new land of opportunity:
May be we can start again, in the new rich
land—in California, where the fruit grows. We'll
start over…42
To California or any place—every one a drum
major leading a parade of hurts, marching with
our bitterness. And some day—the armies of
bitterness will all be going the same way. And
they'll all walk together, and there'll be a dead
terror from it.43
Tom Joad, a central character in the novel, compares their journey through
the desert of California into the pioneer invasion of the west by
frontiersmen:
Al said, "Jesus, what a place. How'd you like
to walk acrost her?"
"People done it," said Tom. "Lots a people
done it; an' if they could, we could."
"Lots must a died," said Al. 44
The turning point in the novel is when the Joads arrive to California. The
"Promised Land," was "stolen." The frontier is closed because companies
9
and banks have possessed everything. There is no chance for a fresh start as
they dreamed of: "She's a nice country. But she was stole a long time ago."45
They met people returning from California after failing to find a work.
Thus, their dream starts to evaporate. The mythical substructure is clear in
the novel. The narrator keeps bringing the frontier theme into the reader's
mind. Weapons, tools, and artifacts of a frontier's life are recurrent.46 He
raises an important issue concerning the division of society. In the same way
that the frontier world divides its society into civilized "we" and savage
"others" people in the novel are divided into poor migrant "we" and rich,
inhuman "others". 47 "The Californian doesn't know what he does want. The
Oklahoman knows just exactly what he wants. He wants a piece of land.
And he goes after it and gets it."48This inimical division between the
migrant Okies (Oklahomans) and the Californians is reemphasized again
and again. A station boy tells his assistant:
"Well, you and me got sense. Them goddamn
Okies got no sense and no feeling. They ain't
human. A human being wouldn't live like they
do. A human being couldn't stand it to be so dirty
and miserable. They ain't a hell of a lot better
than gorillas." 49
This division justifies the violence and fights. It reproduces the
atmosphere of killing others to survive and to win the land. The first fight
with the proprietor of the camp area the first time they arrive the west.50 The
violence leads gradually to strikes and revolutions. It becomes the only
means to survive. By violence, people can destroy the old world of injustice
and establish a new one based on the unity of the human spirit.
The novel examines the frontier myth. It tries to refute its premises and
illusions. The actual western frontier is closed when all the land was
discovered and taken. There is an urgent need to new frontiers to be
invaded. America needs the frontier because it determines her very
existence. 51 Without extra movement, without further search for
opportunity, America will fail to stand up for her values. The frontier worth
exploring, according to the novel is the new structure of the American
society. The sort of community presented in the novel is new. People from
different places, different origins come together united by the search for
opportunity. They struggle to have a life, to have the chance to work; they
were rejected, even fought. The migrant society develops customs and rules.
It is a lifestyle that grows on the highway, on the migrant camps,
everywhere in the new west:
10
In the evening a strange thing happened: the
twenty families became one family, the children
were the children of all. The loss of home
became one loss, and the golden time in the West
was one dream.52
This society is forming on the wrecks of the old one. The social structure
that was built on the individual search for opportunity is replaced by the
humanitarian need for one another, the collective cooperation to fight
misery.
For here "I lost my land" is changed; a cell is split
and from its splitting grows the thing you hate—
"We lost our land."53
Jim Caesy is a foreseer prophet of the new age. He contemplates, thinks
and figures out what is going on in the whole country. In chapter twelve of
the novel he says:
"I been walkin' aroun' in the country. Ever' body's
askin' that. What we comin' to? Seems to me we
don't never come to nothin'. Always on the way.
Always goin' and goin'. Why don't folks think
about that? They's movement now. People moving.
We know why, an' we know how. Movin' 'cause
they got to. That's why folks always move. Movin'
'cause they want somepin better'n what they got.
An' that's the on'y way they'll ever git it. Wantin' it
an' needin' it, they'll go out an' git it. It'sbein' hurt
that makes folks mad to fightin'. I been walkin'
aroun' the country an' hearin' folks talk like you."54
The message carried out throughout the novel is clear: there is movement,
the whole country is moving. This movement, similar to that of the golden
age of the frontier, expresses a want, a need by thousands of people.
"America was a country in transition."
Just as in the gold rush, California was more
than a destination, it was a dream. And, just
as in the Gold Rush, those who came to
California
and
lost
everything
far
outnumbered those that claimed their
fortune.55
The Western States are nervous under the
beginning change. Need is the stimulus to
concept, concept to action. A half-million people
11
moving over the country; a million more, restive
to move; ten million more feeling the first
nervousness.56
The failure of the exodus toward California is an indication of the need for a
new one with different goals and different orientation. The collapse of the
dream of golden future in the West, leads to the birth of "Man-self" 57The
myth of the opportunity to expand whenever it was needed, whenever the
land was filled with people, fails. The individualism of the heroic "I" of the
frontier experience is replaced by a new society.
In the world the novel presents, the family is no more the central unit in
society; there is one thing instead: all humanity, all mankind. Ma, the central
force that unites the family and keeps it together is lamenting the loss of the
family:
Ma said angrily, [….]"They was the time when we
was on the lan'. They was a boundary to us then.
Ol' folks died off, an' little fellas come, an' we was
always one thing—we was the fambly-kinda whole
and clear. An' now we ain't clear no more. I can't
get straight. They ain'tnothin' keeps us clear. 58
The frontier experience is changing everything. Different and unpredicted
circumstances cause the death, escape or departure of people from different
families. It makes strange families help and stand for each other. People
start to understand the reasons for their misery. Throughout the search for
opportunity, the migrant farm workers find out that the problem is not
because of the lack of land, but in the way the land was run, in the hands
that consider the land a factory not a part of peoples life.
Tom Joad describes the spiritual unity of people, as the outcome of his
search journey. He declares the understanding of the necessity for a new
age: "Well, maybe like Casy says, a fella ain't got a soul of his own, but on'y
a piece of a big one—an' then— Tom laughed uneasily,". 59 At the end of
the novel, Tom leaves the rest of the family. He decides to join the mass of
people, to act, organize strikes, fight injustices and help the helpless poor.
He tells his mother that
Then I'll be all aroun' in the dark. I'll be
ever'where—wherever you look. Wherever
they's a fight so hungry people can eat, I'll
be there. Wherever they's a cop beatin' up a
guy, I'll be there.60
The frontier myth is the substructure of the novel. The novel ends by a
call to explore, invade and establish a new kind of society, a new American
12
dream. It is a protest against extreme individualism which turned American
society system into a monster. The ending of the novel is hopeful. A flood
destroys the fragile dam the farm workers made to protect their place. The
water flow makes them leave everything but each other. They even leave the
car that accompanied the family throughout their journey. All that
symbolizes a new beginning based on new standards. In the new world only
humanity is the main standard for treating others. In addition, the symbolic
act of Rose of Sharon signals the beginning of a new age. The death of the
infant is necessary. It symbolizes the end of the dream. Rose of Sharon
bitterly accepting the fact of her loss, she becomes another person. She is
happy to feed a helpless stranger by the milk of her dead infant. She has the
power to bring life in the face of death.61
The frontier experience in the novel, i.e., the westward migration is deconstructing the very base of the American dream of prosperity and success:
the family. The movement of the Joads and their gradual deconstruction is
an indication of the failure of the old module of the American society, the
module that builds on the family as the central unit of society. The men,
who were the working and fighting force in the frontier life keep running off
and leaving the family. They give up their collective dream and pursue
individual dreams that end up in nowhere. The vision of the novel is that the
best replacement of family is not individualism, but the larger human
family. It also suggests that the frontier dream is a masculine myth. The new
world is a world of love and compassion to all humanity, a world that is
initiated by the feminine act of sacrifice and compassion.
IV
The title of Steinbeck's masterpiece indicates that it is mainly about the
frontier (or limits) of people's wrath. Steinbeck explores the extent of
people's patience and their ability to cope with the inhuman social and
economic system. People were fighting with the unknown, like in the
frontier forest novels. They are not fighting Indians or Negroes. Instead,
they are fighting "banks" and companies. Such enemies are not easy to
define or determine. The novel is a representation of the "frontiers" of
people's aspirations and dreams, an expression of the futility of these
illusions in a materialistic reality. Steinbeck declared that the writer's duty is
"to declare and to celebrate man's proven capacity for greatness of heart and
spirit." He delivers a message of hope for humanity.62
The story of the novel does not clearly end. It continues with a fresh start.
The flood can be explained symbolically as an end of an era and a sign of a
new beginning. Jim Casy, a sacrificial Christ figure, is the prophet of the
13
new age, the age of the unified masses. Rose of Sharon is starting a new
phase of the journey by milking her breast to feed a helpless stranger. Tom
Joad, the central character of the novel, eventually leaves his family and
tells his mother that he will be around. He will join the masses. He will
organize, lead and participate in every fight against injustice, in every strike
where the poor workers fight the inhuman system of monstrous banks and
companies. The family shatters to make up a new society.
The myth of the frontier provides the subtext of the novel. It is a
recurrent motif. Steinbeck builds his novel on the myth of the American
frontier, proves its illusive nature, shatters the myth and builds the
replacement on another one. He establishes the myth of the new social
structure, a movement from individualism, from the family center into the
human society.
Notes:
1. Claude Levi Strausse Myth and Meaning New York: Schocken Books,
1995 p.12
2. A S Hornby. Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary of Current English
Oxford: Oxford University Press 2007, p.1009.
3. John Mack Faragher “the myth of the frontier: Progress or Lost
Freedom”
History
Now
retrieved
from
<https://www.gilderlehrman.org/history-by-era/art-music-andfilm/essays/myth-frontier-progress-or-lost-freedom> On 2/4/2013.
4. A S Hornby, p.625
5. Margaret Walsh "the Frontier and the West: realities, myths and the
historians" the American West: Visions and Revisions Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, p. 6
6. James Ayers The Colossal Vitality of his Illusion”: the Myth of the
American Dream in the Modern American Novel A PhD Dissertation:
Louisiana: Louisiana State University 2011, p. 103
7. Frederick Jackson Turner, "The Significance of the Frontier in
American History," Rereading Frederick Jackson Turner. Ed. John
Mack Faragher. New York: Holt 1994. pp.31-60.
8. Arthur Redding "Frontier Mythographies: Savagery and Civilization in
Frederick Jackson Turner and John Ford" York University Academic
journal article from Literature/Film Quarterly, Vol. 35, No. 4, 2007, p.
314.
9. Ibid p 314
10. John Mack Faragher "the Frontier Trail: Rethinking Turner and
Reimagining the American West" The American Historical Review
14
11. Arthur Redding p 315.
12. Margaret Walsh p. 4.
13. Barbara Buchenau,. "Comparativist Interpretations of the Frontier in
Early American Fiction and Literary Historiography." CLCWeb:
Comparative
Literature
and
Culture
3.2
(2001):
<http://dx.doi.org/10.7771/1481-4374.1124> p.9
14. Quoted in Ibid p.3
15. The movement in the novel is seen as a war march by thousands of poor
workers. See: Deborah L. Madsen "Discourses of Frontier Violence and
the Trauma of National Emergence in Larry McMurtry's Lonesome
Dove Quartet " Canadian review of American studies V. 39, N. 2,
2009 p.186.
16. Ibid. p.186.
17. Ibid. p.186.
18. Arthur Redding p. 314/
19. John Mack Faragher “the myth of the frontier: Progress or Lost
Freedom”
20. Donald Worster Dust Bowl: The Southern Plains in the 1930s Oxford,
New York: Oxford University Press, 2004. p. 4.
21. Ibid, p 51.
22. Joseph M. Flora & Lucinda Hardwick MacKethan eds. The Companion
to Southern Literature: Themes, Genres, Places, People Louisiana:
Louisiana State University, 2002.p.854.
23. Richard Slotkin Gunfighter Nation: The Myth of the Frontier in
Twentieth-century America, New York: University of Oklahoma Press,
1998. p.16.
24. Arthur Redding p. 315.
25. Ibid, 316. Mohamed Amine Khoudi , The Idea of Post war America in
the Novels of John Dos Passos and John Steinbeck M. A. thesis/ TiziOuzou: Mouloud Mammeri University of Tizi-Ouzou 2010-2011
26. Brian E. Railsback and ،Michael J. Meyer A John Steinbeck
Encyclopedia Westport CT Greenwood Press, 2006 p. 149.
27. BookRags.com Biography of John Ernst Steinbeck retrieved
from<http://www.
bookrags.com/biography−john−ernst−steinbeck/index.html>
on
4/2/2014.
28. Trent Keough "The Dystopia Factor: Industrial Capitalism in Sybil and
The Grapes of Wrath" Utopian Studies Penn State University Press Vol.
4, No. 1 (1993), pp. 38-54 << http://www.jstor.org/stable/20719146>>
15
29. Kevin Hearle "John Steinbeck (27 February 1902 – 20 December 1968)"
Steinbeck
Review
retrieved
from<<
http://www.encyclopedia.com/article-1G2-2846400072/steinbeck-john27-february.html>> on 3/4/2014.
30. The novel was criticized, even rejected, because of its anti-capitalist
attitude. It was considered an attack to the whole American system.
Despite the high esteem in which steinbeck is held by the general public
and by literary critics around the world, the mistaken view that
Steinbeck's importance is only as a social realist who documented
agricultural labor strife in the 1930s dominates the discussion of his
work at American universities. Steinbeck's biography: BookRags p.p.5
<http://www.bookrags.com/biography−john−ernst−steinbeck/index.html
>
31. Richard D. Marshall "The Grapes of Wrath": John Steinbeck's
Cognitive Landscapes as Commentary on 1930s Industrialization
Ph.D. Dissertation Saint Louis University, 2009.
32. In fact, the mythologist Joseph Campbell acknowledged that when he,
Steinbeck, and Ricketts were neighbors in 1932 he probably learned
more from Steinbeck about the nature and power of myth than Steinbeck
learned from him. Steinbeck's biography: BookRags, p.117
33. Ibid.
34. Patrick K. Dooley "John Steinbeck's lower case utopia: basic human
needs, a duty to share, and the good life" the Moral Philosophy of John
Steinbeck, ed. Stephen K. George. Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press.
2005. p.3
35. Steinbeck's biography: BookRags, p117
36. McElderry Jr., B. R. "The Grapes of Wrath: In the Light of Modern Critical
Theory.” College English National Council of Teachers of English (1944):
308-313.
Retrieved
from<<http://jchsgrapesofwrath.wikispaces.com/share/view/34509412?repl
yId=35864552>> on 4/3/2014.
37. Louis Owens, "Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath (1939)." cited in
Richard D. Marshall p.28
38. Richard D. Marshall, p.13
39. Trent Keough.
40. John Steinbeck. p. 43
41. Ibid. p. 43
42. Ibid. p.59
43. Ibid. p.59
44. Ibid. p.150
16
45. Ibid. p.138
46. The rifle is important to a threatened frontiersman, Leave everything but
the rifle, you cannot leave it. The rifle is a must in a frontier story.
Among the many refrences are the following:
And—the rifle?Wouldn't go out naked of a rifle. When shoes
and clothes and food, when even hope is gone, we'll have the
rifle. When grampa came—did I tell you?—he had pepper and
salt and a rifle. Ibid. p.59
Under the edge of the mattress the rifle lay, a lever-action
Winchester .38, long and heavy. Tom picked it up and dropped
the lever to see that a cartridge was in the chamber. He tested
the hammer on half-cock. And then he went back to his
mattress. He laid the rifle on the floor beside him, stock up and
barrel pointing down. Ibid. p..271
47.
48.
49.
50.
51.
52.
53.
54.
55.
56.
57.
58.
59.
60.
61.
62.
Quoted in Richard D. Marshall, p.40
Ibid. p.40
John Steinbeck. p.150
Ibid. p.126
Turner p.35
John Steinbeck. p. 131
Ibid. p.101
Ibid. p.85
Richard D. Marshall, p.27
John Steinbeck. p.102
David Wyatt, ed. New Essays on the Grapes of Wrath Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press. p. 30
John Steinbeck. p.270
Ibid. p.289
Ibid. p.289
Stephen K. George, ed. the Moral Philosophy of John Steinbeck ,
Maryland: Scarecrow Press. 2005. P81
Quoted in Richard D. Marshall, p.31.
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19