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The Grapes of Wrath a la Shmoop As opposed to what -- The Blueberries of Sloth?

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Picture this . . . . . . you've just written a novel . . .

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. . . but not just any novel; a great novel. Like... a "100 books you need to read before

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you die" bucket list great novel. Trouble is, you have no idea what to call

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it. You toss around a few possibilities:

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Okie Migrants?

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The Road to California?

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Dust Bowl Farmers? But nothing thrills you.

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So, how did you -- er, Steinbeck - come up with The Grapes of Wrath as a title?

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Where did it come from and what the heck does it mean?

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Some writers say they get their inspiration from dreams . . .

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. . . movies . . .

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... muses... . . . or songs.

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Grapes of Wrath is part of a lyric from the Battle Hymn of the Republic . . .

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. . . which may have inspired Steinbeck's wife when she suggested it.

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True story.

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Even though the hymn was written about the Civil War . . .

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...its message of God taking vengeance on greedy oppressors . .

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. . . seems every bit as much about America in the 1930s . . .

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. . . as America in the 1860s.

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And likely the 2060s. But Battle Hymn's author got her inspiration

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from another source . . . . . . The Book of Revelations . . .

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. . . and it used the words as an appeal for divine deliverance for the oppressed when

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humanity is judged. Steinbeck himself used the phrase near the

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end of the book when he wrote . . . . . . "In the souls of the people the grapes

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of wrath are filling and growing heavy". <<DS Scholar voice>>

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So... the wrath is building up inside of people and, sooner or later, the oppressed are going

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to explode.

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Probably not literally, unless they've seriously eaten too many grapes.

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Steinbeck said he wanted to put a tag of shame on the greedy people responsible for The Great

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Depression . . . . . . and the title could be a symbol of what

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he thought would happen when the oppressed had had enough.

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So is Steinbeck suggesting the Noah approach...

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That is ...we wait for God to take care of the bad guys?

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Or is he encouraging the Nike approach...

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... where the little guys have to take matters into their own hands?

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Shmoop amongst yourselves.

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