ShmoopTube
Where Monty Python meets your 10th grade teacher.
Search Thousands of Shmoop Videos
Family Videos 62 videos
This video summarizes the play A Raisin in the Sun. It discusses the Youngers, members of an African-American family trying to better themselves wh...
It may be the best of times for Chuck Darnay, but it's pretty much constantly the worst of times for Sydney. Poor guy.
A family goes on a quest to bury their family member. Yeah, sounds simple...except it never is. ‘Cause mom’s dead, and people have issues which...
The Grapes of Wrath 71054 Views
Share It!
Description:
The Grapes of Wrath is one of the longest—ahem, most important books in American literary history. But what's with the title?
Transcript
- 00:07
The Grapes of Wrath a la Shmoop As opposed to what -- The Blueberries of Sloth?
- 00:17
Picture this . . . . . . you've just written a novel . . .
- 00:19
. . . but not just any novel; a great novel. Like... a "100 books you need to read before
- 00:24
you die" bucket list great novel. Trouble is, you have no idea what to call
- 00:29
it. You toss around a few possibilities:
Full Transcript
- 00:34
Okie Migrants?
- 00:35
The Road to California?
- 00:38
Dust Bowl Farmers? But nothing thrills you.
- 00:43
So, how did you -- er, Steinbeck - come up with The Grapes of Wrath as a title?
- 00:50
Where did it come from and what the heck does it mean?
- 00:54
Some writers say they get their inspiration from dreams . . .
- 00:56
. . . movies . . .
- 01:00
... muses... . . . or songs.
- 01:17
Grapes of Wrath is part of a lyric from the Battle Hymn of the Republic . . .
- 01:20
. . . which may have inspired Steinbeck's wife when she suggested it.
- 01:25
True story.
- 01:26
Even though the hymn was written about the Civil War . . .
- 01:28
...its message of God taking vengeance on greedy oppressors . .
- 01:33
. . . seems every bit as much about America in the 1930s . . .
- 01:38
. . . as America in the 1860s.
- 01:40
And likely the 2060s. But Battle Hymn's author got her inspiration
- 01:45
from another source . . . . . . The Book of Revelations . . .
- 01:47
. . . and it used the words as an appeal for divine deliverance for the oppressed when
- 01:54
humanity is judged. Steinbeck himself used the phrase near the
- 01:58
end of the book when he wrote . . . . . . "In the souls of the people the grapes
- 02:02
of wrath are filling and growing heavy". <<DS Scholar voice>>
- 02:05
So... the wrath is building up inside of people and, sooner or later, the oppressed are going
- 02:11
to explode.
- 02:13
Probably not literally, unless they've seriously eaten too many grapes.
- 02:18
Steinbeck said he wanted to put a tag of shame on the greedy people responsible for The Great
- 02:21
Depression . . . . . . and the title could be a symbol of what
- 02:24
he thought would happen when the oppressed had had enough.
- 02:28
So is Steinbeck suggesting the Noah approach...
- 02:30
That is ...we wait for God to take care of the bad guys?
- 02:38
Or is he encouraging the Nike approach...
- 02:40
... where the little guys have to take matters into their own hands?
- 02:44
Shmoop amongst yourselves.
Related Videos
This video defines utopias and dystopias, and investigates how a utopia might become a dystopia. Can a seemingly perfect world actually be a dystop...
They say that honesty is the best policy, but Jack lies about his identity and still gets the girl. Does that mean we should all lie to get what we...
Ever wish you could remember everything that you ever studied? How about everything that everyone has ever studied? Yeah, pretty sure our brains ju...
Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man is an American classic. Hope you're not expecting any exciting shower scenes though. It's not that kind of book.
Do not go gentle into that good night. In fact, if it's past your curfew, don't go at all into that good night. You just stay in your good bed and...