Free Essays on Grapes of Wrath

THE GRAPES OF WRATH The Grapes of Wrath is a novel by John Steinbeck that exposes the desperate conditions under which the migratory farm families of America during the 1930’s lived under. The novel tells of a family known as the Joads migration west to california through the great economic depression of the 1930’s. the Joad family had to abandon their home and their livelihoods. They had to uproot and set adrift because tractors were rapidly industrializing their farms. The bank took possessions of their land because the owners could not pay off their loan. One of the biggest problems faced is the fact that the great depression is in its prime. After reading this novel I was able to tell that the great depression is the main cause and sound basis for the novel. The government started playing a major role in agriculture during and after the Great Depression of the 1930’s. It acted primarily to restrict output in order to keep prices high. The growth of agricultural productivity depended on the accompanying industrial revolution that freedom stimulated. So then came new machines that revolutionized agriculture. Conversely, the industrial revolution depended on the availability of the manpower released by the agricultural revolution. One could say that the depression that started was like a catastrophe of unprecedented dimension for the United States. The nations dollar income was cut in half before the economy hit bottom in the 1933. The total output fell by a third, and unemployment reached 25 percent of the work force. The depression was something that hit other countries, and it brought lower output, higher unemployment, hunger and misery everywhere. Today we have jobs that are disappearing for good. Some are the result of normal changing of the economic cycle, but most recently it... Free Essays on Grapes of Wrath Free Essays on Grapes of Wrath Essay On Hamlet Hamlet’s tragic flaw is his difficulty deciding when to act on what he knows what he most do and timing for his actions and inactions. These flaws not only ruin his plans for revenge but also contribute to his death. The king was dead of murder, betrayed from his own brother and Hamlet turned away from the incest of his mother. One would think that an act of revenge would be taken quickly while in-raged, instead Hamlet made his plans for revenge over a large amount of time, which reveals his weakness inaction. Hamlet was full of grand ideas and intentions but failed to act and to carry out his revenge, the fall of Claudius. Why did Hamlet choose, and it was a choice, not to take revenge on Claudius quickly and decisively? Hamlet had his own reasons for inaction; the strategy that he felt best suited his revenge. Hamlet was undoubtedly an unpredictable character, and throughout the play it seemed as though the thoughts of his mind came too quickly for the actions of his body to keep up with. Nearly all of Hamlet’s actions, with the exception of his outburst at Ophelia’s grave, were preplanned and precisely calculated. His inborn thought process delayed his revenge, and while Hamlet may have appeared inmourning with inaction, the wheels in his mind never stopped turning. Hamlet questioned everything, including the validity of his own father’s ghost, and this questioning slowed down Hamlet’s ability to take action. Hamlet may have thought too much for his own good at times; he wrestled with many ideas, thoughts, and feelings over the course of the play, delaying any real action until the time, in his eyes, was right. Hamlet was very much a perfectionist in revenge. He wanted everything to be perfect, and this caused him to take unusual and unique steps to gain his revenge on Claudius. Hamlet’s play within a play, a brilliant scheme in which he caught the conscience of the king, was a prime example of the ... Free Essays on Grapes Of Wrath THE GRAPES OF WRATH The Grapes of Wrath is a novel by John Steinbeck that exposes the desperate conditions under which the migratory farm families of America during the 1930’s lived under. The novel tells of a family known as the Joads migration west to california through the great economic depression of the 1930’s. the Joad family had to abandon their home and their livelihoods. They had to uproot and set adrift because tractors were rapidly industrializing their farms. The bank took possessions of their land because the owners could not pay off their loan. One of the biggest problems faced is the fact that the great depression is in its prime. After reading this novel I was able to tell that the great depression is the main cause and sound basis for the novel. The government started playing a major role in agriculture during and after the Great Depression of the 1930’s. It acted primarily to restrict output in order to keep prices high. The growth of agricultural productivity depended on the accompanying industrial revolution that freedom stimulated. So then came new machines that revolutionized agriculture. Conversely, the industrial revolution depended on the availability of the manpower released by the agricultural revolution. One could say that the depression that started was like a catastrophe of unprecedented dimension for the United States. The nations dollar income was cut in half before the economy hit bottom in the 1933. The total output fell by a third, and unemployment reached 25 percent of the work force. The depression was something that hit other countries, and it brought lower output, higher unemployment, hunger and misery everywhere. Today we have jobs that are disappearing for good. Some are the result of normal changing of the economic cycle, but most recently it... Free Essays on Grapes of Wrath Misfit to Madonna: Rose of Sharon’s Transformation When Rose of Sharon is first introduced in The Grapes of Wrath, we learn that she is expecting a child from her new husband, Connie Rivers. She is described as a mystical being whose primary concern is the well-being of her child, even at the almost ridiculously early stage of her pregnancy at the start of the novel. It is this concern that illustrates Rose of Sharon’s transformation from misfit to Madonna through the Joad’s journey. Rose of Sharon incessantly asks Ma Joad if â€Å"it’ll hurt the baby† throughout a majority of the novel, and adopts an attitude of superiority over others with her precious possession. She all but refuses to help the family pack the truck for California for fear of disturbing her fetus, even though she knows her help is needed. Her selfish antics and complaints are patiently absorbed by Ma, who tolerates her primarily because of her condition. Rose of Sharon knows that she is now an exception to the normal rules and exploits her position to its fullest potential. During the journey Rose of Sharon and Connie pass the time by dreaming of the idyllic life they will lead when they reach California. Connie says he will open a repair shop and buy a white house with a fence and an icebox and a car and a crib, all before the baby is born; all hopelessly idealistic and almost completely detached from reality. Every intention, though, is for the baby so that it may have a perfect life from the very moment it is born. In the face of hardships, Rose of Sharon comforts herself by remembering these dreamlike goals of her family and even reminds others of them, intending to lift the burden of reality. She does so when the sheriff threatens the roadside families to leave or be jailed. She tells Ma of Connie’s plans for California, which have nothing to do with the situation at that moment. This escape only proves to ultimately hurt Rose of Sharon and Connie; ... Free Essays on Grapes of Wrath Life Before Man: Novel Summary and Research Plot Summary A) As Margaret Atwood’s Life Before Man begins, the reader is introduced to the initial characters Elizabeth, her husband Nate and their children Janet and Nancy. The reader is also familiarized with Chris, Elizabeth’s former lover who has just taken his own life. The novel begins in Toronto in 1976, ending in 1978. The main storyline, Elizabeth’s affair and the decay of her marriage, is also presented. B) Life Before Man ‘s inciting incident occurs as Elizabeth changes visibly with the suicide of her lover. Once a devoted wife and mother, she has abandoned cooking and cleaning, opting for hours spent in bed. She gives her husband and children little attention and even banishes Nate to a separate bedroom. She removes herself from reality, but allows no one to enter her world. Nate is forced to give up his career as a lawyer, as juggling both his and his wife’s former role becomes too challenging. C) The rising action revolves around the complicated affairs that result in the end of Elizabeth and Nate’s marriage. The rising action begins as Nate has an affair of his own, becoming involved with one of his wife’s coworkers, Lesje. Elizabeth then plots revenge, sleeping with William, a man also involved with Lesje. D) The crisis is observed at Christmas, when Elizabeth invites each of the adulterous characters to dinner. A confrontation is unexpectedly provoked as the guests indulge in an after dinner game of â€Å"survival†. In the playing the game, each character must reveal why he or she feels that he or she should remain on the lifeboat and not be thrown overboard. The game results in number of emotional confessions from its participants and Elizabeth, whose family has become threatened by the couple’s infidelities, contemplates suicide. E) The climax is then reached as Elizabeth asks Nate to move out. She feels their marriage has suffered enough and looks... Free Essays on Grapes Of Wrath In the novel, The Grapes of Wrath, John Steinbeck brings to the reader a variety of diverse and greatly significant characters. However, the majority of each characters’ individuality happens to lie within what they symbolize in the nature of the Joad family and their acquaintances, which itself stands for the entire migrant population of the Great Depression era. One such character is that of Jim Casey, a former preacher and long-time friend of the Joads. In Steinbeck’s, The Grapes of Wrath, Jim Casey represents a latter-day Christ figure who longs to bring religious stability to the burgeon of migrant families facing West. Steinbeck manages to give Jim Casey the exact initials as the historical savior (J.C.), which allows the reader to latch onto this connection from the beginning. Yet, Casey’s relation to Christ â€Å"goes beyond such mere coincidences, and plays out rather in their similar plans of action† (Johnson 19). One of the many similarities between Casey and Christ is that Casey had also drifted out to the forests in order to "soul-search" and discover the answers to sometimes hidden questions. In this particular situation, Casey himself states the comparison of Christ’s and his actions while giving a grace at the Joad’s breakfast table, "...I been in the hills, thinkin’, almost you might say like Jesus went into the wilderness to think His way out of a mess of troubles." (Steinbeck 104) Casey further goes on during his rather rambling grace, "I got tired like Him...I got mixed up like Him...I went into the wilderness like Him, without no campin’ stuff." (Steinbeck 105) With Casey’s ... Free Essays on Grapes Of Wrath THE GRAPES OF WRATH The Grapes of Wrath is a novel by John Steinbeck that exposes the desperate conditions under which the migratory farm families of America during the 1930’s lived under. The novel tells of a family known as the Joads migration west to california through the great economic depression of the 1930’s. the Joad family had to abandon their home and their livelihoods. They had to uproot and set adrift because tractors were rapidly industrializing their farms. The bank took possessions of their land because the owners could not pay off their loan. One of the biggest problems faced is the fact that the great depression is in its prime. After reading this novel I was able to tell that the great depression is the main cause and sound basis for the novel. The government started playing a major role in agriculture during and after the Great Depression of the 1930’s. It acted primarily to restrict output in order to keep prices high. The growth of agricultural productivity depended on the accompanying industrial revolution that freedom stimulated. So then came new machines that revolutionized agriculture. Conversely, the industrial revolution depended on the availability of the manpower released by the agricultural revolution. One could say that the depression that started was like a catastrophe of unprecedented dimension for the United States. The nations dollar income was cut in half before the economy hit bottom in the 1933. The total output fell by a third, and unemployment reached 25 percent of the work force. The depression was something that hit other countries, and it brought lower output, higher unemployment, hunger and misery everywhere. Today we have jobs that are disappearing for good. Some are the result of normal changing of the economic cycle, but most recently it... Free Essays on Grapes Of Wrath The Grapes of Wrath By: John Steinback Throughout history, more than one great event has happened that captured the attention of onlookers, not only the onlookers of that time, but also onlookers that were yet to come. Textbooks captured these events, and they were preserved in the hearts of the people. However, some less recognized events that occurred throughout the times that were not brought to the attention of most. These depended on the exploits of the pioneers in writing to preserve these occurrences, so that the people of the future would remember. The Grapes of Wrath is such a book, in which a less known historic event that had a great impact on some people and was an important part of history was documented and preserved for the future to see. In The Grapes of Wrath, John Steinback speaks of the ongoing tirade hovering over the never-ending cycle of unemployment, and the quest for stability, independence, and happiness. This book opens at the scene of the aftermath of a typical dust storm. It is apparent that these conditions are not by any means rare or unique, but rather common everyday scenes. The sand has settled, the male villagers are reviewing the damage, and their women and children sit quietly waiting for the men. The chapter is passive, and speaks of and to no one in particular, but rather to all people as a general whole. In the next chapter, the book begins a narrative of the Tom Joad, an ex-convict searching for his family after a four-year sentence. This narrative also takes place in Oklahoma. This alternating pattern between passive historical chapters that involve no direct action, and those of historical-fiction chapters, continues to alternate throughout the book, with the historical chapters extending in length from one to three chapters at a time, and the fictional chapters extending no longer than one chapter at a time. Steinback expressed the feelings of the different characters, the central the... Free Essays on Grapes of Wrath John Steinbeck’s classic novel, The Grapes of Wrath follows the trials and tribulations of Tom Joad and his family, along with a supporting cast of characters which includes members of Tom’s family, as well as local people. When Tom is released from prison after serving four years for the crime of manslaughter, he begins to return to his family’s farm in the infamous â€Å"Dust Bowl†. Eventually, he meets another main character in this book, Jim Casy, who is a former preacher who seems to value the importance of human contact as something quite holy. Tom and Jim together travel to the Joad’s residence, only to learn that his family is at his Uncle John’s house. There they are planning the long trip to California in search of jobs with high wages, as is promised by the handbills posted all over the Oklahoma landscape California land-owners. It is there that they feel their fiduciary troubles will end. Unfortunately for the Joads, California does anything but solve their problems. Tom’s grandparents die en route, Tom’s younger sister, Rose of Sharon, is pregnant and thinks she might lose the baby, jobs become difficult to find, and all the camps are full of people in similar or worse situations. This new wave of immigrants into California angers the already overcrowded population. Jim Casey is arrested by the local law enforcement because of an argument between them and Tom for which he gets blamed. Eventually, the Joads’ find a government-run camp in which they pick fruit. The police attempt to stage a riot in order to justify breaking up the camp, but Tom helps the men diffuse the situation. After this, the Joads once again set out to find new work. Again, Tom meets up with Jim along the way, who has been released from prison. He is now working to unite the migrant farmworkers into a solidified front commonly known as a union. They are discovered by the police and Jim is shot and killed by one of them....

Battle of Charleroi in World War I

Battle of Charleroi in World War I The Battle of Charleroi was fought August 21-23, 1914, during the opening days of World War I (1914-1918) and was part of a series of engagements collectively known as the Battle of the Frontiers (August 7-September 13, 1914). With the start of World War I, the armies of Europe began mobilizing and moving towards the front. In Germany, the army commenced implementing a modified version of the Schlieffen Plan. The Schlieffen Plan Conceived by Count Alfred von Schlieffen in 1905, the plan was designed for a two-front war against France and Russia. Following their easy victory over the French in the 1870 Franco-Prussian War, Germany saw France as less of a threat than its larger neighbor to the east. As a result, Schlieffen sought to mass the bulk of Germanys military might against France with the goal of winning a quick victory before the Russians could fully mobilize their army. With France eliminated, Germany would be able to focus their attention to the east (Map). Predicting that France would attack across the border into Alsace and Lorraine, which had been ceded following the earlier conflict, the Germans intended to violate the neutrality of Luxembourg and Belgium to attack the French from the north in a large-scale battle of encirclement. German troops were to defend along the border while the right wing of the army swept through Belgium and past Paris in an effort to crush the French army.   French Plans In the years prior to the war, General Joseph Joffre, Chief of the French General Staff, moved to update his nations war plans for a conflict with Germany. Though he initially desired to create a plan that had French forces attack through Belgium, he was later unwilling to violate that nations neutrality. Instead, he and his staff designed Plan XVII which called for French troops to mass along the German border and mount attacks through the Ardennes and into Lorraine. Armies Commanders: French General Charles LanrezacFifth Army Germans General Karl von  Bà ¼low  General Max von HausenSecond Third Armies Early Fighting With the beginning of the war, the Germans aligned the First through Seventh Armies, north to south, to execute the Schlieffen Plan. Entering Belgium on August 3, First and Second Armies drove back the small Belgian Army but were slowed by the need to reduce the fortress city of Liege.   Receiving reports of German activity in Belgium, General Charles Lanrezac, commanding the Fifth Army at the northern end of the French line, alerted Joffre that the enemy was advancing in unexpected strength.   Despite Lanrezacs warnings, Joffre moved forward with Plan XVII and an attack into Alsace.   This and a second effort in Alsace and Lorraine were both pushed back by the German defenders (Map).      To the north, Joffre had planned to launch an offensive with the Third, Fourth, and Fifth Armies but these plans were overtaken by events in Belgium. On August 15, after lobbying from Lanrezac, he directed Fifth Army north into the angle formed by the Sambre and Meuse Rivers. Hoping to gain the initiative, Joffre ordered Third and Fourth Armies to attack through the Ardennes against Arlon and Neufchateau.   Advancing on August 21, they encountered the German Fourth and Fifth Armies and were badly defeated. As the situation along the front developed, Field Marshal Sir John Frenchs British Expeditionary Force (BEF) disembarked and began assembling at Le Cateau.   Communicating with the British commander, Joffre requested that French to cooperate with Lanrezac on the left. Along the Sambre Responding to Joffres order to move north, Lanrezac positioned his Fifth Army south of the Sambre extending from the Belgian fortress city of Namur in the east to just past the mid-size industrial town of Charleroi in the west. His I Corps, led by General Franchet dEsperey, extended the right south behind the Meuse. To his left, the cavalry corps of General Jean-Franà §ois Andrà © Sordet linked Fifth Army to Frenchs BEF.   On August 18, Lanrezac received additional instructions from Joffre directing him to attack north or east depending upon the enemys location. Seeking to locate General Karl von  Bà ¼lows Second Army, Lanrezacs cavalry moved north of the Sambre but were unable to penetrate the German cavalry screen.   Early on August 21, Joffre, increasingly aware of the size of German forces in Belgium, directed Lanrezac to attack when opportune and arranged for the BEF to provide support. On the Defensive Though he received this directive, Lanrezac adopted a defensive position behind the Sambre but failed to establish heavily-defended bridgeheads north the river. Additionally, due to poor intelligence regarding the bridges over the river, several were left completely undefended. Attacked later in the day by the lead elements of Bà ¼lows army, the French were pushed back over the river. Though ultimately held, the Germans were able to establish positions on the south bank. Bà ¼low assessed the situation and requested that General Freiherr von Hausens Third Army, operating to east, join in the attack on Lanrezac with the goal of executing a pincer. Hausen agreed to strike west the next day.   On the morning of August 22, Lanrezacs corps commanders, on their own initiative, launched attacks north in an effort to throw the Germans back over the Sambre. These proved unsuccessful as nine French divisions were unable to dislodge three German divisions. The failure of these attacks cost Lanrezac high ground in the area while a gap between his army and Fourth Army began to open on his right (Map).   Responding, Bà ¼low renewed his drive south with three corps without waiting for Hausen to arrive. As the French resisted these assaults, Lanrezac withdrew dEspereys corps from the Meuse with the intent of using it to strike Bà ¼lows left flank on August 23. Holding through the day, the French again came under attack the next morning. While the corps to the west of Charleroi was able to hold, those to the east in the French center, despite mounting an intense resistance, began to fall back.   As I Corps moved into position to strike  Bà ¼lows flank, the lead elements of Hausens army began crossing the Meuse.   A Desperate Situation Recognizing the dire threat this posted, dEsperey counter-marched his men towards their old positions.   Engaging Hausens troops, I Corps checked their advance but could not push them back across the river. As night fell, Lanrezacs position was increasingly desperate as a Belgian division from Namur had retreated into his lines while Sordets cavalry, which had reached a state of exhaustion, needed to be withdrawn. This opened a 10-mile gap between Lanrezacs left and the British. Further west, Frenchs BEF had fought the  Battle of Mons. A tenacious defensive action, the engagement around Mons had seen the British inflict heavy losses on the Germans before being forced to give ground. By late afternoon, French had ordered his men to begin falling back. This exposed Lanrezacs army to greater pressure on both flanks. Seeing little alternative, he began making plans to withdraw south.   These were quickly approved by Joffre. In the fighting around Charleroi, the Germans sustained around 11,000 casualties while the French incurred approximately 30,000. Aftermath: Following the defeats at Charleroi and Mons, French and British forces began a long, fighting retreat south towards Paris. Holding actions or failed counterattacks were conducted at Le Cateau (August 26-27) and St. Quentin (August 29-30), while Mauberge fell September 7 after a brief siege. Creating a line behind the Marne River, Joffre prepared to make a stand to save Paris. Stabilizing the situation, Joffre began the First Battle of the Marne on September 6 when a gap was found between the German First and Second Armies. Exploiting this, both formations were soon threatened with destruction.   In these circumstances, the German Chief of Staff, Helmuth von Moltke, suffered a nervous breakdown. His subordinates assumed command and ordered a general retreat to the Aisne River.