An essay by Nydia Campbell
In The Grapes of Wrath, John Steinbeck uses biblical allusions throughout the novel to convey the significance of the Joad family’s journey to the promised land of California just as many other Oklahoma families made the journey as well. With intense imagery throughout the novel, Steinbeck paints California as a land unmatched in beauty and opportunity and Oklahoma as a barren, dusty land unable to yield anything else to its inhabitants just as the promised land and Egypt were for the Israelites. Steinbeck also creates a character, Jim Casy, to represent Jesus to the lost people of Oklahoma. As an ex-preacher, Casy is hated by the religious extremists of the time, just as Jesus was, and Casy creates his own version of what religion is. Finally, Steinbeck uses Rose of Sharon’s dead baby being floated down the river to allude to Moses being floated down the river in a basket. Steinbeck uses biblical allusions throughout the novel to emphasize the severity of the Joad family’s journey and to foreshadow the hardships they will face.
Throughout the novel, Steinbeck uses startling imagery to describe Oklahoma. The highways and roads of Oklahoma are lined with “a mat of tangled, broken, dry grass” (GOW 14). The trees are described as being as “tattered and scraggly as a molting chicken” and the sun “whipped” the back of one’s neck as they walked (GOW 18). The description of Oklahoma is negative throughout the book. As the drought bars down on Oklahoma, the vegetation becomes dry and crumbled as the sun shines harshly constantly. As dust blows with just the disruption of a footstep, Oklahoma becomes a desert. “The wind grew stronger” as it rushed down the plains picking up dust and debris as it went and “the dawn came, but no day” as the sky was black with dust (GOW 2). The dust storms cause inhabitants of the land to hide from the unforgiving desert and seek a land that is a safe haven, a promised land. Similar to the people of Oklahoma in the novel, the Israelites were seeking a promised land as well. They too were in an unforgiving desert that they desperately wanted to escape from.
For the Joads, their promised land, or so they think, is California. Tom speaks towards his hopes for California saying, “I like to think how nice it’s gonna be, maybe, in California” it’s “never cold” and there’s fruit “ever’place” (GOW 91). Tom is used to the climate of Oklahoma where winters can be brutal so the allure of somewhere that is always warm can be strong and as the crops are dying, a place where there is fresh fruit everywhere is appealing to someone who is often hungry. Families across Oklahoma are asked “why don’t you go on west to California” (GOW 34). “There’s work there” they say and one can “reach out anywhere and pick an orange” (GOW 34). Almost nothing is left for those still in Oklahoma as the vegetation dies and the crops continue to fail. Banks come into towns and force the impoverished farmers out of their homes, so they have no choice but to leave. Similarly, the Israelites become enslaved to the Egyptians and are forced to leave.
For both groups, the journey to their respective promised lands is filled with tragedy. For the Joads, the journey to California leads to the deaths of Grampa Joad as they travel through makeshift camps along the road. The farmers journeying to California must combat stereotypes about them as being thieves or even that they are stupid. They must face car salesmen who attempt to sell them faulty parts for their cars and some must beg for food to survive the long journey. The Israelites spend 40 years traveling to their promised land where they must confront obstacles and starvation just as the Joads faced. Food was scarce for the Israelites throughout their journey, just as it was for the Joads and the terrain they were traveling was harsh.
While the Israelites reach their promised land that is everything that they thought it would be, the Joads were not so lucky. Once the Joads reached California, it was clear it was nothing like they dreamed it would be. While at first glance the vineyards and orchards of California looked “green and beautiful” the people of California were less forgiving, and just as the Joads caught a glimpse of the land Granma died, foreshadowing what was to come (GOW 227). The Joads faced many hardships in California. Jobs were few and hard to come by, and when they were able to find work it was for a short amount of time and the pay was very little. When finally Rose of Sharon went into labor, her baby representing the hope of a new life, but it “never breathed” and “never was alive” (GOW 445). The baby was in many ways a representation of the new life the Joads were hoping to find in California, yet it was stillborn just as the dream the Joads are chasing is unattainable.
Uncle John was asked to bury the baby in the midst of the flood but instead sent the box with the baby down the river so it could “go down an’ tell ‘em” (GOW 448). In this scene the flood is an allusion to the great flood that destroyed the earth as a consequence for human sin just as a women in the camp warned Rose of Sharon that she “better watch out for that there baby” because the children of sinners are born “dead and bloody” (GOW 308, 310). The death of the baby signifies the Joad families lost hope. As the dead baby is sent down the river it is startlingly similar to Moses being sent down the river to be safe from the slaughtering of babies. Each baby was sent down the river with a purpose. One of hope and the other of a warning. Moses eventually becomes the leader of the Israelites and leads them to the promised land, but Rose of Sharon’s baby is dead. The baby will never grow up to lead the Joads to the promised land and without a leader, the Joads may never reach their promised land.
Steinbeck also uses the character of Casy to represent Jesus in the novel. Casy is an ex-preach who has adopted his own kind of religion because there “ain’t no sin and there ain’t no virtue,” he believed in just loving people (GOW 23). Casy says he has sworn off religion but the ideas he believes become a somewhat religion for himself that others around him who are religious hate. They still beg him to pray before meals and he does it to “make ‘em happy” because he wants to do what people expect of him. Similarly, Jesus in his time brought his own religion for those around him. He was also hated by the religious leaders of the time. Casy explains that if people want something they have to “go out an’ git it” they can’t simply just wait for it to be handed to them (GOW128). Jesus respectively teaches that greed is a sin and that we must think of others first. Casy is a reversal of Jesus. Where Jesus taught to be selfless, Casy teaches to go out and take what you want. Casy’s doctrine is what those throughout Oklahoma want to hear. While religious leaders are preaching that they must be patient in the storms and that they will soon be over, Casy holds that they have a “right to do what you gotta do” (GOW 140).
Casy travels with the Joads to California chiming in his thoughts and words of wisdom throughout the trip. When the family finally reaches California, Casy also searches for work but is seldom very lucky. When the Joads finally find work being paid 5 cents, Tom runs into Casy who has been in jail and is now in the midst of leading a strike against the farm the Joads are working at. He claimed that when he and a group of people went to work at the farm, the price for the work dropped to 2 cents. Casy explained that as soon as the strike was over, the Joads would no longer be getting paid 5 cents either. Soon voices were heard coming closer to where Casy and Tom were hiding. As the two tried to escape, two men came upon them. One was holding a pick handle and used it to hit Casy over the head and kill him as he was saying “you don’t know what you’re a-doin” (GOW 386). Casy’s last words are startlingly similar to Jesus last words as he died, “forgive them father they know not what they are doing.” Casy was the savior of the Joad family in a way as his role throughout the novel was to impart words of wisdom and fill a somewhat vacant religious hole.
Steinbeck’s use of biblical allusions throughout The Grapes of Wrath conveys the significance of the Joad family’s journey to California. The Israelites journey to the promised land is an important story in the bible that speaks to the faithfulness of God. The Joads reaching California and it not being the promised land they hoped it would be shows just how severe the situation was. Casy throughout the novel is a representation of Jesus. He has created his own religion and as he travels, he is spreading it to those around him just as Jesus did. Furthermore, Rose of Sharon’s baby being stillborn and sent down the river is representative of Moses being sent down the river. Though Moses is sent to be protected, Rose of Sharon’s baby is sent with a message of death, that the promised land the Joads seek cannot be found.
This essay was written for the University of Oklahoma course Oklahoma Writers/ Writing Oklahoma taught by professor Susan Kates.
© 2020 Nydia Campbell
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