The Grapes of Wrath Essay

The Grapes of Wrath is a novel written by John Steinbeck about the Joad family and their journey to California. They travel with the desperate hopes of finding a superior life, but they must deal with the disappointment of finding their hopes false. In the third chapter of The Grapes of Wrath, John Steinbeck describes a turtle that, in more ways than one, reflects the story of the migrants and their pilgrimage.

In the beginning of the chapter the turtle is described moving slowly, but with confidence, toward a road, which he is determined to cross. The turtle comes across a bump, which would likely be very hard to climb, but with great perseverance sets to climb over it. He struggles for a while, often getting stuck for a moment, before he finally reaches the other side. The comparison to the turtle and the migrants in this instance is that they began their journey to California, knowing of the great “bump” they would have to climb: lack of money. But they pressed on, and through many troubles and problems, somehow found a way there.

As the turtle continues on, a car makes it’s way down the road toward him. The car, slightly startled, moves so as to not hit the turtle. Confused, the car continues down the road, but now with more caution. Then a second car heads toward the turtle, but when seeing it in the road, the driver is outraged and he swerves, aiming to hit the turtle. The first car represents the travelers starting out to California. The Californians at first left them alone but they began to grow suspicious at the rapidly growing number of migrants. Then, as the second car reflects, they grew outraged at the amount of people coming in taking away their jobs, and crowding up the state. Hatred formed inside the hearts of the Californians toward the migrants, and they did everything they could think of to get rid of them.

When the second car had swerved to hit the turtle, it only hit the edge of its shell, the impact of which caused the turtle to fly back to the side of the road where he had began. The turtle landed on it’s back side, and after a few moments of hiding, he cautiously stuck his head and legs out. He began scrambling for something to pull him over. Finally he found a piece of quartz and, with some difficulty, pulled himself upright again. He began to head toward the road again with the same determination. The migrants were hurt by the terrible hatred and actions sent toward them, but they kept on going, they kept on fighting, and they kept on hoping.