Techniques- The Grapes of Wrath

There are a lot of techniques that the author uses in order to make the story effective and keep the readers interested. The first technique he uses is suspense. Throughout the whole story I did not know what was going to come next. It seemed like the Joads were never going to find a job they were going to stick with and then the next thing I know they found a job that pays very little. Also you do not know if the Joads were going to make it to California with all the troubles they had been having. When Steinbeck says, "Tom said, You got nothin' on him. The deputy swung around. 'F you'd like to go in too, you jus' open your trap once more. They was two fellas hangin' around that lot. I wasn't even in the State las' week, Tom said. Well, maybe you're wanted someplace else. You keep your trap shut" (Steinbeck 263). This shows the kind of suspense that Steinbeck showed readers between the deputy and Tom. Although the suspense was a very big technique in this novel symbolism was another big technique that happened frequently throughout the novel. Steinbeck wrote, "Then slowly she lay down beside him. He shook his head slowly from side to side. Rose of Sharon loosened one side of the blanket and bared her breast. You got to, she said. There. Her hand moved behind his head and supported it. Her fingers moved gently in his hair. She looked up and across the barn, and her lips came together and smiled mysteriously" (Steinbeck 455). The symbolism in this quote is renewal. This shows that people still had hope and were still trying to push through the Great Depression. Even though she had lost her baby she still thought of a way to keep this man alive. The techniques in this novel made it much more interesting to read and made the story very effective towards readers.

Bibliography

Steinbeck, John. The Grapes of Wrath. New York: Penguin, 2002. Print.