Other+Symbols

Other Symbols in //The Grapes of Wrath//

The Turtle is continuously prevalent throughout the Novel. The turtle represents the current situation the Joads are in.
Ch. 3 especially shows the comparison between the Joads and the turtle.

Chapter 3:

"A sedan driven by a-year-old woman approached. She saw the turtle and swung to the right, off the highway, the wheels screamed and a cloud of dust boiled up. Two wheels lifted for a moment and then settled," (Pg. 15).

"And now a light truck approached, and as it came near, the driver saw the turtle and swerved to hit it. His front wheel struck the edge of the shell, flipped the tutle like a tiddly-wink, spun it like a coin, and rolled it off the highway. The truck went back to its course along the right side. Lying on its back, the turtle was tight in its shell for a long time," (Pg. 15).

These quotes and the overall chapter shows how the turtle acts as a symbol for the farmers who are trying to go to move to California. And the hardships they must take throughout their journey, not only on the road but also the hardships they must face when they are in California.

Additionally, when Tom finds the turtle and instead of giving it to his younger siblings he rather lets the turtle be free and watches it move towards the **Southwest **.

"He unwrapped the land turtle and pushed it under the house. But in a moment it was out, headed **southwest** as it had been from the first." (Pg. 44)

This event allows the turtle to symbolize poor and unemployed farmers movement to the Southwest(California) where happiness is supposed to be obtained. This also foreshadows the Joads moving to the Southwest.

Farmland:

 * The land of the tenant farmers in //The Grapes of Wrath// symbolizes their lives. And for many of these farmers, the land was the only continuity in their life. The only thing that they have always had. **

==== "' You fellas can make some kinda new life, but Grampa, his life was over an' he knowed it. An' Grampa didn' die tonight. he died the minute you took 'im off the place.'... 'Oh, he was breathin',' Casy went on, 'but he was dead. He was that place, an' he knowed it.'" (Pg. 146) ====

This quote shows that Grampa Joad's entire life was his land and when he ceased to have his land he ceased to live.

transcendentalist theory (which is what Jim Casy preaches at the end of the novel) everything that is alive is united as one as one big soul.
==== "I figgered, 'maybe it's all men an' all women we love; maybe that's the Holy Sperit-the human sperit-the whole shebang. Maybe all men got one big soul ever'body's a part of.' Now I sat there thinkin' it, an' all of a suddent-I knew it. I knew it so deep down that it was true, and I still know it." (Pg. 24) ====

This quote shows the belief in everyone and everything being connected into one big soul. This justifies the symbolism of when people are taken from their land; their part of the whole soul is lost. When this occurs the whole can no longer function completely until all the parts are connected back.

