In his novel The Grapes of Wrath, John Steinbeck devotes all of Chapter Three to describe a "land turtle" crossing a concrete highway. The immense amount of details makes clear the fact that the turtle is going to be a reoccurring symbol throughout the novel. He is introduced in this scene, "And over the grass at the roadside a land turtle crawled, turning aside for nothing, dragging his high-domed shell over the grass. His hard legs and yellow-nailed feet threshed slowly through the grass, not really walking, but boosting and dragging his shell along..." While the chapter is extremely short, the emphasis is very important to note early on in the novel.
The two interactions the turtle has with society in this chapter speak volumes. The turtle can be read as a representation of the vagrant farmers in California and his tenacity proves the strenght of these men and women. Here is first interaction the turtle has: the "forty-year-old woman" did all she could to avoid the turtle, even putting her own life in danger as she skidded off the road to avoid taking the life of this animal. Contrastingly, when a truck driver saw the helpless turtle, he intentionally swerved to hit the creature. These two different mindsets are very interesting, especially when they are placed directly next to each other. Steinbeck's turtle is a fighter, and he makes it through the awful circumstances in the same way that the farmers do. Without a home, without food, the turtle perseveres and I predict the California farmers, like Joad, will do the same.
Later in Chapter Four, Joad reaches out to the turtle, taking him from the highway. I look forward to seeing how Steinbeck develops the symbol of the turtle as the novel continues.
I took a particular interest in this chapter as well. Besides the fact that it's well written and I enjoy myself some turtle symbolism, it also draws attention to the distinct animalism that Steinbeck emphasizes in humanity. I'm writing a post about this on my own blog, but essentially I am exploring Steinbeck's successful efforts at making the animals in this story as relatable to human's as possible. I think he does this to underscore how alike people and animals are in there inherent instincts of reproduction and, more importantly, survival.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad someone else looked at the same section of the text! It's really interesting to see how animals are brought up in this text compared to the others we have read. For example, usually the animals have been represented negatively - saying that someone lives like a pig or something along those lines. Here being the comparison being drawn is something positive- tenacity and perseverance.
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