A masterpiece, I believe, is a book that makes you feel impassioned about something, which changes your view on things and which generally makes you qA masterpiece, I believe, is a book that makes you feel impassioned about something, which changes your view on things and which generally makes you question, for lack of a more suitable word, stuff. Grapes of Wrath was perhaps the first book which did this for me.
The novel is set in 1930s when the farming industry collapsed because of new inventions such as the combine harvester which meant that masses of crops could be grown, however this meant the soil had nutrients and what not completely used up. This meant that thousands of farmers who lived in the mid-west decided to move to the west coast. The novel follows the Joad family as they make they their journey to the coast. We share their hopes and dreams, their successes and failures.
It is this that makes the novel feel so alive. As you read the novel the hopes become uncertain as they get closer to the west coast and are eventually shattered, although not completely. It is this journey of hope to despair to hope that truly made the novel for me, because you truly do become emotionally attached to the family.
Which brings me to another point, despite the symbolism and messages of the novel it never seems to focus on them, much like other Steinbeck that I have read. He seems to be only interested in making you feel something, which makes the message all the more powerful. However the message, that when you experience injustice we must not stay silent, that only when everyone is united can we eliminate injustice, and so on, still get through and by the end of the novel you arte filled with them.
All this means that it is one of my all time favourite novels and is a book I will always be fond of because, without sounding too cheesy, it changed me. The book was the first to make me truly think. ...more
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