Evening star., 1939-04-16
The Grapes of Wrath
BY John Steinbeck. Ne,D York:
The VIKING Press.

This work by John Steinbeck is
announced by its publisher as per
haps the greatest modern American
novel," 1t would not seem to the
reviewer to merit this extraordinary
praise, but it is unquestionably a
powerful thing It is, to be sure, a
piece of pure sentiment, sentiment
laid on with heavy hand and often
repetitiously. But who will say that
sentiment does not have its effect?
The reviewer certainly will not. She
happens to be reasonably accoutered
with sales resistance where fiction
is concerned, but still found herself,
as she perused this lamentable rec
ord of family of itinerant fruit
pickers through its course, occa-
sionally full of wrath and tears.
She puts this down not as mere
personal information, but as evi-
dence of the pulling power of Mr..
Steinbeck's narrative. He does know
how to write for his purpose. Here
that purpose is to make a single
effect al long length and he stints
neither crudity nor flneness in so
doing.
The book takes up the fortunes
of the share-cropping Joad family
when, after three generations on the
same Oklahoma farm, the tribe is
evicted because the land owner has
decided to cultivate the fields with
tractors instead of hand labor. One
tractor, it appears, will do the work
of many families and so there Is a
wholesale dispoSsession. The Joads,
from grandparents to infants, set
out for California to begin life anew.
They have about $3.50 and an an
cient sedan converted into truck.
They make heartbreaking modern
trek over the old Southwestern trail
which is now so sacred to the NOM
ory of the wagon pioneers and ar
rive in land of plenty-and star
vation. They have been told that
there are jobs in California-and so
there are. But there are not as
many jobs as there are dispossessed
farmers to claim them, and so wages
drop to serf-like levels and the Joads
see their money dwindle and their
hopes change to despair. That is
the whole story.
The effect at which he aims in this
book is one of contrast-contrast be-
tween the virtues of the Joads and
their kind and the vices of the own
ing class. To that end he exerts
considerable effort in making his
share croppers admirable folk. They
are, he seems to tell US, the true
Americans-proud, willing to work,
independent, law abiding but resent
full OF undue authority. He builds
his story up around Ma Joad, who is
tower of strength to her disorgan-
lied and frightened family, and
Tom, the son, who has served four
years for homicide, but Is good boy
Notwithstanding. Against the ster-
ling qualities of this pair he shows
us a blood-sucking, money-worship-
ping, thieving, exploiting class Of
owners whose one enthusiasm is to
break the spirits Of the poor 50 that
the poor will demand nothing above
mere life. It is a black and white
picture altogether, but it is a clever
one.
The book simply follows the move
ments Of the Joad family and thus
it covers wide section of the timer
ant workers life. It takes In the
cotton fields and peach orchards, it
takes in strike breaking, ditch camps
and government camps. It is a pic
ture of almost unbroken misery, but,
such is Mr.. Steinback's eleverness, it
is never a picture which lacks for
liveliness. The minutiae of the wan
derers' existence is drawn in with a
mastery vividness. The humping
of the old truck is likely to get into
the readers own bones and the dust,
the smells, the heat and the cold Of
the camp sites are almost physically
perceptible. There is forcefulness
about them, indeed, which makes
them after q while almost Is tire
some to the reader a. they must