The chapter that would be most important would have to be chapter thirteen. Without reading this chapter a reader would have no knowledge of a key event in the storyline, the death of Granpa. There are several ongoing themes throughout this chapter, but the most prevalent seems to be the importance of family. The book spends a great amount of time going into detail about the various family functions, how everyone has a job and a place in the group's pecking order. It comes back to describing family meetings as almost political from previous chapters, reinforcing the importance of tradition and the family's social order.
"I seen fellas like you before. You ain't askin' nothin'; you're jus' singin' a kinda song. 'What we comin' to?' You don' wanta know." (Steinbeck 128)
Has nothing to do with what I talked about before, just found the passage thought provoking.
I agree that when the family had their meetings it seemed like everyone had their place in the cirle and there were certain rituals that went along with these meetings. The men would kneel down the women would stand behind them and the children beside the women. And certain people had certain spot and roles. I found this to be interesting it the order and structure of the family.
ReplyDeleteI found Chapter 13 to be family oriented as well and the death of Grampa was rather sad! I found similar family aspects back in Chapter 8 when Joad and Casey finally met up with Joad's family. (On a side note, what Grampa ate, and how he ate, in Chapter 8 may make some sense as to why he died!) I agree though, you see over and over again in these chapters circumstances hindering the family from moving in the desired direction but by sticking together they make progress. How sweet family can be!
ReplyDeleteI agree that family seems to be a very strong theme throughout this chapter. Chapter 13 definitely was important in this story. Not only because of the death of Grampa, but also meeting the Wilson's.
ReplyDeleteI thought it was very sad when grampa died but i think a lot of it might of had to do with what Mike was mentioning and also him just being sad and depressed about what the bank was doing to the community and families. It made me feel like grampa just thought he had nothing else to live for.
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