Morgans favorite chapter

The chapter that stood out the most to me was chapter 7, when the car salesmen Jim was trying to sell cars to the people that were headed to California to look for a jobs and a better life for their family. The reason this chapter stood out to me the most was because of Jim’s harsh words and lies that he would tell his customers. He was stealing people’s money by cheating them and filling the cars with sawdust and replacing the good quality engines with engines that were cracked. It was hard to believe that this guy could be so mean when he knew that the travelers needed their money for survival and they had already been through so much with the tenants and their land.

I think the theme in chapter 7 shows that no matter what disaster hits the community it’s important we help each other and stick together whereas the sales mean were being greedy and wanting more for themselves for example on page 87 the salesmen is giving the customer a hard time for not wanting to buy and his making him feel guilty as if he has wasted his time since he decided he doesn’t want to buy the car now.

Dan's Interpretation of Chapter Eight

While reading Chapter Eight I found myself engaged and felt emotionally invested with Joad.  He hadn’t seen his family while he was in prison and had no communication with them.  So seeing them after that extended period had to weigh on his mind.  His family was open and accepting of his arrival, a little surprised as well.  My interpretation of this chapter’s theme would be family and reuniting.  Everyone is happy to see “Tommy” come home. For example, here’s the passage in which Joad reunites with his mother. 

She moved toward him lithely, soundlessly in her bare feet, and her face was full of wonder.  Her small hand felt his arm, felt the soundness of his muscles.  And then her fingers went up to his cheek as a blind man’s fingers might.  And her joy was nearly like sorrow.  Tom pulled his underlip between his teeth and bit it.  Her eyes went wonderingly to his bitten lip, and saw the little line of blood against his teeth and the trickle of blood down his lip.  Then she knew, and her control came back, and her hand dropped. (Page 101)

Chapter 8 of The Grapes of Wrath

For today's reading we had to read from Chapter 7 through the end of Chapter 14, in all of the reading Chapter 8 stood out the most to me. Why this is? What meant the most to me was that Joad and Casey finally found Joad's family. This chapter really impacted me as I attempted to place myself in Joad's position. I can only imagine the feelings and thoughts that were rushing through his body and mind. Four years of separation from his family were going to be alleviated by a sweet reunion. Now that I am in college and out on my own, I too, feel emotions of excitement and joy whenever I have an opportunity to return home and see my family once more.

A theme in chapter 8 that stands out to me is just how important family is. No matter what the circumstance may be as long as the family is together the challenge can be overcome. At least the challenge can be more bareable. For Joad and his family the challenge was being uprooted from their land and home and embarking on a long journey to a foreign land and with the whole family being reunited there is a rekindled spirit amoungst them. Many times struggles have come up in my life and I see now that the outcome could have been entirely different if I didn't have my family.

 A passage to support the theme of family in chapter 8 is found in the last paragraph on page 75:
"Pa broke in, "Yeah, ever' night Grampa'd get mad. Tumble over Winfield, an' Winfield'd yell, an' Grampa'd get mad an' wet his drawers, an' that'd make him madder, an' purty soon ever'body in the house'd be yellin' their head off." His words trumbled out between chuckles. "Oh, we had lively times. One night when ever'body was yellin' an' a-cussin', your brother Al, he's a smart aleck now, he says, 'Darnit, Grampa, why don't you run off an' be a pirate?' Well, that made Grampa so mad he went for his gun. Al had ta sleep out in the fiel' that night. But now Granma an' Grampa both sleeps in the barn."

(I also loved the passage on page 73 describing the two dogs and their reactions to the "strangers")

hannahs favorite chapter

The reading for today had a lot of content, but there was key parts that made the reading stand out. My favorite chapter was chapter eight, this chapter showed the joy and happiness of Tom returning home, and went into great details about how his family behaved and what they were like. I really liked how they described toms grandma as being mean and rough. My favorite passage was one describing one of grandmas stories. " once after a meeting, while she was still speaking in tongues she fired both barrels of a shot gun at her husband and after that he admired her and did not try to torture her as children torture bugs."

Importance of Family

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.

The Grapes of Wrath

The chapter I found most important is chapter eight because Uncle Jack felt that it was his fault his woman past away. Uncle Jack spent all his time making it up to somebody by giving kids stuff or dropping a sack of food on somebody’s porch. He felt unhappy even when giving everything he had away. The theme I saw in this everyone doesn’t have knowledge that everyone must go at some point in time. It is no one’s fault but it was their time to go. We shouldn’t beat ourselves up over it.

One passage from my active reading is “I ain’t a-goin’. This country ain’t no good, but it’s my country. No, you all go ahead. I’ll jus’ stay right here where I b’long.” in chapter 10 because Grampa was too proud to leave.

Grapes of Wrath

Chapter Eight was the most engaging chapter, because Tom Joad has made it back home to his family. The family accepts him after he was away in jail after four years. The theme that I realized was the importance of family and that your family will always be there when you need them. “He held his hammer suspended in the air, about to drive a set nail, and he looked over the truck side at Tom, looked resentful at being interrupted. And then his chin drove forward and his eyes looked at Tom’s face, and then gradually his brain became aware of what he saw. The hammer dropped slowly to his side, and with his left hand he took the nails from his mouth. And he said wonderingly, as though he told himself the fact, ‘It’s Tommy-‘And then, still informing himself, ‘It’s Tommy come home.’ His mouth opened again, and a look of fear came into his eyes. ‘Tommy,’ he said softly, ‘you ain’t busted out? You ain’t got to hide?’ He listened tensely” (page 96).  This passage shows how a father can be astonished that his son is finally home, even though he is home from jail.