The Grapes of Wrath, The Conclusioning: "The break would never come as long as fear could turn to wrath."

Well. I don't know about you guys, but after I finished The Grapes of Wrath, I sure felt completely drained. That last section is just unrelenting awfulness, huh? Like... you feel like we've already had some dismal times, but nope, just had to throw a stillborn baby in there, didn't ya Steinbeck?

Let's see... So, the peach farm. That seemed like a pleasant place to work and live, huh? 'Oh hey, you can have this money while you're being scabs, but as soon as we PUT THESE DAMN REDS BACK IN THEIR PLACE, you've got to accept a pay cut. It was just kind of like the culmination of all the things Steinbeck's been warning us about all the time, and it. Is. Bitter.

And then Casy came back!

And it's like oh YAY, everything's going to be ok because my favourite character except Ma is back and he will MAKE SOCIALISM HAPPEN, only, no, wait, look, instead let's club him to death and get Tom in terrible trouble!

Do we feel like this is some kind of massively downer message from Steinbeck like 'yeah, I really want socialism to happen. But it's never going to happen, is it?' (God, Steinbeck, stop trying to make Socialism happen. It's never going to happen.) Or is it just meant to be like 'that dead guy was really nice and only tried to do good things for everyone, so we should RISE UP and be like him!' I don't know. All I know is that I did not like it! I never do.

I actually kind of misremembered that they snuck Tom out of the peach farm place and then he hid in those woods, because I thought he sort of ran off into the night a la Connie a few chapters back. But nope, he hid in the woods near some boxcars for no discernible reason (oh wait, were they going to have him back in when his face healed? But wouldn't everyone have still been like 'Where the hell did he come from?!') and then STUPID Ruthie went and told on him. I seriously... Like, I like the kids for the moments of comic relief they bring to the novel, but Ruthie is SUCH a cow and she really needs a good talking to! And Ma's just like 'oh... never mind. She's just a kid.' And yeah, she is, but she's also a dickhead and needs to be spoken to!

Anyway... So Tom had to leave. Which was totally sad, but hey! He's going to take on the Socialist cause! (I think) You know that whole speech he gives that reads kind of lamely? Well, in the movie, it sounds totally awesome, and not just because it's coming out of Henry Fonda's mouth. This is where I was going to link you to a youtube video of said awesome moment, but I can't find one. So you'll have to take my word for it. Instead, I offer you what I can only assume was Alice's reaction at Al Joad's marriage announcement:

Which, brings us neatly to the final scene. Which I know we're going to talk about, but I don't really want to. The thing is, it's so... creepy and beyond what we normally expect that the natural reaction to it is EURGH, which I do ALWAYS have and I fully blocked out the ending for probably the first 3 times I read it, but of COURSE I'm going to have to defend Steinbeck here like I've been doing for four weeks (you guys all love when I invade your comments and defend Steinbeck, right? I knows you do!). BECAUSE yes it's creepy and gross, but if you think around it and not about IT then it's a kind of wonderful thing for Rosasharn to do (and sort of makes up for her being a WHINY SHREW for the entire book) and Ma approves which is just GREAT, and then also... It's meant to be gross. It's meant to be like, no things AREN'T supposed to be this way, but look at the lengths people have to go to just to eat! WHAT IS UP WITH THIS SHIT?

Also, I think there's something about hope and survival against all odds in there, but who can really say?

So. It seems about right to wrap things up about now, so GUYS! You did it! (I assume). You read The Grapes of Wrath!

And sadder and wiser women we will rise the morrow morn. Or something. But yeah, I hope y'all got something out of it other than 'I wish Steinbeck would stop being such a damn red' and also, if you needs some more Steinbeck, imagine that in every bookshop you go into, I am SHOVING you towards East of Eden. But The Grapes of Wrath will remain an important book in my reading history, and I've come to believe it even bestowed me with some important Socialist ideals that will never go away. So NICE WORK, Steinbeck! *thumbs up at my indoctrination*

THE END (link up below, my pretties)