The Grapes of Wrath - 15

A universal theme throughout the book The Grapes of Wrath is hope. Hope is written between the lines of every single page in the book. You can sense the great presence of hope as you begin every new chapter. Hope is what keeps the book going and as well keeps the Joad family going.

Without hope, the Joads would have given up long ago. The book starts with hope, as it says, "And the women came out of the houses to stand beside their men-to feel whether this time the men would break. The women studied the men's faces secretly, for the corn could go, as long as something else remained. The children stood near by, drawing figures in the dust with bare toes, and the children sent exploring senses out to see whether men and women would break." (Steinbeck 3)

When their world seemed to be ending, the women stood beside their men to see if things would still go on. They stood beside their men to see if the men had hope. If the men had hope, the women knew everything would be alright because as long as the man has hope, the household will still function. They studied the men's faces to see if the men would break, to see if the men had lost hope. The children stood near their mothers. They stood near their mothers to read their mothers body language, to see if their mothers still had hope. For the children knew if their mothers still had hope, life would go on, and everything indeed would be alright.

Throughout the entire book, the Joad family clings to hope, as well as the rest of the Americans that were traveling West. If hope still remained, the families had a reason to go on. They had something to look forward to. Hope was all that they had, and they clutched at it with everything they had because they knew that if hope was lost, their lives would be lost.

At the end of the book, all hope seems to be lost. Granpa had died, Noah had left the family, Tom had left the family, and Al was soon to leave. Their temporary box car home was about to be completely flooded, and they had nowhere else to go. And Rose of Sharon had delivered a still born baby. The baby was where all of Rose of Sharon's hope was. All of her hopes, dreams, and aspirations for the future were wrapped up in that baby. That baby was her everything, but it did not live. All hope seemed to be lost for the Joad family, until they entered the barn on top of the hill. In the barn was a young boy standing over his dying father who had almost starved to death. It was that sight that brought hope to the Joads. It was not just that the man was worse off than them that brought them hope, but that Rose of Sharon could help the man by giving him milk. This was the ultimate gift of hope to the man and to Rose of Sharon, who now got a new perspective on her life.

Steinbeck, John. The Grapes of Wrath. New York: Penguin, 2002. Print.