The Grapes of Wrath and The Battle Hymn of the Republic
Even before you open up the book, The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck , you see a connection to The Battle Hymn of the Republic by Julia Howe. The title can be seen in the first verse:
"Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord, He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored, He has loosed the fateful lightning of His terrible swift sword, His truth is marching on." The entire verse can be alluded to chapter 5 in The Grapes of Wrath when the tenants, or "grapes", are forced from their home by the tractor driver, or "lord" :
" I got to figure," the tenant said. "We all got to figure. There's some way to stop this. It's not like lightning or earthquakes. We've got a bad thing made by men, and by God that's something we can change." The tenant sat in his doorway, and the driver thundered his engine and started off, tracks falling and curving, harrows combing, and the phalli of the seeder slipping into the ground. Across the dooryard the tractor cut, and the hard, foot-beaten ground was seeded field, and the tractor cut through again; the uncut space was ten feet wide. And back he came. The iron guard bit into the house-corner, crumbled the wall, and wrenched the little house from its foundation so that it fell sideways, crushed like a bug. And the driver was goggled and a rubber mask covered his nose and mouth. The tractor cut a straight line on, and the air and the ground vibrated with its thunder. The tenant man stared after it, his rifle in his hand. His wife was beside him, and the quiet children behind. And all of them stared after the tractor. (chapter 5 pg 52-53)" The final verse in the song can be related to chapters 28 and 30:
"In the beauty of the lilies, Christ was born across the sea, With a glory in His bosom that transfigures you and me, As he died to make men holy, let us die to make men free, While God is marching on."
Rose of Sharon(also known as a lily of valleys, The Song of Solomn) gives birth to a stillborn baby(Christ) and then has to cross a flood(the sea) to get to shelter. Once there she helps save a starving man by letting him drink the milk from her bosom that was for her baby.
" For a minute Rose of Sharom sat still in the whispering barn. Then she hoisted her tired body up and drew the comfort about her. She moved slowly to the corner and stood looking down at the wasted face, into the wide, frightened eyes. Then slowly she lay down beside him. He shook his head slwoly from side to side. Rose of Sharon loosened one side of the blanket and bared her breast. "you got to," she said. She squirmed closer and pulled his head close. "There!" she said. "there." Her hand moved behind his head and supported it. Her fingers moved gently in his hair. She looked up and across the barn, and her lips came together and smiled mysteriously." (Chapter 30 pg 618,619)
When letting the man drink her milk she looked across the barn as though she finally realized that other people are just as important as her and that the world did not "revolve around her" in a sense.
Vocabulary
- dissipate - v - 1) to drive away; disperse 2) to attentuate to or almost to the point of disappearing
- hoyden - n - a high-spirited, boisterous, or saucy girl
- cornet - n - a wind instrument of the trumpet class, having three valves operated by pistons
- meerschaum - n - a fine, compact, usually white, claylike mineral
- saunter - v - to walk at a leisurely pace; stroll
- jalopy - n - an old dilapidated motor vehicle, especially an automobile
- auger - n - a machine having a rotating helical shaft boring into the earth
- shoat - n - a young pig just after weaning
- declivity - n - a downward slope, as of a hill
- vintage - n - 1)the year or place in which wine is bottled 2)a group or collection of people or things sharing certain characteristics.
- titular - adj - Existing in name only; nominal: the titular head of the family.
- stereopticon - n - a magic lantern, especially one with two projectors arranged so as to produce dissolving views
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