The Grapes of WrathStructure Analysis60second Recap

By Chapter 3, you'll have realized that Steinbeck
is telling two stories in The Grapes of Wrath. There are the chapters about the Joads (those
are the even-numbered chapters), and then there are the odd-numbered chapters, which
interrupt the story of the Joads. What was Steinbeck up to? I'm so glad you asked. At first it might be tempting to get annoyed
with the odd-numbered chapters in this book.

They don't tell the story of any particular
person; instead, they tell the story of the era in which this novel is set, of the Dust
Bowl, and the long road to California, and the struggle of the migrant workers, and the
bosses who would keep them in bondage. It's beautiful writing and amazing scene-setting,
but sometimes you just want to get back to the Joads. But what if I were to tell you that these
two seemingly different storylines are actually one storylinethey're the storyline of the
struggle of the whole migrant worker family, and of the terrible inhumanity, indignity,
and suffering that those searching for a better life in California were forced to endure. Most importantly of all, the odd-numbered
chapters help develop one of this story's themesthe absolute inhumanity with which
a man can treat another man.

In these odd-numbered chapters, we see the stark division between
the privileged and the poor, and the inhumanityand evilthat result from that division..