Man and Nature in The Grapes of Wrath Essay -- Grapes Wrath essays

Man and temper in The Grapes of Wrath In The Grapes of Wrath, John Steinbeck uses both obvious references and keen contrasts to emphasize the main theme of the novel the sanctity of mans relationship to the vivid world and to each other. Machines have no place in this relationship. They present as a barrier between men and the land. They are insidious because they perform the function of men with greater efficiency, but they lack the eldritch element that makes the land so valuable. Chapter five uses imagery to detail the evil inherent in the plowing of land by a automobile Behind the tractor rolled the shining disks, garnishting the acres with blades-not plowing but surgery, pushing the cut earth to the right where the second row of disks cut it and pushed it to the left slicing blades shining, polished by the cut earth. And pulled behind the disks, the harrows straighten out with iron teeth so that the little clods broke up and the earth lay smooth. Behi nd the harrows, the long seeders- twelve curved iron penes erected in the foundry, orgasms set...