Critical Response

In the novel “The Grapes of Wrath” by John Steinbeck, the main characters are almost all driven by self-interest. This will to only help ourselves is the cause of deaths and disappearances throughout the novel. The idea which Steinbeck is trying to portray is that the best way to preserve oneself is by first helping the group. Of all the characters in “The Grapes of Wrath,” Tom Joad is the first to realise that he cannot continue to be driven by self-centered desires. His realization is influenced greatly by Jim Casey who has always been attempting to help the group but did not know the right way of doing it. Eventually a circumstance arises where Jim is able to help the Joad family.

When the family first arrives in California, Tom gets in trouble with the Californian police. The Police are harassing the campsite that the Joads have stopped at for the night. Tom ends up getting in a fight with one of the police officers and knocks him unconscious. The family knows that Tom will be in a lot of trouble not only for attacking the policeman but also for breaking his parole. So Jim Casey, always thinking about the family, takes the blame for the crime and gets sent to jail in Tom’s stead. Jims act of selflessness eventually helps the family when, for a time, Tom is the only man to find work. Although Tom does not initially learn from Jims actions, he begins to see the benefits of working for one main goal rather than many individual goals.

The next time Tom encounters Jim is when Tom finally realizes the mistake of only working for one’s own goals. When they next meet, Jim is organizing groups of farmers to protest the lack of work and low wages. While in jail, Jim decided that the best way for him to help people is by bringing them together. Tom talks to Jim Casey for a while until they again get in a fight with the police. The fight ends with Jim being killed by a police officer. His death is an act of martyrdom and changes Tom’s views on self-preservation. Through this sequence of events, Steinbeck is able to show that it is better to die for the group then to live for oneself. Tom realizes this and goes off on his own rather than hiding with his family and getting them in trouble as well.

Each character in “The Grapes of Wrath” is interested only in themselves during at least one part of the novel. The characters that are continuously self-centered either die or end up in a bad situation. John Steinbeck tries to show us that the only way to have a good life is to work with other people and help them when possible and selfishness leads to a despicable life and bad situations.

Personal Response

A person’s capacity to strive for their goals is very much dependent on the conflicts in one’s life. These conflicts affect the choices that are available to an individual and the choices which present themselves generally conflict. No matter which choice is made, there can be some negative repercussions. In order to make a decision, one must first overcome the conflicts presented by ourselves and the people around us.

In the short story “On the Rainy River,” Tim O’Brien is forced to deal with his conflicting choices. He has to choose between running to Canada and going to the Vietnam War. If O’Brien does what he wants, his fear is that his family and the community he comes from will despise him. If he does what will make them proud, then he will hate himself and he may actually die in the War. I can relate myself with O’Brien in the fact that I have been faced with choices that have similar consequences to his, although mine have never been life threatening. My decisions had to do with my future career and lifestyle. What I want is to become a part of the music industry through either recording or broadcasting. My conflict, like O’Brien’s, had to do with my parents. Either I do what I want or I make my parents proud and go to University to get a prestigious job. In the short story, O’Brien runs away from his hometown and the decision he must make until he is forced to decide at the Canadian border. I can again relate myself to him in this instance. The difference is that he physically ran away while I just hid my ideas. My parents would ask what I wanted to do with my life and I would elude their questions. I did this because I was afraid that my parents would not like my choice of career. Once I started grade twelve, however, I was forced to choose. My conflict was resolved with much less drama then I thought. My parents were more than welcoming towards my ideas of doing what I want to do. The only issue they actually had is that I had not told them sooner so they could get acquainted with what it takes to get into the recording industry. I believe that in O’Brien’s situation, his parents would have also accepted his plans for the future and his imaginings of their disappointment towards him were fictional.

What I think this suggests is that our ability to pursue our goals is mostly affected by our internal conflicts. Although what other people think can be a factor, most of the time what we believe these people are feeling is just imagined by us. If these thoughts are not just imagined, then the affect they have on our decision making is huge unless we can cause ourselves to not care what others think. Therefore, to overcome the conflicts which affect our goals we must overcome our own fears and thoughts of personal failure.