Grapes of Wrath Quotes Flashcards
Intercalary: community, loss
‘Women and children knew deep in themselves that no misfortune was too great to bear if their men were whole’
Intercalary: formation of community
‘In the evening a strange thing happened: the twenty families became one family, the children were the children of all.’
Ma: community
‘Why, Tom, we’re the people that live. They ain’t gonna wipe us out. Why, we’re the people—we go on.’
Intercalary: revolution
‘In the souls of the people, the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy’
Tom Jr: community, socialism
‘Wherever they’s a fight so hungry people can eat, I’ll be there’
Ma: family vs community
‘Or anybody. Use’ ta be the fambly was fust. It ain’t so now. It’s anybody.’
Intercalary: gender roles
‘Men sang the words, and women hummed the tunes.’
Casy: religion
‘There ain’t no sin and there ain’t no virtue. There’s just stuff people do’
Casy: leadership
‘I figgered there just wasn’t no hope for me, an’ I was a damned ol’ hypocrite. But I didn’t mean to be.’
Tom Jr: socialism
‘Maybe all men got one big soul ever’body’s a part of’
Tom Jr: freedom
‘He says [freedom] makes him feel lonesome out there in the open havin’ to think what to do next.’
Intercalary farmer: criminality
‘Who can we shoot? I don’t aim to starve to death before I kill the man that’s starving me.’
Intercalary: poverty and criminality
‘Then the hungry men crowded the alleys behind the stores to beg for bread, to beg for rotting vegetables, to steal when they could.’
Intercalary: business vs criminality
‘You go steal that tire an’ you’re a thief, but he tried to steal your four dollars for a busted tire. They call that sound business.’
Ma: poor vs rich
‘If you’re in trouble or hurt or need – go to poor people. They’re the only ones that’ll help – the only ones.’
Intercalary: monstrous organisations
‘The Bank – or the Company – needs – wants – insists – must have – as though the Bank or the Company were a monster’
Casy: economic change
‘Somepin’s happening. I went up an’ I looked, an’ the houses us all empty, an’ the land is empty, an’ this whole country is empty.’
The Ragged Man: poverty and lies
‘I can’t tell ya about them little fellas layin’ in the tent with their bellies puffed out an’ jus’ skin on their bones, an’ shiverin’ an’ whinin’ like pups’
Ma: matriarch
‘She walked for the family and held her head straight for the family.’
Pa: patriarch
‘The family became a unit […] Pa was the head of the family now.’
