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Friday, April 20, 2007
The Cars, The Food, The People
In Chapter 15 the different types of cars that are traveling on HWY 66 are discussed in great detail. The Lincoln Zephyr, my personal favorite, is discussed here more and seems to be a favorite of Steinbeck also. It is a good car. Steinbeck also describes the different food joints along the side of the road. In the diner owned by Mae and Al in which the poor family stopped in to get a loaf of bread, Al and Mae are nice to the family and gives them a 15 cent loaf for 10 cents and two 5 cent pieces of candy for a penny. Was Steinbeck using this situation in which Mae and Al were nice to them and showed them sympathy to contrast the mean owners who had kicked the poor farmers off their land? Was this just to show that there were still some nice people out there or did it have a deeper meaning?
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4 comments:
I think that the Mae/Al situation was kind of a way to show that although people didn't want to, there's something that makes people give of their time and resources no matter how unwilling.
May I point out that it was Al that was the kind one, not Mae (who I thought would be more charitable).
Yeah, although Mae didn't want to be nice to the poor people that were passing by, she eventually gave in (which is when she was nice... she gave the candy to the children)... anyway, I think that the point of that part was to show innate human kindness. As the book progresses it seems to me that Steinbeck is doing a lot of exploring in that area. He keeps portraying different aspects of humans like sin, kindness, pereverence. I think it is really interesting.
Once again, I think Steinbeck was describing the world the Joads lived in. He does that quite frequently
This has been the only part of the book I've even liked so far.... I thought that Mae/Al's kindness to the children was sweet. When she gave them the candy for way less than it was worth, I was really happy. I think this action symbolizes the kindness left in humanity. Yay for them.
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