Grapes...
Tuesday, April 10, 2007
Why all the detail in the first place?
My question is why do we really care about all the detail? Why does Steinbeck focus on this detail so much? It seems that when we read we look only at all the detail vs. the actual meaning of the words and the book? SoO!! If he left out so much of the detail would the book be the same? Better? what does it affect?
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18 comments:
yea, i don't know, i kind of hate all the detail. it is painstaking and seemingly pointless...
I thought the whole chapter about the car salesman was POINTLESS. OMG. We could have gotten the point with two sentences. Instead, we got multiple pages.
Usually, though, I like the detail. That way, I can picture it in my mind.
I like the detail. It gives a good sense of what Steinbeck's trying to get across in his book as a whole, the detail and small stories that don't seem to have anything to do with the book even help me understand the situation of the Joads better
Although the detail is affective and shows a lot of what is going on, i think it takes to long to read. I mean, that whole turtle chapter was affective in foreshadowing the Joads' journey. So it was like a story withing a story and could have made a completely separate a story. Plus, all the detail takes away from the imagining part of it. Instead of imagining what you want, you imagine what he wants you to imagine and I like being free and imagining what I want.
i think the detail is actually very signigicant. the questions we did yesterday helped me a lot to get a better understanding of the book in general, and i realized that the seemingly irrelevant "concrete details" are actually very important. they are the tools that steinbeck uses to convey his metaphors and symbolism. for example, all that stuff about the seed getting stuck in the turtle's shell and then how it fell out and he dragged dirt over it; that's really to show how people are still connected to the land and spread seeds without even thinking about it. and all the detail about the car salesmen showed the way ppl ripped off the poor, homeless farmers on their escape to california. they are also just good imagery to help the reader feel like they're really IN the book. i like the detail.
Some of the detail is good as far as describing the struggles of the turtle, but it just takes so long to get through. at times it is necessary to completely understand what is going on, but its getting old...
personally, I don't like the detail. It makes the chapters very long and boring. But if we didn't have that much detail, I think, the book would be sort of like the sparknotes summaries.
Even though the detail may contain a great deal of significance, it simply bores me to tears. I personally don't enjoy having to muddle through the mess of, to put it bluntly, crap, trying to get to the real meat of what Steinbeck is trying to say. Maybe I'm just a stumbling simpleton, but I don't like to beat around the proverbial bush. Give it to me straight, partner.
In the first lord of the rings, tolkien goes on and on and on like this about hobbits and their famalies and stuff. It's kind of boring but all the detail really does help you see the author's world through the author's eyes.
See...I didn't enjoy that either.
I guess it's because people's minds just work differently...but when too much detail is provided, it bores me and I quickly lose interest, whereas when it's all about action and fast-paced, I am drawn in. I guess that's a bit juvenile of me, but I don't really care.
Actually, I like the detail, except with the whole rabbit part, that was just gross and sad. I think the detail gives us more insight on Joad and even other people that are also going through the Dust Bowl, which tells us how it is affecting other people, as well as Joad.
the Lord of the Rings books were boring too. The movies were good, but the books were boring.
Why do authors have to make their books boring... or why do people think boring books are good?
I think it's part of a graduated writing style that people either enjoy or they don't. That is, however, just my opinion.
Steinbeck traveled to California with a family from Oklahoma before he wrote grapes of wrath. So maybe his detail is coming from actual experience. Also...even though the rabbit was kinda sick, and Casy's talk about sex was kind of out there, it really set the mood for the book. So maybe he just wanted to show how things really fell apart in that time period.
I can't say this enough: the detail is brilliant. It gives such a clear image into these people's lives. I for one like the imagery the detail creates.
!!!
How can you read Steinbeck and complain about the "pointless" details?!?!?!? For those of you that enjoy the book (which I'm beginning to think I'm the only one), the detail is what makes this novel so good. If Steinbeck just told the story, the book would SUCK because, let's face it, the plot isn't that great.
the detail is amazing. it does seem kinda pointless at times, but if you read carefully then it makes sense.
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