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Chapters 1-10

i. John Steinbeck grew up in a regular Christian family, as did most of America at the time. However, he did not regularly practice Christianity, but believed in a sort of spirituality related to Christ. From the almost the very beginning of the book, he establishes a retired preacher named Jim Casey. Jim Casey is a direct reference to Jesus Christ, and they both share the same initials. Jim Casey struggles with religion and following the moral codes that he must as a preacher, so he stops preaching and contemplates the meaning of faith. He comes up with a for transcendental version of God. I believe that this connection can tell us a couple of different things about what is going to happen next in this book. One important theme moving forward in this book is probably going to be the clashing of transcendental beliefs and with the established religion of the time, which was Christianity. As Jim Casey has struggled with religion as his economic situation becomes increasingly difficult, I think that the people of the Dust Bowl who migrate will also turn away from religion and build on their transcendental beliefs of self-reliance and self-help. Jesus was also brutally murdered for a crime he did not commit, so I believe that a theme of official injustice and corruption, ending in the death of one of the family memebrs could be a strong possibility in the future. A smaller allusion, yet just as important in the long run is the fact that there are twelve people in the Joad family group. This is an obvious allusion to the twelve disciples. While I do not think that every person has a specific allusion to one of the disciples, I believe that a few characters will live up to their roles. The twelve disciples were also the twelve original followers of Christ, and the word original lands to the idea that later on there may not be twelve people left in the group. there will be many more biblical allusions to come, and this is just the tip of the iceberg coming from one person who has not read the Bible ever before.     Jesus's Life     Twelve Disciples   Steinbeck

Personal Philosophy

Personal Philosophy

“Nobody has ever gotten a scholarship that they did not apply for” - FIRST. While this may seem like just another ploy by an advertising department to lure in students, it has always rung true in my mind. Every year FIRST makes us watch their scholarship video at every robotics regional that we attend, and every year I ignore most of the video. However, I never ignore this one line. It was the only line in that whole video that caught my attention because it held true for so much more than educational scholarships. One thing that I have noticed is that we must seize every opportunity that we can, we cannot wait for God or luck to intervene and get work done for us.

I do not think that there a single person who has ever lived who does not regret missing out on an opportunity. While you may not be able to pinpoint a certain time in your life, I can guarantee that everyone has missed out one at least one opportunity. I know myself that the longer I think about this, the longer the list gets. One regret that I have is not indulging myself in a musical education. When I was in elementary school, my mom made me start going to a cranky old lady to learn how to play the piano. In elementary school, I only played sports, and did not particularly enjoy music. As time progressed, and my laziness fought against the old lady, I was given a convenient excuse to leave, she died. My first teacher died at the age of 92. For years after that, I joined multiple sports teams, clubs, and camps, and developed an interest in math and building. After about 2 years, my mom started to urge me again to try and continue my piano education.

I started taking lessons from another classically-trained old woman in Sunnyvale. This time my teacher was more forgiving and allowed me to reschedule lessons according to my school and sports. On a side note, this is where I met Steven Newman and Rujuta, who were both her students at the time and whom I would meet later in high school. After about eight months with this new teacher, the strains of school, and I stopped with this teacher too. Since then, I have not pursued any further musical education.

However, as time went on, my passion for music only grew. I started to listen to more and more music. I started to listen to and enjoy all different sorts of music, from trap to R&B to classical orchestral music. I also enjoyed listening to our school’s band and their field shows, and listen to music all the time now. Every time I used to listen to the power of the band, I would regret not joining band in sixth grade when I regarded band members as a coalition of nerds.

The moral of this story is simple, yet complicated when presented in the context of life. We must take every opportunity that we get. And while we have all heard this from counselors and we have all heard from our parents, and is almost as cliche as “Actions speak louder than words”; taking every opportunity that you get is possibly the most helpful advice any person can give to a student. While I am unsure about a lot of things, such as the structure of quarks(a real thing), I do know this for sure.

Chapters 1-10
g. Throughout this story, the theme of man vs machine and man vs society repeatedly appear. The man in this case represents the farmers who were hit the hardest  by the Great Depression, tenant farmers, and those farmers who live in the Mid-West. The machines are the new technological farming marvels that over-farm the land, and create the dust that ruins the farmer's lives. "Society" represents the bank and the other creations of society that rob from the farmers and force them off what has become their ancestral lands even though they do not actually own the land. On page 38, one of the tenant farmers who has been robbed by the bank of his land stands by as a large tractor driven by another farmer comes to wreck his house and  re-plow his land. He decides to take action and approaches the driver with a rifle. The driver defends and claims that he is but a pawn who follows orders from others. Then the enraged farmer asks who gave the orders, and the man says the bank. And then says that not to shoot the bank members, the board of directors that own the bank. And then he says that they are but pawns too for the bank people in the East in a never-ending chain. Exasperated, the farmer exclaims, "I don't aim to starve to death before I kill the man who is starving me. "

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Chapters 16-19

f. Tom Joad has a few strong beliefs that he carries with him throughout the story so far. The first belief that he sets himself up with is his belief that every traveler during this time of hardship has the responsibility to help others out. He starts this when he exclaims this belief to the truck driver, who he then uses to get a ride back to his home town. While he does not act on his belief, later in the ride, he does show his earnestness about being truthful with the truck driver about his past sins. All throughout the journey to California, he expresses concern for other's well being over his own. He opts to bring Jim Casey along with his family to California. This in itself is a clear indicator of his supposed responsibility to others during this time. The other time that he shows that he believes he has a moral responsibility to others in times of duress is when the man is being shot by the sheriff without proper cause. Without thinking about his parole and for his own safety, he trips the police officer, effectively incapacitating him. The other value that Tom Joad holds on to, is his belief that there are instances when a man should be allowed to violate the law, or some supreme authority. The previous example also works to show this moral value. He decides to attack the policeman while others simply watched him shoot at an innocent man. Earlier in the story, even before we meet him, he murders a man to protect his honor and to protect himself physically. This disregard for authority is apparent in every interaction he has with authoritative figures, which are far and few. Another instance of Joad rejecting the established laws of the land is when he first sees the state of despair the land has been put into by tractors from the bank which destroy his neighbor's homes. He sympathizes with the farmers and eventually is forced to move out in the same way that they do, resentful and sad. All of these instances show Joad's top beliefs in this book: his moral decision to help others as everyone should, and the second being his unreliance on the established law to be fair and protect him in his home country. 

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Chapters 16-19

e. My point of view is that of an observer who is observing this great migration from Oklahoma and the greater Dust Bowl to California from the side of Route 66. My poems explores the fear that these migrants carried with them, the fear of the unknown, of California, and fear for the future.

Thousands, millions driving
bumbling, cruising, walking

Fear coursing through
their weak veins

Stuck to the road like glue
struggling against invisible reins

Hoping for a new life
in a land filled with strife

Dreams filled with fear
of the unknown and queer

Chapters 11-15

g. Selflessness is one of the major themes in the Grapes of Wrath. Throughout the Joads' journey to California and starting right in their home in Oklahoma. In Tom's home in Oklahoma, after being evicted from his land, Tom and his family decide to move to California to look for work as manual laborers. However, on his travels back from the state jail for murder, he meets up with his old preacher. The preacher, John Casey, is also out of work. Casey is out of work because he does not believe in the Bible anymore and has developed his own brand of religion. The first instance of this selflessness in when the Joad family is about to leave and Casey is helping them pack and sell their unnecessary belongings. The family says that they would like to help Casey, their former religious leader, by taking him to California so that he will not starve and may find a job and work in California. The senior Joad says that they that may not be able to support another man on the road, however, the Joad comes to the consensus that their morals should come before their material desires. Mama Joad says that they will be able to overcome this hurdle with unity and willingness. Steinbeck is trying to show the sense of community between the migrants who are traveling to California. But he is also showing the sense of community between those in the religious community which included most of the farmers and other laborers in the Dust Bowl. Steinbeck also attempts to convey the sense of karma in Chapter 15. This is when the waiter, who has no connection to the travelers, sells a poor, starving family a cheap meal to keep their kids alive and healthy. Some truckers, who see what she is doing, give her large tips in return. This conveys the sense that with one good deed, you will be repaid by another kind spirit in return. Both of these examples show what kind of responsibility we have to other people during times of crisis. There are two types that have been shown in the story so far. One type is the type of selflessness with no return, such as the Joads taking Casey along with them to California. The other type deals with good karma, when the waiter helps the poor family feed itself, and the truckers help the waiter by giving massive tips when she serves them. 

Chapters 11-15

b. Route 66 was one of the first highways created in the United States. Route 66 became one of the most traveled roads in US during the 1930s when the Great Depression hit. People flocked from the Dust Bowl to California and to the North. Route 66 ran from Chicago to Santa Monica, California. Route 66 was not built like modern highways as part of the Interstate Highway System. The highway was built in 1926, but it was torn down to make way for modern highways in 1985. Route 66 allowed millions of people to access to California or vice-versa. Route 66 was not only a road going through the middle of the United States, but hundreds of towns also sprung up along the side of the road. these towns were built around the travelers that came across the road. There were thousands of gas stations to service the cars, and there were thousands more mechanics that worked along the road to fix cars that broke down away from home. To support these businesses, more restaurants popped up, and whole towns were created around the cars. Route 66 was almost newly built when the Joad family decided to move to California just as many others decided to. With the highway being so heavily used and providing jobs for thousands of others, people came to know Route 66 as the Mother Road.