Name: The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck (Book Summary) - Minute Book Report
Uploaded: 2018-09-06T15:35:39.000Z
Duration: 5 min 57 s
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Adverbs of manner

This is a story about a man named Tom Joad, a ex-convict recently released from prison

for killing a man with a shovel while being stabbed. While hitchhiking to his father's

cotton farm in Oklahoma, Tom meets Casy, his childhood preacher who has since left the

When they arrive at the farm, they see that it is abandoned and the land has been worked

over by a tractor. A man named Muley, a local man who knew Tom when he was younger, approaches

and explains that most of the families in the area have been forced out by the banks

and that Tom's family has gone to live with his Uncle John.

Tom and Casy walk to Uncle John's farm and Tom is reunited with his father, mother, grandparents,

and siblings. Over breakfast, Tom's father explains that they were planning on moving

The family packs in the truck, which includes Grandpa, Grandma, Casy, Uncle John, Connie,

Rose of Sharon, Al, Noah, Ruthie, Winfield, and Tom. They begin their journey on the road

As the family continues on their journey, they stop on the side of the road to rest

and meet the Wilson's, a husband and wife whose car has stopped working. Grandpa Joad

As they exit Oklahoma and enter Texas, the car breaks down and needs a new engine part.

The rest of the family goes ahead in the truck and rests at a stop, while Tom and his brother,

Al, look for a service station. They find a car parts dealer and the one-eyed man sells

They return to the vehicle and fix it, eventually catching up to the family at the stop. However,

at the stop, a man returning from California tells them that workers arriving in California

are being taken advantage of because of their desperation. Still, the Joad and Wilson families

The family drives through Arizona and finally arrives in California, but they still must

cross the desert. At a local encampment, Tom's brother, Noah, decides to stay and the Wilson's

urge the Joad's to continue without them because Mrs. Wilson is near death. With Grandma

Joad nearly dead, the family packs up and makes the final push into California. However,

Grandma Joad never sees the orchards and city lights of California, as she dies in the back

After burying Grandma Joad, the family settles in an encampment called Hooverville. The collection

of tents is full of poor workers and their families, all of which are struggling to eat.

Tom meets a man named Floyd who tells him that there is no work in the area and describes

how the workers are being taken advantage of because of so few jobs.

After Al helps Floyd fix his car, Floyd tells Tom that there is work two hundred miles to

the north. However, Tom is apprehensive about moving north since the work isn't guaranteed.

A man from the south seeking workers appears in the camp with a deputy sheriff. Floyd demands

to see his license since the man seems shady. When the man refuses, the deputy tries to

arrest Floyd. Floyd runs away and Tom trips the deputy. As the deputy fires his gun at

Floyd, Casy knocks out the deputy and turns himself in when more deputies arrive.

Tom decides that Hooverville is not safe and so they pack up their belongings. After Tom's

brother-in-law, Connie, runs away and Uncle John gets drunk, the family heads north. They

are forced to turn around by a pack of angry people, but Tom waits them out as he watches

Angry, Tom turns the truck toward a government camp called Weedpatch in the south that is

rumored to have nice amenities and no sheriffs.

The family arrives at Weedpatch, a little self-governing community with their own showers

and laws. A recent vacancy allows the Joads to move in. They are welcomed to the camp

Tom finds a job digging a ditch, while the rest of the family becomes accustomed to the

The camp prepares for their weekly Saturday evening dance, but there is a rumor that a

fight will be started, which will allow the sheriffs to shut down the camp. As visitors

from outside the camp enter for the dance, a group of men, including Tom, try to screen

The band plays as the people dance and just as a fight is about to escalate, the men stop

Eventually, the Joads can't find work and must move out of Weedpatch.

The Joads find work at Hooper Ranch and are escorted past a line of picketers. After picking

peaches for a day, they barely have enough money for dinner.

That night Tom investigates the picket line and reunites with Casy, who is leading the

picket. Casy tells Tom that he's learned about the strength of a union and how they

keep lowering the wages. However, a group of men attack them, leaving Casy dead. In

response, Tom kills one of the men, but gets hit in the face. Tom returns home and can't

return to work because of the injuries to his face.

The wages for work are lowered just as Casy predicted and as suspicions grow about the

killing at the picket line, the Joads decide to leave the camp. On the road, they see a

After finding residence in a boxcar, the family picks cotton and collects a fair amount of

money to buy food. However, the cotton is running low and soon everyone will be looking

Ruthie gets into a fight with another girl and accidentally says that Tom recently killed

a man. Ma gets worried and gives Tom money to run away. Tom accepts the money and leaves,

saying that he's going to try to continue the work that Casy started - trying to setup

It begins to rain, indicating that field work has stopped. Al meets a girl named Agnes and

they want to get married. Ma doesn't want Al to leave because he's the only one who

Rose of Sharon, Tom's sister, begins feeling sick and starts to give birth during a rainstorm.

As the nearby river begins to flood, Pa and some of the men begin digging a bank to stop

the rising water. However, the water continues to rise and eventually floods their truck.

Rose of Sharon gives birth, but the baby is born dead. Uncle John is told to bury it,

The rainwater rises and begins to flood their boxcar. After trying to protect themselves

from the rising waters, the Joads decide to leave and Al stays behind with Agnes.

The family walks in the countryside and sees a barn in the distance. In the barn, they

In the end, Rose of Sharon breastfeeds the man so that he can recover from his illness.