Why Did Steinbeck choose the title, "The Grapes of Wrath"?

When I began reading this story the title really bugged me. I kept thinking, "What do Tom Joad, a turtle crossing a road, or dust have to do with grapes or wrath?" Granpa finally mentions the fruit in chapter ten when he dreams of the abundance of grapevines that exist in California. I immediately thought, "Granpa's dream has everything to do with the title!" I should have known that Steinbeck is much more clever then that. I finally did a Google search and read the complex reason behind Steinbeck's title decision. It turns out that the title was pulled directly from, "The Battle Hymn of the Republic." The Hymn goes like this... "Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord: He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored; He hath loosed the fateful lightning of His terrible swift sword: His truth is marching on. (Chorus) Glory, glory, hallelujah! Glory, glory, hallelujah! Glory, glory, hallelujah! His truth is marching on." "The grapes of wrath" stand for the selfish ways of the landowners and banks which lead to the suffering of the angry migrant population. I was not able to understand this interpretation of the title until I had read the majority of the novel because the ending is where the reader can finally understand just how selfish the landowners could be. For example, in chapter twenty-five it is revealed that the landowners produced an abundance of oranges; instead of giving the extra fruit to the starving migrants, they sprayed kerosene on them so they could die and not be stolen.

The introduction of the main character: Tom Joad

Although Tom Joad killed a man, his persona is far from that of a villainous murderer. We are first introduced to the hitchhiking Tom Joad in chapter two when he converses with a kindhearted truck driver whom agrees to give Joad a lift to his parents' house. The trucker is a very observant man, therefore he notes traits of Joad's appearance. Through the eyes of the truck driver Tom Joad is described as having, "dark quiet eyes" and "long teeth"; the driver also notices that Tom Joad is wearing new clothes and shoes and he has a thin body frame. As far as Joad's personality traits go, he comes off as introverted compared to the social truck driver who speaks during the majority of their conversation. After Tom Joad feels more comfortable he opens up to the driver and he eventually admits to him the reason he spent the past four years in McAlester, "Homicide. That's a big word-means I killed a guy." This knowledge of Joad's past could be considered the inciting incident of the novel because we not only learn the reason behind his long absence from home but more importantly we become aware of his isolation from a negatively changed economy known as The Great Depression.