So, this is really backtracking a lot, and in the days to come I will blog about later chapters, but I just wanted to share some passages that I really enjoyed from Chapter 5.
"Soft Fingers began to tap the sill of the car window, and hard fingers tightened on the restless drawing stick," (Steinbeck, 1939, p. 24). I enjoyed this quote because it showed the uneasiness on both sides, that of the tenants, and of the owners/the owner's workers. They were both nervous about different things, yet they both revolved around the land. The tenants, on one hand, were scared because they'd have no place to go; on the other hand, the owners were scared because they felt like bad people--they were going against their morality. They wanted to be good people, but in doing their job they were forced to evict helpless tenants from the lands they worked on for generations. I also liked the fact that it showed how different their social classes were through the fingers. The tenants had hard, calloused fingers, while the owners had soft, supple fingers because of the lack of physical work. I enjoyed the fact that even though these people were of different social classes and were worried about different things, they were both still worried because of the land and the people on it.
The next passage I enjoyed is as follows. "The man sitting in the iron seat did not look like a man; gloved, goggled, rubber dust mask over nose and mouth, he was part of the Monster, a robot in the seat," (Steinbeck, 1939, p. 26). This quote I enjoyed because it was depicting the driver as non-human. He was a "robot." It was interesting, because I think since the tractor was destroying the homes of people, it was saying that anybody who'd purposefully do this isn't "good"--isn't human. This person had such little regard for human life, that he couldn't be sentient, he couldn't have feelings or emotions--he wasn't alive. He was a robot--a Pawn used by the corporations; he was being manipulated through money. He was giving up his humanity for three dollars a day.
If you had any passages or quotes you enjoyed please share them with me!
Nice passages and analysis Pablo. I agree that the owners were scared of being bad people. They did not want to evict the tenants, but they had to evict them because of their job. The connection you made to social class was good. The man in the tractor was a pawn of bank/corporations. He only did his mechanical work for money to raise his family. The passage I liked best from chapter five was on page 32, "The bank- the monster has to have profits all the time. It can't wait. It'll die. No, taxes go on. When the monster stops growing, it dies. It can't stay one size".
ReplyDeleteYes, the bank was portrayed as an Evil. They tried to pin the blame on the bank, but I think if they really wanted to be "good" people, they'd refuse to evict the people.
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