thesis of the grapes of wrath

“The grapes of wrath”, analysis of the novel by John Steinbeck

Introduction.

The grapes of wrath, a book that was published in 1939 by American novelist John Steinbeck. The book was so well crafted that it received the National Book Award and Pulitzer Prize for fiction. It gained popularity and became an American classic. It courageously highlights the severity of the Great Depression and the challenges of migrant farmworkers. However, being popular did not save the book from being banned in a couple of cities. One of them is Kern County, in California, because of its border to Mexico. Some speculate the ban was politically motivated.

Idea of the book

We follow the Joad family as they move from city to city, facing all kinds of hardship. Steinbeck depicts man’s inhumanity to man in a masterful way. Migrant farmers are forced to turn against their brethren just to survive. They are treated like animals by landowners, and there is a clear divide between the rich and the poor. The migrants and poor people are identified as the source of evil and suffering.

We witness the saving power of family and fellowship. When the Joad’s meet the Wilsons, they merge as one. Through hardships, they commit to one another. One loss becomes their loss. Their livelihood depends on their union.

Steinbeck shows us the dignity of wrath at every turn. They refuse to be broken by the challenges they face, from some members leaving the family to others dying. The multiplying effects of selfishness are brought out clearly in this text. We see the greed of people who are only persuaded by self-interest. As a result of this, thousands of families sink into absolute poverty and destitution.

Detailed plot of the book

After being released from prison, Tom Joad goes back to his farm and home in Oklahoma City. He meets Jim Casy, a former preacher, whose beliefs are not what they used to be. His only idea at the moment is equality among people. When they get to Toms’s home, they find no one. An old neighbor, Muley Graves, passes by to inform them that everyone has been forced off the land. Most families have now gone to California to look for work.

Tom and Jim make their way to Toms’ uncle Johns’s place. He finds his family in the activity of packing up their belongings for the long journey to California. On the exhausting trip to California, a bitter Grampa Joad passes away. He did not want to leave his land behind.

The Joad family meets Sairy and Ivy Wilson. They are invited to travel with the family, and at the California border, Sairy becomes unable to continue with the journey. She is sick.

The first days in California prove to be quite tragic. Granma Joad dies, and the job market is depleted. Moving from camp to camp, the family struggles to find food. Connie, the husband to Tom’s sister, Rose of Sharon leaves, and so does Noah, the eldest of the Joad children.

In California, they are labeled “okies,” because of the flood of newcomers and migrants. The available work pays so little that it is hardly enough to buy a decent meal for a whole family. Tom and several other men get into an argument that turns very aggresive. Jim Casy strikes the sheriff unconscious and is promptly arrested.

A government-run camp proves to be hosting to the Joads, and they find work and accommodation. Upon learning that police want to shut down the camp, Tom alerts and prepares other men. They avert the crisis. However, the Joads have to move on.

Their next employment comes in the form of picking fruit and along with a decent wage. Tom runs into Jim, who has been released from jail. Jim has made a few enemies among the elite landowners. The police soon kill Jim in the presence of Tom. Tom retaliates and kills a police officer.

Tom goes into hiding, and the family moves into a cotton farm. Fearing for her sons safety, Ma Joad finds Tom and sends him away. Tom takes on Jim’s previous work of organizing workers. The end of the cotton picking season means the end of work.

The floods set in, and Rose of Sharon gives birth. Unfortunately, her child is stillborn. Forced through grieving, Ma Joad is desperate to find a safe place for the family. She finds a barn for the family. In the barn, there is a dying man and his son. He is starving to death.

Realizing that Rose of Sharon is producing milk, Ma Joad instructs her to nurse the dying man off of her breast milk.

Problems of the text

Profanity, communism, and sexual depictions. Parents and teachers do not accept the book as literature suitable for teaching. It is full of foul language, violence, and obscene sexual content. Formal objections by religious organizations have been made to protect young readers.

The novels’ promotion of labor unionization led to riots of workers everywhere. Landowners and local business people advocated for the burning of this book because of the negative consequences it had on businesses.

The book has been proved to be historically inaccurate in rendering historical facts, misplaced Oklahoma Geography, and stereotyped characterizations of various characters.

Description of main characters

• Tom Joad . The main protagonist of the text. He is the favorite child and a fierce protector. He earns the respect of his family and the workers he organizes.
• Grampa Joad . Armed with a foul mouth and a cruel temper, Tom Joads’ grandfather delights in shocking others with sinful talk and tormenting his wife. His family is forced to drug him to get him to leave the land.
• Granma Joad . Toms’ grandmother delights in casting hellfire at her husband. However, she soon dies after her husband dies.
• Ma Joad . She is the healer and arbitrator of the family arguments. She keeps the family together. She is the matriarch.
• Pa Joad . Toms’ father is a good-hearted man. Unable to find work after directing his family to California, he finds himself looking to Ma Joad for strength and leadership. It shames him.
• Jim Casy . In the book, Jim articulates unity. He is a true friend of Tom Joad and even goes to prison while protecting his friend.
• Rose of Sharon . Ma and Pa Joads’ eldest daughter. She is also Connies’ wife. She begins her journey in the novel, pregnant and has dreams of having a grand life. However, harsh realities ground her when her husband leaves the family, and her baby is stillborn. She emerges stronger and becomes like Ma Joad.
• Al Joad . The youngest son of the Joad family. He is a competent mechanic and idolizes Tom. However, we see him emerging as his own man when he falls in love.
• Connie . Rose of Sharon’s husband. He leaves and abandons his pregnant wife and the Joads. This act of selfishness surprises no one in the family. Rose of Sharon, however, gets the shock of her life.
• Noah Joad . The eldest of the Joad siblings. He is slightly deformed. He is slow and quiet and leaves his family behind at the California border. He feels that his parents do not love him.
• Uncle John . Tom’s uncle who never forgives himself for his wife’s’ death.

Steinbeck clearly states his reason for writing the novel was to bring everyone who brought about the great depression to shame. To quote the book, ” for man, unlike any other thing, organic or inorganic in the universe, grows beyond his work, walks up the stairs of his concepts, and emerges ahead of his accomplishments.”

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The grapes of wrath : a collection of critical essays

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The Grapes of Wrath

John steinbeck, ask litcharts ai: the answer to your questions.

Humanity, Inhumanity, and Dehumanization

In The Grapes of Wrath, the most brutal adversity the Joads face doesn’t come from the unforgiving natural conditions of the dustbowl. Rather, the Joads and the Okie community receive the cruelest treatment from those most capable of helping them: more fortunate individuals, typically ones who wield institutional power. Throughout the book, establishments and technological advances are shown to corrupt the humans behind them. Steinbeck’s depiction of the state police shows that they’ve been perverted…

Dignity, Honor, and Wrath

Despite their destitution, Okies are shown to be extremely conscious of maintaining their honor. No matter how dire their circumstances, the Joads are unwilling to stoop to accepting charity or stealing. When they do accept help, they are quick to repay the debt—for example, when the Wilsons offer Grampa Joad a deathbed, Al repairs their car and Ma replaces the blanket used to shroud Grampa. With this strong sense of honor comes an equally powerful…

Faith and Guilt

At different times in The Grapes of Wrath , nearly all of the main characters endure spiritually trying times. Casy is the first to address this theme when he speaks of his reformed faith: instead of the black-and-white teachings of Christian dogma, Casy has come to believe in a natural unity of the human race. Tom , too, comes to this realization later in the novel, after hiding from the law in the woods. Finally…

Powerlessness, Perseverance, and Resistance

The novel often focuses on characters who resist in situations that seem hopeless. At the beginning of the novel, the Oklahoma sharecropper families are rendered powerless by the repossessing landowners. All the same, Muley Graves remains on his land, in spite of regular run-ins with law enforcement. He knows he can’t change his circumstances, but he refuses to let go of his heritage. The land turtle that appears in an early chapter, is a metaphor…

Family, Friendship, and Community

Time and again in The Grapes of Wrath , Steinbeck demonstrates the profound ties and nuanced relationships that develop through kinship, friendship, and group identity. The arc of the Joad family shows, on one hand, a cohesive unit whose love and support of one another keeps them from abandoning hope. On the other hand, however, the novel shows that this unity comes with complications. Ma Joad ’s assertive leadership strips Pa of his masculine identity…

The Grapes of Wrath: Historical Background

Working Days: The Journals of  The Grapes of Wrath, edited by Robert DeMott tells of the March-October, 1938 writing of  Grapes , a book written in 100 “working days.”

“The new book is going well. Too fast. I’m having to hold it down. I don’t want it to go so fast for fear the tempo will be fast and this is a plodding, crawling book. So I’m holding it down to approximately six pages a day . . . Anyway it is a nice thing to be working and believing in my work again. I hope I can keep the drive all fall. I like it. I only feel whole and well when it is this way.”

“It must be far and away the best thing I have ever attempted. Slow but sure, piling detail on detail until a picture and an experience emerge. Until the whole throbbing thing emerges.”  (June 10, 1938)

“Throughout I’ve tried to make the reader participate in the actuality, what he takes from it will be scaled entirely on his own depth or hollowness. There are 5 layers in this book; a reader will find as many as he can and he won’t find more than he has in himself.”

“You say the inner chapters were counterpoint and so they were—that they were pace changers and they were that too but the basic purpose was to hit the reader below the belt. With the rhythms and symbols of poetry one can get into a reader—open him up and while he is open introduce—things on an intellectual level which he would not or could not receive unless he were opened up. It is a psychological trick if you wish but all techniques of writing are psychological tricks.”  (JS to Herbert Sturtz, 1953)

From “The Battle Hymn of the Republic,” by Julia Ward Howe (1861—appeared first in  Atlantic Monthly  in February 1862).  “I should like the whole thing to go in as a page at the beginning. All the verses and the music. This is one of the great songs of the world, and as you read the book you will realize that the words have a special meaning in this book. And I should like the music to be put there in case anyone, any one forgets. The title,  Battle Hymn of the Republic , in itself has a special meaning in the light of this book.”  (JS to editor Pat Covici)

Publication: April 14, 1939, $2.75

By May 6, two weeks after publication, it was at the top of the best seller list. Top best seller of 1939; it was in the top 10 bestsellers of 1940.

Viking had never had sales approaching this rate; books shipped from Viking in first month:

In the 1990s, The Grapes of Wrath sold 150,000-200,000 copies in the US annually.

By the San Jose Public Library (June 1939) as “unfit for patrons”

By the Kern County Board of Supervisors from schools and libraries (August 1939) for being “filled with profanity, lewd, foul and obscene language unfit for use in American homes . . . It has offended our citizenry by falsely implying that many of our fine people are a low, ignorant, profane and blasphemous type living in a vicious and filthy manner.”

By the Kansas City Board of Education (August 1939) from schools.

On the curb by the Salinas Public Library On the sidewalk in Bakersfield

By the Associated Farmers (formed in 1934): “Although the Associated Farmers will not attempt to have the book banned or suppressed, we would not want our women and children to read so vulgar a book. This is a matter for consideration by public bodies. We deny the statements in the book, so consequently if we were to seek for a ban, our motive would be attacked. . . The only inference that can be obtained from Steinbeck’s book is that he is proposing exactly the same sort of overthrow of the present form of government and the substitution of collective agriculture as did Carey McWilliams in his  Factories in the Fields . (August 1939)

By the  Oklahoma City Times : “Any reader who has his roots planted in the red soil will boil with indignation over the bedraggled, bestial characters that will give Reading The Grapes of Wrath Susan Shillinglaw, San José State University See other side Tom Joad the ignorant east convincing confirmation of their ideas of the people of the southwest . . . if you have children, I’d advise against leaving the book around home. It has  Tobacco Road  looking as pure as Charlotte Bronte, when it comes to obscene, vulgar, lewd, stable language.”

Provoked political change

The Committee to Aid Agricultural Organization, or the John Steinbeck Committee to Aid Agricultural Organization on Housing Health and Relief for Agricultural Workers in 1938 listed on their letterhead John Steinbeck as their “State Chairman.”

Bestsellers of 1939

The San Francisco  Chronicle , on April 16, 1939, listed  Grapes  as the number one best seller (two days after publication). In order, other best sellers were  Wickford Point  by J.P. Marquand,  Beware of Pity , Stefan Zweig;  Seasoned Timber  by Dorothy Canfield, and  Rebecca , by Daphne du Maurier . . .  Mein Kampf  was #3 in non-fiction.

ABA National Book Awards for 1939 honored  Grapes  as “The Booksellers’ Favorite Novel.” The ABA honored  Johnny Got  His Gun by Dalton Trumbo as “The Most Original Book of the Year.”

The  Grapes of Wrath  received the Pulitzer Prize for fiction, May 6, 1940

Gone with the Wind  opened on December 15, 1939 and John Ford’s  The Grapes of Wrath  opened on January 24, 1940

• Screenplay by Nunnally Johnson
• Directed by John Ford *
• Photography by Gregg Toland
• Produced by Darryl F. Zanuck
• Twentieth Century Fox
• Tom Joad: Henry Fonda
• Casy: John Carradine
• Muley: John Qyalen
• Policeman: Ward Bond
• Noah: Frank Sully
• Grampa: Charley Grapewin
• Uncle John: Frank Darien
• Rosasharn: Dorris Bowdon
• Winfield: Darryl Hickman
• Pa Joad: Russell Simpson
• Ruthie Joad: Shirley Mills
• CampDirector: Grant Mitchell
• Al: O.Z. Whitehead
• Ma Joad: Jane Darwell *

*  Academy Award

Into 43 languages

“The Grapes of Wrath” in Historical Perspective

This essay about “The Grapes of Wrath” examines the novel’s reflection on the economic hardships and social injustices experienced by farmers and migrant workers during the Dust Bowl and the Great Depression. It highlights how Steinbeck’s narrative, centered on the Joad family’s migration from Oklahoma to California, serves as a poignant commentary on the era’s struggles. Through the backdrop of environmental catastrophe and financial crisis, the essay explores themes of resilience, discrimination, and the erosion of the American Dream. It also discusses the novel’s portrayal of social dynamics, the exploitation of migrant workers, and the potential for compassion and collective action. The essay concludes by asserting “The Grapes of Wrath” as not only a piece of American literature but also a historical document that captures the human cost of this period, offering a message of hope and solidarity that transcends its historical setting.

How it works

John Steinbeck’s “The Grapes of Wrath” is more than just a novel; it’s a powerful commentary on the American condition during one of its most turbulent periods. Set against the stark backdrop of the Dust Bowl and the Great Depression, the narrative dives deep into the economic hardships and social injustices that plagued farmers and migrant workers in the 1930s. This exploration not only provides a window into the struggles of the era but also offers a timeless reflection on themes of resilience, injustice, and the quest for dignity.

The Dust Bowl was a period marked by severe dust storms that greatly damaged the ecology and agriculture of the American and Canadian prairies during the 1930s. This environmental catastrophe was largely the result of poor farming practices combined with prolonged drought conditions. It led to a mass exodus of displaced families, many of whom were farmers, from their barren lands in search of work and sustenance elsewhere. “The Grapes of Wrath” captures the heartache and desperation of these families, focusing on the fictional Joad family as they journey from Oklahoma to California in hope of a better life.

Steinbeck intricately weaves the economic hardships of the time into the fabric of his story. The Great Depression, a decade-long economic downturn, had a profound impact on the American populace, with unemployment rates soaring and widespread poverty. For farmers and migrant workers, the situation was exacerbated by the collapse of agricultural prices, which rendered their already meager livelihoods unsustainable. Steinbeck’s portrayal of the Joad family’s struggles against the backdrop of these economic forces serves as a poignant reminder of the human cost of financial crisis and environmental disaster.

The novel also delves into the social dynamics and conflicts that arose as a result of these hardships. Discrimination, exploitation, and a profound sense of injustice were rampant among the migrant camps in California, where workers were often subjected to inhumane conditions and paltry wages. Steinbeck doesn’t shy away from depicting the stark realities of these camps, highlighting the social and economic disparity between the migrants and those who sought to profit from their labor. Through the Joads’ experiences, Steinbeck critiques the societal structures that perpetuate inequality and underscores the resilience of the human spirit in the face of adversity.

Moreover, “The Grapes of Wrath” serves as a historical document that illuminates the broader societal implications of the Dust Bowl and the Great Depression. It captures the erosion of the American Dream for many, as the promise of prosperity and security crumbled along with the soil of their farms. Yet, it also portrays the potential for compassion, community, and collective action as a means to overcome dire circumstances. Steinbeck’s empathetic depiction of the migrant workers’ plight and their capacity for endurance offers a message of hope and solidarity that resonates beyond the confines of its historical setting.

In conclusion, “The Grapes of Wrath” is a seminal work that richly deserves its place in the canon of American literature, not only for its literary merit but also for its profound engagement with the historical context of the 1930s. Steinbeck’s novel is a testament to the strength and dignity of those who faced the unimaginable hardships of the Dust Bowl and the Great Depression. Through the lens of the Joad family’s journey, Steinbeck invites readers to reflect on the enduring themes of struggle, resilience, and the search for justice in the face of systemic oppression. As much a historical document as it is a work of fiction, “The Grapes of Wrath” continues to speak to the challenges and hopes of humanity in any era.

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J. Smith-Cameron & Joe Morton Join MasterVoices' THE GRAPES OF WRATH At Carnegie Hall

The opera by composer Ricky Ian Gordon and librettist Michael Korie based on John Steinbeck's landmark novel, will be presented on April 17 at Carnegie Hall. 

Two distinguished actors, Emmy-nominee  J. Smith-Cameron and Emmy Award-winner  Joe Morton will co-narrate MasterVoices' revised concert version of The Grapes of Wrath, the 2007 “great American opera” by composer Ricky Ian Gordon and librettist Michael Korie based on John Steinbeck 's landmark novel, on April 17 at Carnegie Hall . 

Set in the Great Depression of the 1930s, it tells the story of the Joad family, Oklahoma sharecroppers who, along with thousands of others, become refugees in their own country. As they migrate to find work in the would-be Promised Land of California, they face hardship, resentment, and violence. 

In addition to revisions in the orchestration, Gordon and Korie have added a new scene. Says MasterVoices Artistic Director Ted Sperling , “People Again shows the Joad family settling into a government camp where they can actually sleep in a bed, take a shower, use a toilet for the first time in their lives, and start feeling like people again. It's quite a powerful scene. Additionally, I'll Be There has been revised as a duet for Tom and Ma.”

The Grapes of Wrath was given its New York City premiere by MasterVoices in 2010 and was the first work Ted Sperling brought to the group. This revival, presented as part of Mr. Sperling's tenth season anniversary as Artistic Director with MasterVoices, features new revisions and music exclusive to this performance, with a keen focus on choral elements.

Ted Sperling conducts the 120–member MasterVoices chorus, the Orchestra of St. Luke's, and an all-star cast including soprano Mikaela Bennett , last seen as Micaëla in MasterVoices' 2022 staging of Carmen; baritone John Brancy, praised in the New York Times for “his vibrant, resonant presence” as Escamillo in the same production; “one of America's great modern-day baritones” (OperaWire), Nathan Gunn , who sang the role of Tom Joad in the 2010 MasterVoices Carnegie Hall concert version premiere and who returns as Pa Joad; Grammy-nominated mezzo-soprano Margaret Lattimore ; baritone Malcolm MacKenzie , praised for his “rich, warm and dark tone” (Opera News); Broadway's Bryonha Marie (“her silvery soprano was utterly spellbinding,” The Boston Globe); the “velvet-sounding” (Woman Around Town) baritone Kyle Oliver; bass-baritone Christian Pursell in his Carnegie Hall debut; tenor Victor Starsky, who sang Roméo in New York City Opera's recent Roméo et Juliette; and “powerful baritone” (Washington Post) Schyler Vargas, who sang the role of Strephon in MasterVoices' 2023 production of Iolanthe.

The sound design is by Scott Lehrer . Tracy Christensen is the costume designer, and the lighting design is by Brian Tovar . The performance features projections by Wendall K. Harrington , who created the projections for the Minnesota Opera premiere as well as the MasterVoices 2010 concert, and stage management by Ira Mont .

Aside from its standalone significance, MasterVoices' The Grapes of Wrath production will also mark the inauguration of the company's Three in Six program, an ambitious new series committed to producing three contemporary American operas over the next six years. Three in Six builds on the group's signature style, recently characterized by The New York Times as “smart modest stagings with strong musical values,” and is driven by the desire to give New York audiences more opportunities to hear outstanding 20th and 21st-century operas in lush musical environments. “The major opera companies have so few slots available,” says Ted Sperling , “and while there are innovative groups doing wonderful chamber stagings, there is little in between. So many worthy works – by some of our country's greatest contemporary composers – have yet to be produced in New York for precisely this reason, and we look forward to opening up those vistas.”

Tickets priced from $30-$155, may be purchased online at  carnegiehall.org , by calling CarnegieCharge at 212.247.7800 or in person at Carnegie Hall 's box office at 57th and Seventh Avenue. Details of MasterVoices' 2023-24 season can be found at mastervoices.org .  

More about The Grapes of Wrath

Ricky Ian Gordon and Michael Korie 's opera The Grapes of Wrath premiered at Minnesota Opera in 2007. It was Gordon's first large-scale work, written in three acts and 33 scenes, with thirteen principal and 50 featured roles. The score was laced with banjo, guitar, harmonica, saxophone, and barroom piano. Writing in Opera Today, Wes Blomster placed The Grapes of Wrath in the company of Janáček and Shostakovich's Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk, continuing, “almost a century after Mahler's quintessential score, Gordon and Korie have created a new—and American— song of the earth.” In the Los Angeles Times, critic Mark Swed wrote that: “…the greatest glory of the opera is Gordon's ability to musically flesh out the entire 11-member Joad clan…Gordon's other great achievement is to merge Broadway and opera… greatly enhanced by his firm control over ensembles and his sheer love for the operatic voice.”

In 2010 MasterVoices, then known as The Collegiate Chorale, premiered the concert version at Carnegie Hall with Ted Sperling conducting. It was directed by Eric Simonson , who had staged the opera's premiere. Narrated by Jane Fonda , the cast included Victoria Clark , Nathan Gunn , Christine Ebersole , Elizabeth Futral , Matthew Worth , Sean Panikkar , Stephen Powell , Steven Pasquale , Peter Halverson , Andrew Wilkowske , Madelyn Gunn , and Alex Schwartz . The projections were by Wendall K. Harrington and the lighting by Francis Aronson. Reviewing the concert version with its trimmed score, Anthony Tommasini wrote in The New York Times, “Mr. Gordon's music combines his deep sympathy for musical theater with his devotion to American song…It must be said that The Grapes of Wrath certainly reached the audience on Monday night. The hall was packed and the ovation tumultuous.” Said Eric Myers , Opera Magazine, “…a stirring, crowd-pleasing work that left the Carnegie Hall audience cheering on its feet…on the whole Gordon and his librettist Michael Korie have created a major new American opera, one that is likely to stand the test of time.”

In writing a series of articles for the San Francisco News, Salinas, California native John Steinbeck , who had witnessed and chronicled labor riots and strikes in the Salinas Valley, visited the migrant camps and tent cities of the workers, seeing firsthand the horrible living conditions of the migrant families. He famously said, “I'm trying to write history while it is happening, and I don't want it to be wrong.” His book In Dubious Battle, about the fruit pickers strike against the regions' big landowners, preceded The Grapes of Wrath, as did his break-out book, Tortilla Flat, and Of Mice and Men. Of The Grapes of Wrath, which was published in 1939, winning a Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award, he said, “It is a mean, nasty book and if I could make it nastier I would … the book has a definite job to do … I want to put a tag of shame on the greedy bastards who are responsible for this.” In 1940 the book was made into a film directed by John Ford starring Henry Fonda as Tom Joad. It won two Academy Awards.

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OU Theatre presents modern reimagining of “The Grapes of Wrath”

Oglethorpe University Theatre has announced its upcoming student production for the spring semester, which presents a modern twist on an iconic American tale: “The Grapes of Wrath” set in 2024.

Originally set in the Great Depression, the story follows the Joads as they struggle against unemployment, poverty and unjust labor laws and battle their way out of the drought-stricken Dust Bowl.

Many of the struggles of that original story are echoed in OU Theatre’s modern adaptation.

“I want our production to be about young people fighting for a better future,” says Associate Professor of Theatre  Matt Huff . “Even though that was not Steinbeck’s original intent, I think the text can support this directorial approach. That is the creative power of theatre — we can reimagine stories to reflect our time period without changing the written text.”

The upcoming production has been a homecoming for two Oglethorpe alumni, as well. Maital Gottfried ’17 and Karl Dickey ’17 have been recruited as dramaturg and scenic designer, respectively.

A theatre graduate with experience in scenic design, Dickey has worked professionally as a scenic carpenter, artist and stagehand. He served as technical director at Georgia Ensemble Theatre until 2020 and currently supervises the scene shop at Georgia State University’s Clarkston campus. He is also enrolled in a graduate program at the University of South Carolina.

“Returning to OU as an alumni has been welcoming and helpful at several different stages of my career. The invitation by Matt Huff to work on ‘Grapes of Wrath’ has been an exciting journey all on its own.”

Also a theatre graduate, Gottfried has since earned a master’s in playwriting and dramaturgy from the University of Glasgow.

“Attending OU was an incredibly formative experience for me both as a theatre professional, and as a person in general, so I’ve been really proud to return as an alumnus,” says Gottfried. “It’s been such a pleasure to work with the department that taught me so much when I was a student, and it truly does feel like a full-circle experience to be able to work with the current Theatre students.”

“The Grapes of Wrath” will run at Oglethorpe’s Conant Performing Arts Center April 19, 20, 25, 26 and 27. General admission is $20 for the public and free for Oglethorpe students, faculty and staff with a Petrel Pass. For tickets, visit Eventbrite or call the Conant Box Office at 404-504-1074.

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John McWhorter

‘little women’ and the art of breaking grammatical rules.

By John McWhorter

Opinion Writer

A few weeks ago I wrote on the grand old rule about not ending sentences with prepositions, which is, quite simply, a long-lived hoax we’d best relegate to history. In that light, I’d like to dismantle the powerful but hopeless idea that language is something to be judged rather than observed. It can be hard to process, within the bounds of our lifetimes, the randomness of our take on what “proper” language is.

I’m thinking of this now as I finally read “Little Women,” which everybody but me seems to have read and which seems to generate another movie version every 10 minutes.

Of course, I always notice how characters talk, and one thing that sticks out about the March sisters is how often these ladies use “ain’t” in ways that their modern New England equivalents would not.

They are literate and status-conscious people, and yet especially in moments of excitement, they pop off with lines like Amy’s, “You’ll be sorry for this, Jo March, see if you ain’t!” Note also that Amy is especially prim and proper among the four. There are lots of “don’t”s in place of “doesn’t”s, as well — even in calmer moments. Meg to Laurie at a ball says, “Take care my skirt don’t trip you up.”

With “ain’t” and “don’t,” the March girls often seem to turn on a dime from “The Age of Innocence” to “The Grapes of Wrath.” You hear it in British literature of the same period. In Anthony Trollope’s “The Way We Live Now,” Lord Nidderdale — note “Lord”; these are not Dickensian urchins — often tosses off lines like “But then she don’t want me, and I ain’t quite sure that I want her.”

“Ain’t” had a different status for many English speakers in the 19th century than it does for us today. In 1961 there was a media kerfuffle when Webster’s Third New International Dictionary deigned to even include “ain’t.” Life magazine and The New Yorker condemned the choice. The Times called the volume “ disastrous .” In The Atlantic, Wilson Follett called it “a very great calamity.” But to Meg March and Lord Nidderdale, “ain’t” was about as ordinary in casual speech as it is now to say “the funnest party I went to” or to use “sunk” in place of “sank.”

Some, to be sure, hear that usage of “sunk” as an egregious mistake, but there comes a point when a usage is so common that we must consider it not slovenliness but change. “Sunk” is now quite often used as the past tense form, such as it was recently on National Public Radio. Nor is this just a recent phenomenon: A magazine cartoon of 1902 depicted a tour guide saying: “That depression down there is where New York City stood. But with all its skyscrapers and underground tunnels, it suddenly sunk one day.”

Then, one might retort, the fact that people have been saying something for a long time doesn’t make it correct. But the question is just what “correct” is, when change is as inherent to language as it is to cloud patterns. Which cloud pattern is the right one, as long as eventually it rains? “Sunk” replacing “sank” is just how language always changes. It was Robert Lowth, the author of the 1762 volume “A Short Introduction to English Grammar ,” who taught us not to end sentences with a preposition. He also taught that the past participle of “spit” was not “spat” but “spitten.” Who misses that, much less “holp” as the past tense of “help”?

Nothing sobers one up about language peeves more than seeing what people did not like back in the day. In the 19th century, for example, one was often taught that it was wrong to say “the first two men” unless the sum of the men were divided into pairs; otherwise, the “proper” usage was “the two first.” Um, OK! Also in this era there were pedants who cringed to hear “balcony” pronounced the way we do, preferring “bal-KOH-nee,” and preaching that “despicable” should be pronounced “DESS-pickable.”

As it happens, the linguist Anne Curzan has just gifted us with the best book I currently know of on language peeves and why we have to get over them, “Says Who? A Kinder, Funner Usage Guide for Everyone Who Cares About Words.” With empathy and reason, she gets to pretty much everything that bothers people these days about usage and ushers us into the awareness, first disorienting but ultimately liberating, that language does not fall apart.

Curzan notes, for example, that the use of “literally” to exaggerate is no recent anomaly but rather goes back to, for example, our “Little Women,” in which Louisa May Alcott has it that at a gathering “the land literally flowed with milk and honey.” The March girls, also, would have said “sneaked” where, since just the 1970s, as Curzan charts, we have been increasingly likely to say “snuck.” Are you a little irked by the youngs saying “based off of” rather than “based on”? That one threw me when I started hearing my students saying it about 15 years ago; Curzan calms us down and demonstrates how ordinary and even logical it is. Curzan is also good on the use of “hopefully” to mean “it is hoped.” This became a punching bag only in the 1960s — until then, not even grammar scolds cared, too busy complaining that, for example, the “proper” meaning of obnoxious is “subject to harm.”

When a peeve settles in, it helps to ask three questions.

First, is this really new? (“Literally” as exaggeration is first documented in 1769.)

Second, if it isn’t new, did centuries go by before anybody cared about it? (Curzan notes that complaints about “literally” emerged only in 1909, with perhaps the first sally from cranky Ambrose Bierce.)

Third, whether it’s old or new, are there things just like my current peeve that don’t bother me? (If “hopefully they’ll get here” is wrong, why doesn’t “certainly they’ll get here” mean “they will get here feeling certain”?)

Those three questions almost always at least reduce the swelling and probably clear things up completely. The peeve most resistant to treatment is the idea that it’s wrong to say “me and Billy went home” because you wouldn’t say “me went home.” That one requires, roughly, a patient book chapter to address — such as in a book I am finishing up now. Stay tuned.

John McWhorter ( @JohnHMcWhorter ) is an associate professor of linguistics at Columbia University. He is the author of “ Nine Nasty Words : English in the Gutter: Then, Now and Forever” and, most recently, “ Woke Racism : How a New Religion Has Betrayed Black America.” @ JohnHMcWhorter