Analysis of the Tractor Driver in the Grapes of Wrath
In the passage from Grapes of Wrath describing the tractor driver, Steinbeck evokes a bitter, acrimonious attitude towards the man by manipulating the tone of the piece. Steinbeck convinces us, through use of powerful word choice and vivid imagery, that the tractor driver is a soulless extension of the destructive machine atop which he sits.
Steinbeck strips the driver of his humanity, first by ridding him of his visible features. All areas that would normally be exposed are obscured by cold, sterile, protection equipment, implicative of his relationship to the tractor. With his hands gloved, his eyes goggled and a dust mask over his