The turtle is used to represent hope for the trip West. Steinbeck describes the turtle as struggling to cross a concrete highway and it almost gets across a truck hits it, flipping it over onto its back. The turtle fights to get back on its fe

In the novel, banks send tractors, called cats, to destroy homes of the faremers who cannot afford to live on the land any longer. The tractors, or cats, represent the banks that take over the dust bowl farmland from the families that have lived there all their lives. In this way, the cat signifies the villain of the story. The tractors are heartless, machines that give no thought to how their actions affect peoples’ lives. The bankers are like machines themselves since they are not considering the situation of the farmers they are hurting and only think about money. Once the tractors flatten the Joad farm, Tom finds that the only living thing left near the house is a cat which emerges when he returns home to find his family gone. The author uses the actual animal in this way to symbolize how the farm now belongs to the bank since it is almost like the cat is there in place of the bank, taking charge. The real animal may also be a representation of how hard it is for the farmers to leave the land they have worked so hard on.

et and eventually continues on its journey. The animal also faced obstacles such as a red ant which crawled on it and Tom Joad who captured it. This metaphor of the turtle’s struggles is used to represents the efforts of the Joads throughout the story since the Joads meet many obstacles just as the turtle has. For instance, they are forced off of their farm, lose family members, and are faced with having to find money, food, and shelter. Like the turtle, the Joads don’t give up and continue on with their journey despite such troubles. Everything the turtle encounters tries to stop it from reaching its destination; the same can be said about the Joad family. Also, the turtle just happens to be traveling in the same direction as the migrants, showing that the animal is a symbolic representation of the hope and determination of the migrants

Some topics in this essay:
Grapes Wrath, Joad Tom, Tom Joad, Jim Casy, Grampa Joad, Jesus Christ, Specifically Revelation, West Steinbeck, John Steinbeck, Rose Sharon, grapes wrath, telling story, biblical symbols, times novel, actual animal, jim casy, john steinbeck, grapes symbol, tractors cats, represent hope,