What a Setting.
"Chapter 1"
I am choosing to blog about the whole chapter 1 because I think that it is really important to the story and also interesting. The way that Steinbeck introduces us to the book really shows how desolate and foreboding the midwest was. Steinbeck doesnt introduce any characters, he just takes the whole chapter to really set up the tone for the whole book. Not only was it a bad time for money but nature was out to get the people during the great depression.
I find it interesting that Steinback chose to devote a whole chapter, that really doesnt move the story forward or show us any characters in the story, just to say something about nature. It is a testament to how bad the times were.
We saw in Foster how authors really take their time to write exactly what they mean to get the point across in the right way. When foster goes into such detail describing the dust that settled across the land and actually forced the people to cover their noses and eyes when they went out, he did so for a reason. He invoked emotions about dust. The fact that it is dry and choking and dirty really bring the mood of the story down.
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Julianne Banda on What a Setting.: I agree with Carlos, it was be
Carlos Peredo on What a Setting.: I think that later as you read
Carlos Peredo on What a Setting.: I think that later as you read
I think that later as you read you begin to use this chapter to formulate a better understand of the bank monster. The dust bowl came about because people didn't cycle their crops and replenish their land. Basically, it came about because the monster made them reuse the land year after year without giving it a rest. This monster is so profit driven that it it will destroy humans yes, but even the very land that they need for their profit in an effort to milk it for all that it is worth.
I agree with Carlos, it was because of the bank monster that the land dried out in the first place. The farmers were forced to push the land to its limit till it was too much and the land could not take anymore farming. The fact that the whole first chapter was about the conditions and environment at the time heightens the image of what the land would look like and it gives you a picture in your head throughout the story of how hard it was to live as a farmer during that time.