Pardone The Interuption...
This blog entry is not related to a specific passage or quote in The Grapes of Wrath. It is related to a style of writing I notices, and then later researched while I was reading. I am not sure if any other students picked up on the relatively odd style to Steinbeck's writing in this book, but, while reading the first twelve chapters, I noticed this - there is a pattern within the chapter order. It seems as if one paragraph contains background information, situational information, or other comments, then the next paragraph contains narration among the characters.
This really interested me, because I have never seen a piece of literature that was written like this before. I decided to do some research into this and I found out that it is referred to as Intercalary Chapters. According to the information I found, there has been a great deal of debate about Steinbeck's use of these types of chapters in the book. People feel that the intercalary chapters of information interrupt the smooth reading of the dialogue, and the plot of the book. But, it seems that Steinbeck carefully thought out the order of the book so that the extra commentary could incorporate symbols and details more effectively. I also found that he used this technique to add to the humanistic and social themes of the work. While I can not be sure of what these two terms mean exactly - through my research I found that the chapters bring together juxtaposition and dramatization in The Grapes of Wrath. They are used to provide the readers with a detailed history of events and social influences.
I also found another bit of information that caught my eye. It seems that the story has a strong relation to the "syntactical structures of the King James Bible". Like Foster said in How To Read Literature Like a Professor, the Bible is a great book of inspiration for authors because of the detail and level of writing that is found in it. Two specific examples can been seen, but one is a spoiler, so I will save that for an entry after the completion of the book. The drought described at the beginning of the book goes hand in hand with an event at the end, and is very relatable to a very well known biblical story.
It was really interesting to do some research on this topic, and to discover more about something I had originally thought to just simply be the way the book was written. Did anyone else seem to notice this style of writing as they read The Grapes of Wrath?
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Alicia Campbell on Pardone The Interuption...: I did notice this as well. Lik
Chelsie Bitner on Pardone The Interuption...: Like you, I noticed the differ
Like you, I noticed the different writing style. I was getting confused at some parts when it would go from the narration with the characters to talking in general about no one in particular but generalizing the people at this time period. I looked up the summaries of it and I eventually just went to spark notes and it said in the summary of the certain chapters about how it just didn't mention people specifically but that it wasn't talking about the characters that are talked about. But yes I noticed this too :)
I did notice this as well. Like Chelsie, i was confused at firt, but then I came to the conclusion that the shorter chapters communicated general events that probably affected a lot of people at this time, while the longer chapters followed the featured family, the Joads. This approach makes the work so relatable because, at the time, many people probably experienced the general events. And now, I find the Joads to be so realistic and familiar that they could be the family down the street. This, I believe, is what makes the work timeless. And I find that the general chapters make me want to continue reading to find out what the Joads are doing.
Based on the articles I read online, it seems that a lot of people found these chapters to be annoying, but, like you said Alicia, I think the way this work is written really helped me to know the characters and more about their lives. I agree it made them seem much more real.