Rediscovering the "Rotten" Eden: The American Dream and Its Betrayal in The Grapes of Wrath

Author: Feng Lihong is from School of English and International Studies, Beijing Foreign Studies University, specializing in British Literature and American Literature.

Rediscovering the "Rotten" Eden: The American Dream and Its Betrayal in The Grapes of Wrath

Author: Feng Lihong is from School of English and International Studies, Beijing Foreign Studies University, specializing in British Literature and American Literature.

Steinbeck's

The Grapes of Wrath

tells the reader a story about the Joads' moving westward when economic crisis swept over America in the 1930s. As millions of migrants were uprooted from the land, they searched for a new Eden, which they discovered later was already rotten. This thesis aims to reveal that, instead of celebrating the innocence and success the American dream proclaims, Steinbeck uncovers the cacophony and betrayal behind it.

The Grapes of Wrath

the American dream betrayal the rotten EdenWritten and set in the midst of the Great Depression in the 1930s, John Steinbeck's

The Grapes of Wrath

can be seen as a chronicle of the plight of millions of migrants moving westward in this nation's history when economic crisis swept over the whole country. The Americans, Steinbeck noticed, have long embraced a belief in the possibility of starting over. Early in the 1620s when the pilgrims arrived in the new continent, the original English colonialists saw the land as a new Eden. The image of America was contrived as "a figure of heroic innocence and vast potentialities, poised at the start of a new history."It is not surprising that Americans, during the process of developing themselves, had transformed it into the American dream, the dream of shedding the past and beginning anew. In

The Grapes of Wrath,

Steinbeck reminds the reader of the pattern of searching a new Eden by telling the story of numerous migrants moving west represented by the Joads.Scholars from abroad have responded to

The Grapes of Wrath

with various criticism with their attention mainly focused on its characterization, themes and artistic techniques. Edmund Wilsoncriticizes the "biological realism" which tends to present human life on animal terms followed by Bernard Bowron's essay criticizing the novel as a "Wagons West" Romance.Along with the denouncement, the novel was also widely praised and classi fi ed by defenders as one of the most important canonic works in the American literature. Earlyin the year of 1941, Frederic I. Carpenter notices "the mystical transcendentalism of Emerson…and the earthly democracy of Whitman, and the pragmatic instrumentalism of William James and John Dewey". Louis Owens explores the so-called American myth and proclaims that Steinbeck, instead of what critics have often said, was very careful not to sentimentalize his character.Critics at home, with their focus mainly on archetypal study represented by Huang Ying, Zhang Daokun, and ecological values represented by Xie Jiangnan, Hu Tianfu, give more compliment than attack. This thesis aims to reveal that instead of celebrating the innocence and success the American dream proclaims,

The Grapes of Wrath

uncovers the cacophony and betrayal behind it. The description of America in the 1930s as well as the painful disillusionment of the migrants, especially the Joads, makes a story that criticizes the corrupted capitalist culture and the ideology which promotes it.

The American dream, by definition, means that "all Men are created equal" and "that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness."In the novel, Steinbeck, by using the structure of chapters and intercalary chapters, gives us a vivid description of the plight of hundreds of thousands of migrants with the Joads being the paragon. Under the scorching sun and the flying dust, their crops failed, making it necessary to borrow money from the banks, which were like "machines and masters all at the same time". The monstrous banks, which "breathe profits" and "eat interest on money"(33), built tractor to remove the tenants from the land since they could not pay the money they borrowed. Uprooted by the tractors of "incredible strength of insects"(36), the farmers sold things they have with low prices and tried to buy trucks to go on west to California, which they believed should bring them work with high payment and "never gets cold"(35).

Like any other family who saw the handbill passed to them, the Joads decided to go to California which echoes the Garden of Eden in Steinbeck's story. They endeavored to get away from the land suffering from drought and to reach a future which seems to be bountiful and fertile. The grapes in California could bring them fortune and something new and fruitful like what Grampa imagined:

"Well, sir, " he said, "we'll be a-startin''fore long now. An', by God, they's grapes out there, just a-hangin' over inta the road. Know what I'm gonna do? I'm gonna pick me a wash tub full a grapes, an' I'm gonna set in 'em, an' scrooge around', an' let the juice run down my pants. " (100)

Grampa's grapes signify the Edenic joy, the dream of beginning anew. Each member of the family has a dream of her/ his own. Ma wonders that if they all get jobs and all work-maybe they can "get one of them little white houses"(98). Rose of Sharon, who knew "this was the great time in her life so far,"(113) dreamed that she shall get one electric iron with which she could make all new clothes for the baby. Connie hopes he can own a store by studying at night and Al wishes to work in a store.

With their dream hovering over them, the Joads went on to the Highway 66, the main migrant road of fl ight on which they found hundreds of thousands of farmers passed with the same dream, the dream of getting a job and starting over. They shared the joy of searching a new Eden regardless of the scorching sun and awful condition on the way. Even when they were discouraged by the stories twice told by farmers coming back from California, they still held faith in fi nding a land of their own. In Chapter 18, the Joadsas well as Casy, reached California.

…then—suddenly they saw the great valley below them. Al jammed on the brake and stopped in the middle of the road, and "Jesus Christ! Look! " he said. The vineyard, the orchards, the great fl at valley, green and beautiful, the trees set in rows, and the farm houses…Ruthie and Win fi eld looked at it, and Ruthie whispered, "It's California." Winfield moved his lips silently over the syllable. "There's fruit," he said aloud. (250-251)

It is Win fi eld who noticed the valley that spread so wonderfully beneath the family and pointed it out fi rmly as the American dream of Eden rediscovered. When Tom killed the rattlesnake as they drove in the valley, the symbol of evil in the Garden of Eden is removed for long. And they finally found their way to get into the place they had aspired for. As Tom laughed, "Jesus, are we gonna start clean! We sure ain't bringin' nothin' with us."(254) Tom's claim to throw off the past and to start over locates their dream clearly within the American dream.

However, the Garden is inhabited by men with dangerous and damaging flaw. As one man pointed out, "You ain't gonna get no steady work. Gonna scrabble for your dinner ever' day. An' you gonna do her with people lookin' mean at you. Pick cotton, an' you gonna be sure the scales ain't honest."(226) The Eden-like valley they thirst for turns out to be a fallen world imbued with degeneration, decay and death. They came for "a god rush for work, frantic for work"(259), but the land is owned and there is more coming, "running like ants"(262).

The decay spreads over the State, and the sweet smell is a great sorrow on the land…Carloads of oranges dumped…A million people hungry, needing the fruit—and kerosene sprayed over the golden mountains. And the smell of rot fills the country…there's crime here that goes beyond denunciation. There's a sorrow here that weeping cannot symbolize…And coroners must fi ll in the certi fi catedied of malnutrition-because the food must rot, must be forced to rot. (384)

The Joads, uprooted from their land, all held a self-love or at most a love for the family. They are the paragons of the American individualism. The fruits signifying human wisdom and knowledge were found rotten in the fields where the Joads have put great expectation. Implying a huge irony of rediscovering the Edenic valley, Steinbeck unveils the corruption and fi lth beneath the American dream.

As a matter of fact, early in the novel, Steinbeck has denoted the betrayal of the American dream of starting over. "But you can't start…The bitterness we sold to the junk man-he got it all right, but we have it still…To California or any place-everyone a drum major leading a parade of hurts, marching with our bitterness." (95) The impossibility of beginning anew is made clear.

Moreover, it is not only the workers who are suffering and oppressed. The great owners and companies bought canneries to cut the price of fruit below the cost the raising it, and "little farmers who owned no canneries lost their farms."(313) Casy, the preacher who gave up fundamentalist preaching uncovers the truth beneath it:

"'cause he feels awful poor inside hisself…there ain't no million acres gonna make him feel rich…nothin' he can do'll make him feel rich-not rich like Mis' Wilson was when she give her tent when Grampa died."(227)

As Casy saw it, beneath the place of prosperity owned and managed by the impersonal companies, there's corruption and spiritual poverty set in human nature. The ethic is diminished under their lust for wealth, which puts others in awful conditions of labor and hatred. The grapes the migrants search for is not a joyful one, but is the grapes of God' wrath, the grapes of destructive and annihilating forces. The spiritual wasteland and ethical dehumanization inside is the cacophony of the American dream, the tragedy of hundreds of thousands of migrants. Their journey is from nothing to nothing, and the true value they should pay attention to is the universal love and social justice. Only when love sweetens the minds and light shines on the soul can they get prosperity and richness.

Through the description of the Joad's moving to Califonia which in their belief can bring them wealth and happiness, Steinbeck reveals that the American dream can no longer be achieved by mere hard work. He uses the Edenic frame to express his own understanding of the American dream. As millions of migrants were uprooted from the land, they searched for a new Eden, which they discovered later is already rotten. However, in the end of the novel, hope still exists. As long as people get united, they still have a chance to change their lives.

【Notes】

①Steinbeck, John.

The Grapes of Wrath

. New York: Penguin Books, 1967, p.33. 以下只在文中注明頁(yè)碼，不再一一做注。

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A Companion to The Grapes of Wrath

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Steinbeck and His Critics: A Record of Twent-Five Years

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The Grapes of Wrath: Trouble in the Promised Land

. Boston: Twayne Publishers, 1989, p.17.

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馮立紅

斯坦貝克的小說《憤怒的葡萄》講述了20世紀(jì)30年代美國(guó)經(jīng)濟(jì)危機(jī)時(shí)，約德一家人舉家西遷的故事。正如數(shù)百萬(wàn)的移民一樣，約德一家努力尋找著新的伊甸園的存在，可最后卻發(fā)現(xiàn)這個(gè)伊甸園也已腐敗不堪。本文旨在發(fā)掘斯坦貝克對(duì)美國(guó)夢(mèng)的批判，并進(jìn)一步揭露出當(dāng)時(shí)人們所遭受的失望與背叛。

《憤怒的葡萄》 美國(guó)夢(mèng) 背叛 腐敗的伊甸園

馮立紅，北京外國(guó)語(yǔ)大學(xué)英語(yǔ)學(xué)院，研究方向?yàn)橛⒚牢膶W(xué)。