There are several themes in the novel The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck, from family and religion to deceit and betrayal. The themes of a novel are what give the shape and help formulate the plot, and the themes can all be very similar or very different. Most of the time, it depends on the author, setting (both location and time), and beliefs depicted throughout the story.
But the biggest theme of all that is exhibited in The Grapes of Wrath is something as simple as change. Everyone in the world experiences changes each and every day of their lives, and those changes make a huge impact. For the Joad family, and many of the other people they come across, change is nothing new and is usually not for the better. Tom Joad, along with the rest of his family and Jim Casy, go through a huge change when they are forced to leave their Oklahoma farm after the destruction of the Dust Bowl. After they must make this change to their lives, they have to endure the hardships of their travels and then the struggles that are brought along with the work troubles in California, a land that was supposed to hold promise and hope but instead seems like a death sentence. In the novel, readers see the Joad family as they are forced to cope with the change that is thrust upon them. However, the family manages to cope with things as they stick together and remember that they are a family and will always stand by each other.
Change is an extremely bittersweet factor in the novel because it has obviously been imposed on thousands of families who would much prefer for things to stay the same. But no one has a choice- they all learn that they are going to have to either go along with the change that is practically being forced upon them, or be crushed and completely ruined by it.
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