Writing Style

The classic novel The Grapes of Wrath is written by the author John Steinbeck. The writing style that the author uses is very detailed and in depth. He gives nearly a lot of very detailed descriptions throughout the entire story, so that the reader knows all the details of the novel, from the important ones to the not so important ones. The Joad family is described as lively, and Steinbeck even captures the approximate sounds and rhythm of the dialect in Oklahoma. At many points throughout the novel the reader feels as if they are along side the Joad's, experiencing many of the troubles they go through.

Although the Joad family and their journey through their new life is the main point of the style, Steinbeck also includes chapters detailing other parts of the Dust Bowl and other struggles that many families in the area went through. Steinbeck's writing style contains elements of both fiction and historical writing. A lot of the events detailed are repeatedly, but from different perspectives. For instance, the reader sees from the point of view of corrupt cars salesmen making their money off of unsuspecting families, bank owners evicting families from their land, and even from the perspective of the dust storms that are ruining the land.

John Steinbeck writes some parts of the story in second person, but other parts are in first person and third person, making the reader feel like they are truly a part of the novel, traveling alongside of the families that are going through so many troubles in their lives as a result of something that none of them could control. It would be easy for a lot of author's to get too wrapped up in the fictional part of the story, but Steinbeck puts just the right amount of historical facts in the story to remind the reader that many of the events of the novel really did take place with real families.