Characters and Chapters

I have read 302 pages now and hope to read to four hundred by tomorrow.

I have been reading constantly for the last few weeks, a few pages a night here and there. I've just haven't pushed myself to actually blog more frequently about what I've been reading. So, I made a plan to blog about some parts in this post and then later on today I'll make a few more posts about the rest of what I've read.

So let's begin. Grapes of Wrath is a very interesting book. It can be slow at times, such as when they have paragraphs of just dialogue and ramble basically to themselves about how they feel or their life stories. I find this really unrealistic but it does help the reader understand more about certain characters.

I find it really actually interesting with the smaller chapters of description in -between. Sometimes it can be dry but it gives another view of the time period with people driving in tractors to tear down houses, and I find it very fascinating that in the story they compare what California did to the Mexicans that inhabited the land with the Roman Empire and calling them slaves imprisoned. Steinbeck makes connections very often to past events which I find interesting and exciting since I love history. At first, I have to admit, I found the short chapters, boring and a waste of space but as I read further on, I saw how much the chapters did for the rest of the story. It presented a whole new side of the tale and introduced more of what was occurring at that time.

The characters are all very different and unique. I especially love the preacher because I've never really seen a character like him in a story. It works so well and brings in another side of religion and life.

I also like Pa's background about how he feels it was his fault for Noah, his elder son, to turn out the way he did. On the night of Noah's birth, the doctor had not arrived, so Pa had to deliver the baby. He pulled and twisted the baby, the head twisted out of shape, its neck stretched, and its body warped. Even though the midwife molded the head back, Pa still remembered it was his fault for Noah turning out the way he did.

Also, Uncle was an interesting, quiet character who I liked. He had lived with his wife and one night she said her stomach hurt but he told her it was just an ached and she left it at that. She died that afternoon in her own house and he had never forgiven himself for it. He is mentioned to be extra nice to the children trying to make up somehow for his sins and is mentioned to have a drinking problem and has no alcohol in the house.

Al is another favourite of mine for just personal reasons. He is sometimes the comic relief in a sense. For example, when Connie says Al can work for him in the store, Al fights back saying, 'you can work for me buddy'. He seems like he looks up to Tom a lot and even shares his smart alec trait.

The other characters haven't been mentioned too much other than Connie and Rose of Sharon who talk about their plans of getting a nice house and Connie working at a store and taking night classes.

So, that's it for this blog and next one I'll continue on about the plot and setting.