One symbol that is referred to numerous times in The Grapes of Wrath is the land turtle. We first meet him in chapter 3 as he attempts to make his way across the highway as he foreshadows to the reader the journey of the Joads and many other families just like them.
Your task today is to analyze this symbol through Chapter 22. Why does Steinbeck keep coming back to this creature as he unfolds the story of the Joads and other migrant families? A few facts about land turtles to help you make some connections:
1. The land turtle is characterised by a special bony or cartilaginous shell developed from their ribs that acts as a shield to their bodies.
2. Like other reptiles, turtles are ectotherms which means they can vary their internal temperature according to the environment.
3. Most turtles that spend most of their life on land have their eyes looking down at objects in front of them.
4. Turtles are thought to have exceptional night vision due to the unusually large number of rod cells in their retinas.
5. Turtles do not molt their skins all in one go, as snakes do, but continuously, in small pieces.
6. Land turtles have short, sturdy feet. They are well-known for moving slowly, in part because of their heavy, cumbersome shell, which restricts their stride length.
As the Joads faced the final leg of their journey to the Promised Land, we saw clearly how much adversity has plagued this family.
For example in Chapter 18 we see several examples of how this new land, this Promised Land, does not even want the Joads or others like them to be there to the point that is wears on even Ma.....
So how does a person or a family keep going on in spite of the adversity? What causes some people to keep going while others give up? And where do you see yourself along this continuum of perseverance.....do you keep fighting and moving no matter what? Or do you quickly give up and move on?
Now that you have a good understanding of what the Universal Declaration of Human Rights protects, you are going to find out what people in the community believe about it. Do they share your opinions about the definition of humanity and what (all) humanity deserves?
GROUP TASK:
Choose 5 Articles from the UDHR. Translate them into Danish. Go out and talk to people (in English or Danish, as appropriate.) Show them what ONE (or more) Article says. Ask if they agree or disagree with the verbiage. Ask why. Write down the responses, as well as each person's first name, age, and nationality.
Each group must have NO LESS than TWENTY interviews.
Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states:
Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status. Furthermore, no distinction shall be made on the basis of the political, jurisdictional or international status of the country or territory to which a person belongs, whether it be independent, trust, non-self-governing or under any other limitation of sovereignty.
WATCH THESE PERSONAL DEFINITIONS OF FREEDOM & LIBERTY from around the world (as they relate to the language of Article 1). Do you agree with this definition? How much is this rhetoric a reality? In Denmark? In the world as a whole? In the time of the Joads?
Your TASK: Using Chapter 15 and the character of Mae as your point of departure, find the FACE(S) of HUMANITY in The Grapes of Wrath. Refer to all 30 Articles of the UDHR as needed. Were the human rights of the Joads and other families like them violated (based on what you know through Chapter 15)?
Listen to this song and the message of the lyrics.....how can you connect it to the story of the Joads and so many others who are on Route 66, headed to their Promised Land?
All The Right Moves Lyrics
All the right friends in all the wrong places So yeah, we're going down They've got all the right moves in all the right faces So yeah, we're going down
Just paint the picture of a perfect place They've got it better than what anyone's told you They'll be the King of Hearts, and you're the Queen of Spades And we'll fight for you like we were your soldiers
I know we've got it good But they've got it made And the grass is getting greener each day I know things are looking up But soon they'll take us down before anybody's knowing our name.
They've got all the right friends in all the right places So yeah, we're going down We've got all the right moves and all the wrong faces So yeah, we're going down They said, everybody knows, everybody knows where we're going Yeah, we're going down They said, everybody knows, everybody knows where we're going Yeah, we're going down
Do you think I'm special? Do you think I'm nice? Am I bright enough to shine in your spaces? Between the noise you hear And the sound you like Are we just sinking in an ocean of faces?
It can be possible that rain can fall, Only when it's over our heads The sun is shining everyday, but it's far away Over the world is death.
They've got, They've got all the right friends in all the wrong places So yeah, we're going down We've got all the right moves and and all the wrong faces So yeah, we're going down
They said, everybody knows, everybody knows where we're going Yeah, we're going down They said, everybody knows, everybody knows where we're going http://www.elyricsworld.com/all_the_right_moves_lyrics_one_republic.html Yeah, we're going down
It doesn't matter what you see. I know i could never be Someone that looks like you. It doesn't matter what you say I know i could never face someone that could sound like you.
All the right friends in all the wrong places So yeah, we're going down We've got all the right moves and all the wrong faces So yeah, we're going down
All the right friends in all the wrong places So yeah, we're going down We've got all the right moves and all the wrong faces So yeah, we're going down
They said, everybody knows everybody knows where we're going Yeah we're going down They said, everybody knows everybody knows where we're going Yeah we're going down
As we begin AT8, a study of Terrorism, it is important to understand what about this topic makes it worthy of our energy, our lessons, and our research.
The history of terrorism began long before the attacks of 9/11, but it was following this day that terrorism became one of the most talked about topics in school classrooms, office buildings, government policy documents, and family get-togethers...so much so that the first ten years of the 21st century have been marked as the "Decade of Terrorism".
There are many different definitions of the word "terrorism", but they all seem to share one common meaning: 1. the calculated use of violence (or the threat of violence) against civilians in order to attain goals that are political or religious or ideological in nature; this is done through intimidation or coercion or instilling fear;
2. the systematic use of terror especially as a means of coercion;
3. the deliberate commission of an act of violence to create an emotional response through the suffering of the victims in the furtherance of a political or social agenda; Violence against civilians to achieve military or political objectives.
Terrorism is an emotional topic-- both because experiences of terrorist acts arouse tremendous feelings, and because those who see terrorists as justified often have strong feelings concerning the rightness of the use of violence.
Our main challenge in understanding Terrorism is both acknowledging the moral outrage at terrorist acts, while at the same time trying to understand the rationale behind the terrorism. Or should we? Is it our responsibility to understand the rationale? Watch this clip from the film "Crossing Over" and see what you think about "hearing" the reasons for terrorist acts....
First-- Watch the following youtube about one man's view of how the story of the Grapes of Wrath is being repeated in the 21st century.
Second-- Watch the youtube excerpt from Michael Moore's documentary "Sicko" where he takes a group of US Citizens without healthcare (who also happen to be 9/11 rescue workers)who cannot get treatment in the US to a different kind of "promised land".
Your writing task is a response..... What do you think about the idea that the Grapes of Wrath is being repeated in the 21st century? What about this idea of people who need help in the US not being able to get it? The theme we are currently studying is the "American Dream", but both of these clips are lacking "dream-like" elements.
Using the first 11 chapters of The Grapes of Wrath, these 2 youtube videos, and your own knowledge and the current situation in the world (based on news sources that you have read/heard) and write a PERSONAL RESPONSE, as if it were a "Letter to the editor". A "letter to the editor" of a major newspaper is PERSONAL, PASSIONATE, and ARTICULATE. You must communicate your opinion about something in a way that others will pay attention to it and hopefully be motivated to ACTION.
Guidelines: No less than 2 full pages, double spaced Must have at least 2 text citations from The Grapes of Wrath (noted in the footnotes and on a bibliograpy page) Must have at least 1 citation from a news source (Danish, American, or others) Must be written from the 1st person perspective Must be written in a way that I am moved......
Listen to this song by Chris Knight called "Broken Plow" as it tells the story of the migrant farmer who has been forced to leave his home. How does the song make you feel? What emotions does it evoke from within you? What does it make you think of from The Grapes of Wrath (especially chapters 10 & 11) as you listen to the lyrics and to the melody?
Load up the old Dodge truck We’ll leave what we can’t sell Nobody needs a sharecropper’s tools or a dust filled well Take you one last look around shed you one last tear
For the broken plow, the broken dreams And the life we’re leaving here
Pull the lines down tight The kids can ride on top of the load In the cool of the night They can crawl underneath the tarp To stay out of the cold Eleven hundred miles of mountain and sand We’ll cross ‘em tired and torn If this beat up truck can carry us Far enough away from the storm
We’re going to California There’s work there for a man Too proud to beg for charity Too poor to make a stand Pray it’s just the land we’re losing Not my life’s blood that I leave On the handles of that broken plow That haunts me in my dreams
A man at a roadside station Don’t like dealing with my kind He’d beat me out of my last dollar And never look me in the eye I heard ‘em call us Okies Hell I don’t know what that means But something tells me the promised land Ain’t as promising as it seems
We’re going to California There’s work there for a man Too proud to beg for charity Too poor to make a stand Pray it’s just the land we’re losing Not my life’s blood that I leave On the handles of that broken plow That haunts me in my dreams
This restless road is full of strangers They ain’t no stranger than I am Hardened faces damn the dust and curse the wind That drove us from this life and home We’ll never know again
We’re going to California There’s work there for a man Too proud to beg for charity Too poor to make a stand Pray it’s just the land we’re losing Not my life’s blood that I leave On the handles of that broken plow That haunts me in my dreams
