Young Cho Lee. 2015. John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath: An Undertone of the Wrath. Studies in British and American Language and Literature 116, 99-121. The purpose of this study is to examine an undertone of the wrath that is implied in The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck. The studies of this work in large part have been conducted with a focus on its social, biological, ecological, biblical, socialistic, and humanistic perspectives. If we shift, however, our focus on to the standpoint of Karl Marx, we will be able to find the inconsequence of capitalism and its alternatives through the relationship between man and nature. Marx criticizes the isolation, the alienation of man from nature, and the enslavement of man derived from capitalism. Steinbeck tells us organization of a community and creating the common good to get over the alienation. Thus, he presents his historical view putting more values on the human dignity than materials through the reconciliation between man and nature. In this respect, The Grapes of Wrath can be interpreted as an ideological work that embodies Steinbeck’s philosophy of humanitarianism.
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