Tag Archives: Grapes of Wrath

Steinbeck on Why the Rich Are Unhappy

By Robin Bates | Published: October 25, 2012

Steinbeck and the Beowulf poet both point out that piling up wealth does not lead to happiness.

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Lit Titles as Cocktails (“The Wasteland”)

By Robin Bates | Published: August 29, 2012

NPR’s Studio 360 sponsored a “literary cocktail” contest. We share here some of the highlights.

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Supremes’ Obamacare Decision, The Film

By Robin Bates | Published: June 29, 2012

Yesterday’s Supreme Court decision upholding Obamacare had all the makings of a Hollywood thriller.

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The Hunger Games & the Job Market

By Robin Bates | Published: May 4, 2012

“The Hunger Games” captures how my students see the contemporary job situation.

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Steinbeck Makes Microeconomics Real

By Robin Bates | Published: December 7, 2011

Economics teacher Steve Ziliak uses Steinbeck’s “Grapes of Wrath” to teach the human side of microeconomics.

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Grapes of Wrath Fermenting in Alabama

By Robin Bates | Published: December 6, 2011

Steinbeck’s “The Grapes of Wrath” allows us to see some of the dynamics that the tough new anti-immigration law in Alabama has set into play.

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Twice Left for Dead, Japan Claws Back

By Robin Bates | Published: July 23, 2011

Two images came to mind as I twice watched the Japanese soccer team rebound from deficits. One was from Alain’s Renais’s film “Hiroshima Mon Amour” where we see grass clawing its way back in the city streets on the day following the atom bomb. The other was of the tortoise crossing the road in “Grapes of Wrath.”

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Reaching Out to the Needy in Tough Times

By Robin Bates | Published: April 18, 2011

Yet having nothing, the Joads still share. In the final scene of The Grapes of Wrath, Steinbeck taps into the legend of “Roman Charity” where a daughter breastfeeds her starving father. In this case, however, Rose of Sharon feeds a starving stranger. A new human family is rising out of the ashes of the old.

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Steinbeck’s Agony (A Reminder to Chill)

By Robin Bates | Published: December 20, 2010

My novelist friend Rachel Kranz recently sent me an article by novelist William Kennedy about John Steinbeck’s self-doubts as a writer. She herself has been wrestling with self-doubts, even though she has a completed manuscript of what I think is a remarkable work, and the article lets her know that she is not alone. It […]

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