Economics teacher Steve Ziliak uses Steinbeck’s “Grapes of Wrath” to teach the human side of microeconomics.
Tag Archives: John Steinbeck
Grapes of Wrath Fermenting in Alabama
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.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Alabama immigration law, Grapes of Wrath, Immigration, undocumented workers Comments closed
Twice Left for Dead, Japan Claws Back
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.”
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Alain Resnais, Grapes of Wrath, Hiroshima Mon Amour, Soccer, Sports Comments closed
Reaching Out to the Needy in Tough Times
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.
Peyton Manning as Moby Dick?!
Sports Saturday In anticipation of football’s “Wild Card Weekend,” which begins today, I see that a sports writer has invoked Herman Melville’s masterpiece. Dan Graziano believes that Indianapolis Colt quarterback Peyton Manning has become Rex Ryan’s Moby Dick. He has beaten the New York Jets coach so many times that Ryan has become obsessed with […]
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged "Fuzzy-Wuzzy", Alfred Lord Tennyson, East of Eden, Football, Herman Melville, Jungle Books, Moby Dick, Rudyard Kipling, Sports, Ulysses Comments closed
Steinbeck’s Agony (A Reminder to Chill)
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 […]
Gambling at Goldman? Shocked, Shocked!
“I’m shocked, shocked to find that gambling is going on in here!” Captain Renault famously exclaims in Casablanca, only then to be secretly presented with a bribe from the winnings. Why did this scene come to mind when I heard about the shenanigans of Goldman Sachs this past week? It did so, I suspect, because […]
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged 1984, Banking, Casablanca, George Orwell, Goldman Sachs, Grapes of Wrath, politics Comments closed
Remembering the West Virginia Miners
Ma, Tom, and Pa Joad in John Ford’s Grapes of Wrath I don’t know a lot about the details of the Massey coal mining accident that killed 29 miners in West Virginia last week, but, from what I’ve been able to make out, it was a non-union mine owned by a heavily fined company that […]
March Madness, Lightning Strike or Slog?
Sports Saturday Once again March Madness is gripping America. Once again we see Cinderella teams upsetting the giants (Northern Iowa upsetting top-seeded Kansas, Butler upsetting mighty Syracuse) and games won or lost on remarkable shots made in the waning seconds (Murray State, Michigan State). Maryland, the team I was rooting for, made a miraculous last […]
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged "Richard Cory", Basketball, Edwin Arlington Robinson, Grapes of Wrath, March Madness, Sports Comments closed
