As you read Chapters 8-14, respond thoughtfullyto the following prompts. You must use direct quotations in your responses:

Chapter 8

Find a quotation and write a paragraph of response each for anytwo of the following:

  • The importance of family
  • The significance of place
  • Anger/meanness (look at the section on pages 103-104 for this)
  • Casy’s understanding of religion
  • Grapes as a symbol

Chapter 9

Respond in a paragraph to one of the following quotations:

  • “We’ll start over. But you can’t start. Only a baby can start. You and me—why , we’re all that’s been. The anger of a moment, the thousand pictures, that’s us. This land, this red land, is us; and the flood years and the dust years and the drought years are us. We can’t start again” (119).
  • “And some day—the armies of bitterness will all be going the same way. And they’ll all walk together, and there’ll be a dead terror from it” (119).
  • “How can we live without our lives? How will we know it’s us without our past?...How’ll it be not to know what land’s outside the door? How if you wake up in the night and know—and know the willowtree’s not there? Can you live without the willow tree? Well, no, you can’t. The willow tree is you” (120-121).

Chapter 10

Choose one of the following:

  • Find a quotation related to the American dream and respond to it in a paragraph.
  • Find a quotation related to the nature of family and respond to it in a paragraph.
  • In a paragraph, what can we learn about gender roles from this chapter?
  • Read the Walt Whitman poem “I Hear America Singing.” How does the paragraph beginning “I ain’tgonna baptize” on page 127-128 relate to this poem?
  • In a paragraph, why doesn’t Grampa want to go to California? How does that relate to Chapter 9?

Chapter 11

Summarize Steinbeck’s point about the difference between a farmer and a machine operator, and their connections to the land. Do you agree or disagree with this? Explain your answer.

Chapter 12

In your opinion, what is the purpose of this chapter? What does it foreshadow for the Joads?

Chapter 13

Find a quotation and write a paragraph of response for twoof the following:

  • The nature of family
  • The importance of place
  • Community and the responsibility for others
  • The significance of Grampa’s death
  • The symbolism of the dog
  • Compassion or selfishness

Chapter 14

Read this chapter. That’s it!