The Harvest Gypsies: On the Road to the Grapes of Wrath Literary Elements

The Harvest Gypsies: On the Road to the Grapes of Wrath Literary Elements

Genre

collection of newspaper articles

Setting and Context

Time: 1930's Place: California, USA

Narrator and Point of View

Narrator: John Steinbeck
POV: third person

Tone and Mood

Tone: questioning, cynical
Mood: pessimistic, worried

Protagonist and Antagonist

Protagonist: American migrants coming to California to seek for work to survive; Antagonist: large farm associations, local institutions not taking the migrants' issues seriously

Major Conflict

Due to a drought a lot of people are forced to leave their homes and migrate to California

Climax

The writer concludes that the American migrants aren't going anywhere and therefore need to be treated accordingly

Foreshadowing

Talking about the inhumane treatment of foreign migrant workers the writer foreshadows the way American migrants are going to be treated.

Understatement

Several enthusiasts thinking that white laborers won't easily accept charity and relief understate that those same laborers won't accept to be treated inhumanely

Allusions

N/A

Imagery

Imagery of filth and dirt to describe the horrid treatment of the squatting camps where migrants are staying

Paradox

"...rinse the mud in muddy water."

Parallelism

"It should be understood that with this new race the old methods of repression, of starvation wages, of jailing, beating and intimidation are not going to work; these are American people."

Metonymy and Synecdoche

N/A

Personification

"Dignity is all gone, and spirit has turned to sullen anger before it dies."

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