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Grapes of Wrath, a classic for today?
bbc ^ | 4 April 2009 | Robert DeMott

Posted on 04/19/2009 3:23:37 PM PDT by JoeProBono

The Grapes of Wrath, published exactly 70 years ago, can be seen as a prophetic novel - rooted in the tragedies of the Great Depression, but speaking directly to the harsh realities of 2009, writes Steinbeck scholar Robert DeMott. Steinbeck's epic novel, which traces the harrowing exodus of Tom Joad and his family from blighted Oklahoma (where they are evicted from their farm), across the rugged American south-west via Highway 66, and on to what they mistakenly hope will be a more promising future in California, is considered by many readers to be the quintessential Depression-era story, and an ironic reversal of the rags-to-riches tale favoured by many optimistic Americans.

(Excerpt) Read more at news.bbc.co.uk ...


TOPICS: Books/Literature
KEYWORDS: bookreview; economy; grapesofwrath; oklahoma; steinbeck
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To: potlatch; JoeProBono

61 posted on 04/20/2009 2:22:35 PM PDT by Lady Jag (Communism - Hezbollah - Al Qaeda - Obama - Stone Age - CHAOS)
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To: Lady Jag; devolve

Mean looking little guys, aren’t they? And, they are harmful to my dog too!


62 posted on 04/20/2009 2:27:12 PM PDT by potlatch (A burden shared gets lighter)
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To: potlatch


LOL!

You are at it again


63 posted on 04/20/2009 2:46:09 PM PDT by devolve ( - - - - - - - - - - - - - It is just another Pansy Scheme! - - -)
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To: devolve
[You are at it again]

Aww, and you couldn't even be nice and tell me how funny I was being, lol!!

I HAVE to have fun, politics aren't - isn't - ain't fun! Tense quandry there.

Love the license plate you made me and will put it on my profile page!

Aerospace Commission? Am I spaced out?

64 posted on 04/20/2009 2:54:37 PM PDT by potlatch (A burden shared gets lighter)
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To: potlatch

.

Aerospace was the best of the Texas graphics license plates I found

I tried several others first


65 posted on 04/20/2009 3:14:11 PM PDT by devolve ( - - - - - - - - - - - - - It is just another Pansy Scheme! - - -)
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To: JoeProBono
Grapes of Wrath, a classic for today?

No. But then I have never been impressed with Commie writers.

66 posted on 04/20/2009 3:18:12 PM PDT by Harmless Teddy Bear (When you're spinning round, things come undone. Welcome to Earth 3rd rock from the Sun!)
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To: devolve

I was teasing about the Aerospace bit, as you knew, lol. That’s something I’ve never looked up - license plates.


67 posted on 04/20/2009 3:21:27 PM PDT by potlatch (A burden shared gets lighter)
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To: SouthTexas
The depression is the reason my grandmother insisted my wife learn to can, so we would always be able to eat.

While kids (generally) never listen to their parents... I vividly remember my Father's account of spending his nights, between two dirty mattresses in an abandoned real estate sales shack, prior to re-enlisting in the US Navy in 1938....

That and numerous memories of other relatives' accounts of the 30's formed the basis of my economic pathway over the years!

Unfortunately, the benign historical legacy of our current parents (self included) has failed to provide a reference for what our prodigy face today...

68 posted on 04/20/2009 3:41:18 PM PDT by ExSES (the "bottom-line")
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To: potlatch







69 posted on 04/20/2009 4:01:46 PM PDT by devolve ( - - - - - - - - - - - - - It is just another Pansy Scheme! - - -)
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To: potlatch









70 posted on 04/20/2009 4:14:37 PM PDT by devolve ( - - - - - - - - - - - - - It is just another Pansy Scheme! - - -)
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To: devolve

Whoops, for a minute I thought we were on the Bond thread.

LIGA


71 posted on 04/20/2009 4:44:53 PM PDT by potlatch (A burden shared gets lighter)
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To: potlatch

.

Confusing isn’t it!


72 posted on 04/20/2009 5:12:50 PM PDT by devolve ( - - - - - - - - - - - - - It is just another Pansy Scheme! - - -)
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To: devolve

Yup


73 posted on 04/20/2009 5:14:57 PM PDT by potlatch (A burden shared gets lighter)
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To: ExSES

Yeah, I was taught if you can’t pay cash for it, you can’t afford it.

Remember talking to a WWII vet several years ago. I was bellyaching about how spoiled my kids were and that I really had to take the blame. He said no, it was his generations fault. They came back from the war and were determined to not have their children deal with the same hardships they had to. We only followed their lead.


74 posted on 04/20/2009 5:33:53 PM PDT by SouthTexas (When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people.....)
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To: JoeProBono

My Parent’s retired in the late Eighties, sold their house and rented an Apartment in Southern California for a while.

Their landlord was the actress that played the preteen daughter in the movie. Nice lady. She had many other movie roles, but that was her most famous one.

It is a small world.


75 posted on 04/20/2009 6:01:59 PM PDT by Kickass Conservative (If Hitler used a TelePrompter, we would all be speaking German...)
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To: Kickass Conservative

Cool! Thanks.


76 posted on 04/20/2009 6:04:39 PM PDT by JoeProBono (A closed mouth gathers no feet)
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To: ConservativeTerrapin

Did you ever read The Jungle in school? Had to do a book report on that. The book gave me nightmares. Dinner was never the same. LOL


77 posted on 04/20/2009 6:05:30 PM PDT by Kickass Conservative (If Hitler used a TelePrompter, we would all be speaking German...)
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To: JoeProBono
Well, we're not being thrown off our farms - and California's not going to be a destination for anyone. Other than that...
78 posted on 04/20/2009 6:11:55 PM PDT by GOPJ (If Obama had been king of England, the Globe wouldn't have covered the American Revolution-Graham)
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