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Chapters 1-2

• NOTE: Citations, page numbers, and references in this Lesson Plan refer to the following version of the book: Steinbeck, John. The Grapes of Wrath: Text and Criticism. Penguin Books, 1997.

• The Grapes of Wrath is related from the perspective of a third-person omniscient narrator.

• The chapters of the novel alternate between a microcosmic and a macrocosmic depiction of the impacts of the Dust Bowl of the 1930s. The microcosmic storyline follows the Joad family as they make their way west to California after being run off from their land in Oklahoma. The macrocosmic storyline examines the 300,000-plus migrants and the economic and agricultural causes of their plight.

• Chapter 1 introduces the landscape of Oklahoma in the 1930s, where dust covers barren farmsteads and the farmers and families cover their mouths and noses with rags to keep from breathing in the dust.

• Chapter 2 introduces the main protagonist of the...

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