Semester 2 Honors Novel#2

As the Joad family progressed in their journey in The Grapes of Wrath, the tone of the story became more and more upsetting and sad for the reader. Steinbeck portrayed the Great Depression very well through the Joad family and he used many situations that occurred during that time period. The emphasis on all of the bad occurrences during their journey was a little dramatic and made the tone of the book not only sad but also sort of depressing.

Starting off to set the tone of the book, the Joad family is completely out of their home and have no where to live really. I know the story is about the Great Depression, but illustrating an image of the place they lived and that they’re home was foreclosed really gets the reader to understand what is going on. As the story progresses the reader learns that the Joad family is traveling to California to try and make a new beginning. Even just the thought of leaving your home for your entire life is upsetting especially for a family that does not know what to expect at all in California.

When the journey to California begins all seems well, but then death begins to set in among the family. The story starts to become about the death and separation of the family rather than just making it to California safely to pursue their dreams. At the beginning of the treck the dog dies first and then follows along both Grandpa and Grandma. Rose of Sharon’s husband leaves the family completely and leaves his wife who is pregnant with his child. The journey to California starts off as good intentions and following their dreams to try and make a better life, but it turns into a disaster that brings the entire family down.

Even when the Joad family gets to California, it isn’t all that they thought it to be. Finding a job is very difficult and the stereotypical remarks about the “Okies” makes it even more difficult. When things seem to start going the right way, it just becomes even more of a set back. When Casy gets taken away by the police, that is once again another set back in the Joad family expedition. The list of deaths increases when not only Casy dies, but also Rose of Sharon’s little baby.

Every time there is a death, a set back, or a fall out among the family it makes the reader have no hope for the Joad’s at all. The depressing journey never ends among the family. Its understandable that its near to impossible to have a happy ending while trying to tough out the Great Depression, but it seems as if Steinbeck clearly wanted to establish a tone that created sympathy and sadness for the Joad family. 

Blog #12

Public works projects are construction and engineering projects that are carried out by the state for the community. Some of the most popular public works projects took place during the Great Depression. The purpose of these projects was the re-stimulate the economy and to give people jobs. The New Deal project had many different construction type projects. They included building streets and highways, school buildings, canals, bridges, sewage systems, housing areas and hospitals. Some of the public works projects that would be beneficial to our society would include building roads and highways. Probably improving the roads more than actually building new highways. I know recently there have been many different road and highway projects and there have also been different schools being built.

Semester 2 Honors Novel#1

While taking place during the Great Depression, Steinbeck expresses the different political and social issues of the time with his characters of Cannery Row.  While the stock market fell and the people began to struggle, there was not much anyone could do at the time. In those moments of time, the people tried to create happiness among themselves and help make it easier for everyone to get through those times.

As a result of the Great Depression, it left many people in situations where money was tight and the class level among them dropped as well. Steinbeck expresses a story about the people of the lower class. He writes about Cannery Row many times throughout the book and it is emphasized that it isn’t the wealthiest or even the greatest place to live. It’s a run down town, but there are the different aspects of the town that makes it the place that it is.

One of the social issues that Steinbeck reflects in his writing is that World War II didn’t really do anything to effect the people that live in Cannery Row. After World War II, it affected most of the nation and pulled them out of the Great Depression. But from the sounds of it, Cannery Row didn’t change all that much after the war.  There was instance when Doc went to go and collect octopus for his experiments and he found a girl who was dead in the river. My opinion on what that had symbolized was that the Great Depression wasn’t over for them. The war had helped others find a way out from the depression, but when Steinbeck wrote about the girl in the river, it seemed as if he was writing about sadness and that it wasn’t quite over for them.

As for the characters in this book, they consciously try to make Doc happy and do something kind for him. And I think that they do that to try and get over the fact that life hasn’t been all its cracked up to be for them at that moment in time. Mack and his group of friends plan a birthday party for Doc. This is after they had they’re own party that Doc did not know about. Another way that they found happiness was through drinking. Doc really enjoyed drinking alcohol and that was sort of an “escape” for him.

The political and social issues of the time period weren’t expressed in depth throughout this book. It seemed as if Steinbeck was just writing a story about how the people of Cannery Row are coping with the struggles in their lives. 

Blog #10

I think that John Steinbeck did establish sympathy for the Dust Bowl farmers in the Grapes of Wrath. The author put almost too much of sympathetic occurrences in the whole story though. At some points in the book, it seemed as if he was greatly exaggerating some of the events that had happened to the Joad family. It seemed as if not all of the bad things that happened to their family would really happen in actuality. In the beginning of the story, there were many deaths and the Joad family had the hardships of moving across the United States and of course Steinbeck arose some sympathy from me. As the hardships continued in the story, it almost seemed as if it would be unrealistic for that many bad things would happen. Of course the author put in many different options of situations that occurred, but some of it was a point of where it was too much. 

semester 2 blog 9

With Ampersand I have my topic and I have the entire first paragraph written out in my head.. which I realize needs to go on to paper... but I will do that very soon. Realistically, this will happen in class tomorrow when we have work time! i find it hard to just sit down and write.. ive never been too good at that. haha. but i need to force myself to just get all of my ideas written down and then i can go from there and finish my piece for Ampersand.

Semester 2 blog 8

Obama and FDR are similar because FDR used the New Deal to make more jobs for people in America and to help end the recession. Obama has had attempts to do this, but he has not been so successful. With his 2009 stimulus package.. the nation has only increased in debt and we are still in a recession.

Honors History #1

Dear Mr. President,

For the past months our country has been struggling on multiple levels.  Let me begin by sharing a few of my ideas that could help during the beginning of our decade with the “Great Recession.” I understand you are using some ideas from Roosevelt’s New Deal and I do not think that is the right way to go about the economic struggles that face American families today. The New Deal increased government spending for government programs. While there are some government programs such as fire department, law enforcement and national defense, which are of value to our country, there are other programs that we do not need to fund.

The purpose of the $787 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) was to create jobs, similar to the New Deal. Mr. President, the private sector is where the stimulus money should have been given too. Not only should it go into the private sector, the amount of money you have given has put our country in debt and caused the “Great Recession.” Not only will the debt caused by the ARRA effect our country’s economy today, it will take years for future generations to pay off this kind of debt. I would recommend returning the remaining money to the U.S. Treasury in attempt to stabilize our nation’s economy. I would also recommend tax credits be given to families so that more spending will occur and will help to pull us out of this recession. If the stimulus debt continues, there will most likely be a result of the devaluing of the dollar bill.

Also Mr. President, your health care bill is too drastic of a change for our society. While your thoughts for health care reform are reasonable, there is no need to overhaul the entire system when only minor fixes can be made to resolve the problems. Completely changing our entire medical system is insane and the government should not be controlling a private industry. The congress members should go home to their own states, discuss the health care bill with the people in their state and hear and listen to what the people want. The health care bill should be voted upon by the people, instead of having congress decide upon it.

You ran your campaign off of hope and change Mr. President, and I can assure that some of these ideas will ensure hope to many Americans and will change the economy with a positive result.

Sincerely,

Shannon