The Grapes Of Wrath And The American Myth

The alluring American myth has ever involved numerous people into struggling for it no matter how many trials and tribulations they may undergo. With people consistently reposing their hopes in the American myth, it is engraved in American people's heart, and by degrees its charm infiltrates into the American culture, and its image and pattern enter into American literature. Hence what does the American myth indicate in this thesis? How does it influence people's psyche and behavior? And what eventually does it bring to the American people? Blessing or misfortune, happiness or sadness, hope or illusion? This thesis, relating The Grapes of Wrath with the American myth, endeavors to explore the story of the sharecroppers' migration in the novel as the carrier of the American myth, and expose the disillusionment of the intriguing American myth.In the first part, this thesis elaborates on the formation of the American myth, which designates the myth of pursuing Eden in the west. The American myth can be traced back to the colonial period when the Europeans began to explore the mythical New World—America. The fertile land, abundant resources and free environment in America greatly exited and inspired the explorers. With great economic success achieved by Spain and France in the New World, the American myth of Eden began to take its shape and became a driving force in the westward migration. Moreover, the American myth was increasingly tinged with rose-color by Europeans and gradually ingrained into people's minds. Since then, the New World has been fashioned into the enticing Promised Land in the cultural plane, and later this myth is transformed into the western myth with people moving to the West to pursue the myth. And then the thesis goes on to explain the great influence the myth has on the westward expansion, and the beautiful dream and endless imagination it brings to American people.In the second part, the thesis elucidates the sharecroppers' westward migration in the The Grapes of Wrath as the carrier of the American myth. First, an analogy is made between the Joads' migration, which is the epitome of the sharecroppers', and the Israelites' exodus, as Canaan, the Israelite' idealized homeland, symbolizes the Promised Land in the Exodus. Second, in order to illuminate that the Joads' migration is the carrier of the American myth, a comparison is made between the Joads1 migration and the westward migration in the 19^th century from the aspects of aim, experience and spirit, which helps to explain why the sharecroppers' migration can be regarded as the extension of the westward expansion, and further reveal the indelible influence of the American myth on people.In the third part, with the purpose of uncovering the crisis behind the American myth, the thesis probes into the inharmonious relationship between the American myth and ecology. In reality, the American myth, from the very beginning, takes on the cloak of anthropocentric ecology which has influenced people's behavior for a long time. First, the thesis lists the ecological deterioration in the colonial period and in the westward migration when the American myth pushes the development of economy, politics and culture in the West. The land deterioration is one of the reasons that impel the farmers to move to the West in The Grapes of Wrath. This ecological deterioration reflects the conflict between the realization of the America myth and maintenance of the ecological balance, and indicates the fulfillment of the American myth is at the cost of the environment destruction. Last, the Joads' dire life in California--the Promised Land reveals the disillusionment of the American myth. In the last part, the thesis interprets people's ascending in spirit as the consequence of the disillusionment of the American myth. It introduces Casy's thought which embodies Steinbeck's ecological holism, and then it goes to explore the growth of Tom and Rose of Sharon under the guidance of Casy and Ma. Tom and Rose of Sharon's final commitment to the human beings rather than the American myth illuminates the transcendence of the American myth.On the whole, the thesis, through exposing the disillusionment of the American myth, suggests that we should objectively respond to the influence of the culture.