Another symbol is the turtle that is the focus of chapter three. This turtle is slowly making its way down the road. It says “as the embankment grew steeper and steeper, the more frantic were the efforts of the land turtle” (Steinbeck, 15.) Then a red ant comes and goes inside the turtle’s shell. The turtle snaps its appendages in, and crushes the ant. After this a sedan approaches, but gets out of the way before hitting the turtle. Then a truck comes to hit the turtle. It hits the turtle, but all it does is knock the turtle on its shell. The turtle gets back upright, and keeps moving. The turtle is a symbol mostly for the Joads, but also for all of the migrants heading west. The turtle keeps on moving, and does not stop even when things get harder like the Joads do. They experience many rough times, but they keep a positive attitude and never stop moving. The sedan that avoids the turtle represents good people that help the Joads, and the truck that tries to hit it is like the cops. The truck has no reason to hit the turtle other than some sort of schadenfreude that it gets from hurting it. It is like how the cops are obstructing justice, and making things more difficult for everyone. The cop that killed Casy had no motive to do so, but he still went through with it. After the truck passes the turtle gets up and keeps going which is like how Tom continues to keep Casy’s message alive after he dies. The turtle is definitely the most powerful symbol in the story. It does not seem like much upon first reading it, but it is symbolic of the entire story and foreshadows what is to come. There are many symbols in The Grapes of Wrath and they mostly all have strong meanings, but none of them compare to the land turtle in the beginning of the story.
Steinbeck, John. The Grapes of Wrath. New York: Penguin, 2006. Print.
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