write a literary analysis essay about an intercalary chapter of the grapes of wrath apex

Intercalary Chapters in Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath Essay

Introduction, the message of the chapter, literary devices.

John Steinbeck’s novel, The Grapes of Wrath , is a classic of American literature and an interesting piece of writing for any analysis. A number of the chapters in the book can be classified as intercalary, which means that their presence does not serve to further the plot in a meaningful or significant way. Instead, these parts of the text resonate thematically with the rest of the work, reinforcing the existing messaging or better contextualizing it for the reader. The specific chapter that is discussed in this paper is chapter eleven. While some critics and readers may find the mentioned chapter irrelevant, its message about technology and life and literary devices like symbolism and metaphors support key topics in the novel – dehumanization and the power of nature.

Although the chapter in question is quite short and, as mentioned above, is not critical to the novel’s plot, it still brings great value to the overall understanding of the author’s ideas. To begin with, it is important to notice that the book itself is more devoted to following the characters’ development and adventures. On the contrary, Steinbeck uses this small section to show what happens to the houses and the land once people leave their areas because this process of nature raising its power is also viewed as crucial. Thus, “the weeds sprang up in front of the doorstep, where they had not been allowed, and grass grew up through the porch boards” (Steinbeck 159). Animals like rats, cats, weasels, and others take control of the abandoned buildings, and this triumph of nature leaves readers with a slight sadness and a sense of rightness (Steinbeck 158-159). In other words, the examples above show that nature takes back what humans never wanted or took care of.

The poetic language used in the chapter allows to highlight one of its messages, precisely, the absence of ‘life’ and ‘nature knowledge’ in some people. The author uses metaphors, personification, and similes to describe those who use tractors to farm the land they do not feel or understand, as well as to contrast living creatures and these technological tools. Thus, in the barn, “the feet shift on the straw, and the jaws champ on the hay, and the ears and the eyes are alive,” which are the symbols of life and nature (Steinbeck 157). However, “when the motor of a tractor stops, it is as dead as the ore it came from. The heat goes out of it like the living heat that leaves a corpse” (Steinbeck 157). These quotes show the striking difference between what is alive and what is not, and people who prefer the latter are barely alive themselves because they do not feel the warmth or the land. Such persons are no longer humans as they fail to see the wonder in the ground and in farming this land, which is when the topic of dehumanization is highlighted.

In conclusion, it can be said that chapter eleven of The Grapes of Wrath is important for understanding the novel’s messaging and themes despite being largely unimportant to its plot progression. In the chapter, Steinbeck once again emphasizes the power of nature that can take control over what has long belonged to humans but has not been truly ‘alive’ or ‘humanized.’ Further, with the use of literary devices, Steinbeck also highlights the difference between technology and nature. The author makes sure to note that people lose their ability to see wonders and feel their land when they prefer technological solutions.

Steinbeck, J. The Grapes of Wrath . Gardners Books, 1993.

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IvyPanda. (2024, January 19). Intercalary Chapters in Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath. https://ivypanda.com/essays/intercalary-chapters-in-steinbecks-the-grapes-of-wrath/

"Intercalary Chapters in Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath." IvyPanda , 19 Jan. 2024, ivypanda.com/essays/intercalary-chapters-in-steinbecks-the-grapes-of-wrath/.

IvyPanda . (2024) 'Intercalary Chapters in Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath'. 19 January.

IvyPanda . 2024. "Intercalary Chapters in Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath." January 19, 2024. https://ivypanda.com/essays/intercalary-chapters-in-steinbecks-the-grapes-of-wrath/.

1. IvyPanda . "Intercalary Chapters in Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath." January 19, 2024. https://ivypanda.com/essays/intercalary-chapters-in-steinbecks-the-grapes-of-wrath/.

Bibliography

IvyPanda . "Intercalary Chapters in Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath." January 19, 2024. https://ivypanda.com/essays/intercalary-chapters-in-steinbecks-the-grapes-of-wrath/.

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Grapes of Wrath Intercalary Chapter Summary

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The Grapes of Wrath

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• Lesson Plans
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The Inner Chapters of John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath

Migrant from Chicksaw, Oklahoma, stalled in southern California with no money. He and his ten children are facing a future in California. March 1937.

Library of Congress

"You say the inner chapters were counterpoint and so they were—that they were pace changers and they were that too but the basic purpose was to hit the reader below the belt. With the rhythms and symbols of poetry one can get into a reader—open him up and while he is open introduce—things on an intellectual level which he would not or could not receive unless he were opened up. It is a psychological trick if you wish but all techniques of writing are psychological tricks." – John Steinbeck to Herbert Sturtz, 1953

John Steinbeck recognized that one of the most criticized elements of The Grapes of Wrath was his alternating use of inner (also known as intercalary) chapters that interrupt the narrative of the Joads. Steinbeck noted, in his response to a Columbia University student’s letter, that the inner chapters “…have been pommeled. You are the first critical person who seems to have suspected that they had a purpose.” Steinbeck is clear. “Its [ The Grapes of Wrath’s ] structure is very carefully worked out.” [See: John Steinbeck, “A Letter on Criticism,” Colorado Quarterly 4 (Autumn 1955): 218–219.] The way the book is put together is no accident. The inner chapters were designed by the author. Why did he include them?

The Grapes of Wrath opens with a brief ecological look at the Plains drought in the first inner chapter. What purpose does this chapter’s “inner” narrative serve? In this lesson, students will first determine the function of Steinbeck’s opening chapter which acts as the first “inner chapter.” They will then explore the relationship between inner chapters and the Joad narrative chapters throughout the novel.

Guiding Questions

How does Steinbeck’s image-filled opening chapter convey the intensity of the problems faced by Dust Bowl farmers?

Why does Steinbeck employ inner chapters and place them intermittently between the Joad chapters in The Grapes of Wrath?

Learning Objectives

Identify the purpose and reflect upon the effectiveness of the inner chapters in this novel

State the relationship between an inner chapter and the Joad chapter that follows it

Analyze the relationship between the outer and inner chapters

Consider how the inner chapters contribute to the overall themes and effectiveness of the novel

Compare the fictional accounts of Grapes of Wrath with non-fiction sources about The Dust Bowl

Lesson Plan Details

John Steinbeck was not the first writer to use a series of inner chapters, also known as intercalary or interchapters. In Moby Dick , Melville interpolated chapters into his narrative with names like: “Cetology,” “Less Erroneous Pictures of Whales,” and “The Whale as a Dish.”

Since The Grapes of Wrath’s inner chapters don’t advance the action of the Joads’ narrative, one must ask why Steinbeck uses them. We know that Steinbeck called the structure of the novel “very carefully worked out.” He insisted that the inner chapters “had a purpose.” Yet readers often find them problematic, asking questions from the specific (“How can the first chapter be an inner chapter?” “Why do the inner chapters sometimes come in pairs?”), to the general (“What does this chapter have to do with the rest of the book?”)

The Big Read from National Endowment for the Arts cites in their Introduction to the Reader’s Guide that “ The Grapes of Wrath is at least two books in one.” One half tell the story of the Joads while the other half tells the story of nameless people. Steinbeck called these inner chapters "generals," to “emphasize the point that the Joads stood in for all the Depression-era westward migrants.” Through these “generals” Steinbeck wanted to make sure the reading public did not interpret the experiences of the Joad family as unique. This site hosts multimedia resources including a radio show with Steinbeck experts , and teacher’s resources with ideas for capstone projects and essay topics.

Scholars and literary critics have various views on Steinbeck’s purpose for including the inner chapters.

Mary Ellen Caldwell sees a conscious pattern operating in the intermittent arrangement of the chapters. Steinbeck’s inner chapters comment on societal and economic conditions while his Joad chapters contain plot narrative. Caldwell see “each [chapter] augmenting the effect of the other, with a crystalization of the whole placed in the center.” In her analysis, Chapter 15 is unique among the inner chapters in the way it contains its own narrative and is central “not only a microcosm of The Grapes of Wrath but also a microcosm of the United States.”

John J. Conder discusses his view that these chapters form a network of interlocking determinisms through their emphasis on the effects of abstract, impersonal forces in the lives of the Oklahomans. For Condor, these inner chapters illustrate how economic, biological, and social determinism affect groups and how those forces set in motion “the growth of a group consciousness.” The narrative chapters demonstrate the varieties of individual choices (free will) in the face of forces the characters cannot control.

For further discussion about the purpose of Steinbeck’s inner chapters see:

• John J. Condor, “Steinbeck and Nature’s Self: The Grapes of Wrath ,” in Harold Bloom ed., Modern Critical Interpretations, (New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 1988).
• Mary Ellen Caldwell, “A New Consideration of the Intercalary Chapters: The Grapes of Wrath, ” in Robert Con Davis, ed., Twentieth Century Interpretations of The Grapes of Wrath , (Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1982).
• Michael J. Meyer, ed., The Grapes of Wrath: A Re-Consideration . (New York: Rodopi 2009). A collection of essays in celebration of the novel's seventieth anniversary that contains several essays devoted to Steinbeck’s inner chapters.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.9-10.5 Analyze how an author's choices concerning how to structure a text, order events within it (e.g., parallel plots), and manipulate time (e.g., pacing, flashbacks) create such effects as mystery, tension, or surprise.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.9-10.7 Analyze the representation of a subject or a key scene in two different artistic mediums, including what is emphasized or absent in each treatment (e.g., Auden's "Musée des Beaux Arts" and Breughel's Landscape with the Fall of Icarus).

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.11-12.4 Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in the text, including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone, including words with multiple meanings or language that is particularly fresh, engaging, or beautiful. (Include Shakespeare as well as other authors.)

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.11-12.3 Analyze the impact of the author's choices regarding how to develop and relate elements of a story or drama (e.g., where a story is set, how the action is ordered, how the characters are introduced and developed).

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.9-10.2.B Develop the topic with well-chosen, relevant, and sufficient facts, extended definitions, concrete details, quotations, or other information and examples appropriate to the audience's knowledge of the topic.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.9-10.7 Conduct short as well as more sustained research projects to answer a question (including a self-generated question) or solve a problem; narrow or broaden the inquiry when appropriate; synthesize multiple sources on the subject, demonstrating understanding of the subject under investigation.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.9-10.9 Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research.

• Review the lesson plan and the websites used throughout. Locate and bookmark suggested materials and websites. Download and print out documents you will use and duplicate copies as necessary for student viewing.
• EDSITEment-reviewed Annenberg Learner hosts a John Steinbeck page that contains a biographical summary in addition to a video depicting migrant struggles for land in the social fiction of John Steinbeck, Carlos Bulosan, and Helena Viramontes.
• Visit San Jose State’s online Center for Steinbeck Studies for the “ Biography in Depth ” on John Steinbeck along with a litany of teaching resources .
• Worksheet #1. “ Outline of Intercalary Chapters in The Grapes of Wrath ” is available from EDSITEment partner ReadWriteThink’s lesson Designing Museum Exhibits for The Grapes of Wrath : A Multigenre Project . (This resource provides a ready-made label for all of the inner chapters.)
• Worksheet #2. “ Relationships Between Chapters ” (PDF) uses those labels and then leaves spaces for each Joad chapter. There, type in the students’ sentences about the relationship between the inner chapter(s) and the related Joad chapter.
• Factual information detailing the severity of the Dust Bowl and the conditions of the Drought in the Dust Bowl Years is available from The National Drought Mitigation Center .
• The 2012 PBS documentary film The Dust Bowl by Ken Burns chronicles the worst manmade ecological disaster in American history, in which the frenzied wheat boom of the “Great Plow-Up,” followed by a decade-long drought during the 1930s, nearly swept away the breadbasket of the nation. Interviews with twenty-six survivors of those hard times combine with photographs and seldom-seen movie footage.
• EDSITEment-reviewed American Studies at the University of Virginia offers Reaping the Golden Harvest: Paul Lorentz, Poet and Filmmaker , which provides background information and a link for viewing the FSA film The Plow That Broke the Plains . The theme of the documentary is the causes of the 1930’s Dust Bowl drought and the improved farming methods necessary to prevent its recurrence. This first documentary commissioned by the United States government for commercial release and distribution set the standard for American documentary films at the time. Lorentz’s poetic scripts have often been compared to the work of Walt Whitman. 
• For primary source materials, see EDSITEment-reviewed American Memory Project ’s “ Voices from the Dustbowl : the Charles L. Todd and Robert Sonkin Migrant Worker Collection, 1940–1941,” a field collection of audio recordings, photographs, manuscript materials, publications, and ephemera generated during two documentation trips to migrant worker camps in California.

Activity 1. Chapter 1: Inner Chapter

Have students read (or read with the class) the opening chapter of The Grapes of Wrath.

Lead a discussion asking what students think Steinbeck is trying to do in this chapter.

For student reference, factual information detailing the severity of the Dust Bowl and the conditions of the Drought in the Dust Bowl Years is available from The National Drought Mitigation Center .

• Point to some examples of Steinbeck’s language that convey: 1) the severity of the drought; and 2) the emotional state of farm families.

Read aloud sections from Chapter 1 in which Steinbeck’s uses rhetorical means such as metaphors and similes as well as personifications (wind, dust, colors, and the physical and emotional descriptions of people) as clues to emotional states. For example: “In the morning the dust hung like fog, and the sun was as red as ripe new blood. All day the dust sifted down from the sky, and the next day it sifted down. An even blanket covered the earth.”

• The opening chapter of the novel is one of the so-called “inner chapters” (chapters that do not focus on the Joads’ narrative). Ask students to consider why Steinbeck chose to start the book with this chapter instead of a Joad action narrative. What does this say about the author’s intent?
• Choose one adjective to describe the emotional tone of Chapter 1.
• As time allows, view all or part of The Dust Bowl , Ken Burn’s PBS documentary film. Then resume the discussion:

Reflect on any changes the students may have experienced in learning more about the actual conditions in the Dust Bowl. How does this new understanding affect their views of Chapter 1 or of the novel as a whole ?

Have students skim Chapter 2 and instruct them point to words, phrases, or ideas that relate to Chapter 1.

As a warm-up for Activity 2, ask students to describe the relationship between Chapter 1 and Chapter 2 in one sentence.

Activity 2. Chapter 1: Comparison with "The Plow That Broke the Plains"

After the whole class reading and discussion activities for Chapter 1, show the film, The Plow that Broke the Plains .

Provide students with the following context: Pare Lorenz’s film The Plow That Broke the Plains , brought national attention to the plight of those living in the Dust Bowl and the human influence on the natural disaster. EDSITEment-reviewed American Experience program, Surviving the Dust Bowl , contains an article explaining that Lorenz wanted to make a series of government documentaries covering the full range of American life. Rexford Guy Tugwell, then Director of the Resettlement Administration (later the Farm Security Administration), agreed that it was a good idea to use film to educate the public.

Together they decided that the first subject would be the Dust Bowl. The Plow that Broke the Plains , released in May of 1936, promoted New Deal agricultural reforms. It’s important to note that “images of the Great Plains” drew Lorenz to this subject.

A further article about the film explains that although critics loved the film, Hollywood branded it as government propaganda and refused to distribute it commercially. Nonetheless, positive public reaction insured the film’s availability to theaters agreeing to show it. (Click here to view the entire documentary.)

The American public saw a steady stream of images related to the Dust Bowl and its aftermath. Notice how powerfully Lorenz’s colleague at the FSA, Arthur Rothstein, illustrated the words “the plow that broke the plains.”

The plow that broke the plains; look at it now. Oklahoma

Have students write an essay entitled “America’s Useable Past: Reaping the Golden Harvest vs. Reaping The Grapes of Wrath ,” noting the nostalgic and bucolic images Lorentz employed to tell the story of The Plow that Broke the Plains and comparing those images with the ones Steinbeck uses in his inner chapters to tell the story of The Grapes of Wrath . Ask students to think how the concepts “idealism” and “realism” might apply to these works. Ask them to consider which artist’s vision would provide more inspiration to a nation experiencing economic and personal hardship.

Activity 3. Relationships between Chapters

Since the publication of The Grapes of Wrath , the inner chapters have been the topic of much discussion and disagreement among critics. Despite differing views on their purpose , it is widely accepted that Steinbeck crafted these “inner” (intercalary) chapters with intention and had a rationale for every inner chapter’s content and placement. Tell students to keep in mind that Steinbeck advised his readers that The Grapes of Wrath ’s “structure is very carefully worked out.” 

Distribute or display “ Outline of Intercalary Chapters in The Grapes of Wrath ” from EDSITEment-partner ReadWriteThink ’s lesson, Designing Museum Exhibits for The Grapes of Wrath : A Multigenre Project. Explain to students that in this activity they will embark on their own search for the purpose of these chapters and their connection to the Joad narrative chapters that immediately precede them. Note that twelve chapters after Chapter 2 in The Grapes of Wrath focus on the Joad family (4, 6, 8, 10, 13, 16, 18, 20, 22, 24, 26, and 28) and that each Joad narrative chapter is preceded by one or two of the “inner chapters”(3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 12, 14, 15, 17, 19, 21, 23, 25, 27.)

Assign one or more of the Joad chapters (4–28) to each pair or small groups of students. Have each group also review the information in the preceding inner chapter and take notes on the content of that chapter. Tell students to keep in mind the content of the preceding inner chapter(s) as they discuss the relationship between the two chapters.

Hold a brief discussion on what the students have noticed and then have the groups each develop a paragraph stating the relationship they see between their two chapters.

Gather the statements into a worksheet labeled “ Relationships between Chapters .” In the following class, share the students’ findings, allowing for discussion.

• Each student should point to a pair of chapters (inner and Joad) that s/he believes work together in a way that supports Steinbeck’s purpose. Ask students to explain that purpose and its support in one sentence.
• After viewing the new Ken Burns documentary film The Dust Bowl , have students write a new inner chapter for The Grapes of Wrath or write a contemporary inner chapter entitled “The Dust Bowl Revisited.”
• Would the novel have been as powerful and provocative with this omission? Would it have raised the same controversy across the country?
• Would it have touched the same “national (international) chord” that Susan Shillinglaw describes in " Of Migrants and Misdeeds: California and The Grapes of Wrath ," available from EDSITEment-reviewed John Steinbeck, The Voice of a Region, A Voice for America .
• EDSITEment-reviewed American Memory Project hosts California Gold: Northern California Folk Music from the Thirties , an archive ofthe WPA California Folk Music Project (1938–40), which includes sound recordings, photographs, drawings, and written documents from a variety of European ethnic and English- and Spanish-speaking communities in Northern California. Have students examine these primary source documents from the time and location of Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath to hear, see, and read primary sources from that era. Then, have students write an essay “Seeking California Gold in the 1930s” drawing on these primary source as well as the inner chapters narratives of Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath .
• To practice for the AP English Language exam sample question: Have students write an essay in which they discuss the role of the individual in confronting injustice that synthesizes and uses for support at least five intercalary chapters from The Grapes of Wrath .
• Have students read Susan Shillinglaw’s “ Of Migrants and Misdeeds California and The Grapes of Wrath ;” then view her slide show as an example of how major themes in the novel’s chapters can be illustrated visually. Let them design their own slide show illustrating the relationships they discovered between their Joad chapter and the inner chapters.
• Have students listen to the radio show of experts from The Big Read: The Grapes of Wrath. Have them write a reflection paper using The Grapes of Wrath and another American novel they have studied to explore the idea articulated by the novelist Susan Straight at the end of the show: “The novel reminds us really of how timeless the fight is for land and for dignity and for survival.”
• Format (organization, documentary techniques, use of music)
• Narrative style
• Content (information on the causes and effects of the Dust Bowl)

Selected EDSITEment Websites

• Surviving the Dustbowl
• America from the Great Depression to World War II: Photographs from the FSA-OWI , 1935-1945
• Voices from the Dust Bowl, 1940-1941
•   California Gold: Northern California Folk Music from the Thirties
• The Plow That Broke the Plains
• John Steinbeck page
• Migrant Struggle video
• The Big Read: The Grapes of Wrath.  
• “ Of Migrants and Misdeeds: California and The Grapes of Wrath ”
• PBS The Dust Bowl , Ken Burn’s PBS
• Biography in Depth
• Teaching Resources
• Outline of Intercalary Chapters in The Grapes of Wrath

Materials & Media

Steinbeck: outline of intercalary chapters in "the grapes of wrath", steinbeck: the relationship between chapters: "the grapes of wrath", related on edsitement, steinbeck’s use of nonfiction sources in the grapes of wrath, dust bowl days, depression-era photographs: worth a thousand words, john steinbeck’s the grapes of wrath : verbal pictures.

The Grapes of Wrath as a Multigenre, Multivocal Text

By kris sieloff, baltimore city college high school, baltimore, md , 2009.

The following lesson is intended as an extension of the close reading and analysis of the writer’s technique in constructing The Grapes of Wrath. This approach was inspired by the article, “Steinbeck’s Human Ecology: The Intercalary Chapters of The Grapes of Wrath,” as well as the method of dialogic pedagogy presented by Prof. Mary Adler in one of our institute workshops. An emphasis on the intercalary chapters provides an exploration of Steinbeck’s illustration of the phalanx theory, the tension between the universal and particular, or the individual and community in Grapes of Wrath. As students analyze Steinbeck’s novel for the diversity of languages and world views, they will engage in their own collective and dialogic search for meaning through group textual analysis, culminating in a Socratic seminar. The final assessment, the multigenre project, requires students to extend their understanding and engagement with the text and reinforces the overarching theme of the lesson.

Grade Level

• Students will interpret Steinbeck’s Theory of the Phalanx and analyze its appearance in the intercalary chapters (those chapters in between the Joad family narrative) of  The Grapes of Wrath .
• Students will collaborate to analyze the diversity of languages within the intercalary chapters.
• Students will engage in Socratic discussion about the philosophy the novel appears to advance, about the tensions between the universal and particular, and the role of the individual in relation to community.
• Students will compose a multigenre project consisting of works that illustrate themes they identify within the intercalary chapters.
• The teacher will provide background on Steinbeck the Reporter informing Steinbeck the Novelist using excerpts from Steinbeck’s journalistic renderings of the migrant experience. Suggested texts include: “Dubious Battle in California,” “The Harvest Gypsies: Squatters’ Camps,” or “Starvation Under the Orange Trees” from  America and Americans and Selected Nonfiction . Discussion of these texts should focus on the writer’s style, journalistic as opposed to prosaic or poetic.
• Steinbeck’s letters to Carlton Sheffield and George Albee [Letter to Carlton A. Sheffield, June 21, 1933 and Letter to George Albee 1933 in Steinbeck: A Life in Letters].
• Ecclesiastes 4:9-12
• Merriam-Webster definition of “phalanx”
• In preparation for the group analysis activity, the teacher will introduce the concept of Mikhail Bakhtin’s heteroglossia, or the diversity and stratification of languages or voices within the text [in Bakhtin, Mikhail. (1935). “Discourse in the Novel.”  The Dialogic Imagination: Four Essays . Ed. Michael Holquist. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1981]: “The novel orchestrates all its themes, the totality of the world of objects and ideas depicted and expressed in it, by means of the social diversity of speech types and by the differing individual voices that flourish under such conditions” (Bakhtin 263). It is important to remember that heteroglossia is opposed to unitary language, and this opposition leads to tensions within the text. Examples of heteroglossia include different stratas or registers, such as social, professional, dialects, jargon, and the language of authority. In addition, according to Bakhtin, the author will identify a “common language” to express the worldviews of a given social group, but the author will maintain a distance from this group; thus, the style of the novel may fluctuate, from journalistic to poetic, for example. "
• Group Assignment: What voices do you hear in this chapter, and what can we learn from the variety of voices? Students will be divided into groups of 3-4 students; each group would be assigned a pair of chapters (Chap 1 & 3, 5 & 7, 9 &11,12 & 14, 15 &17, 19 &21, 23 & 25, 27 & 29) for analysis using the following chart.
• After completion of the group analysis activity, the class will conduct a Socratic Seminar focusing on the following concepts: Based on your group’s analysis of the assigned chapters, what beliefs does the novel seem to present about humanity? Does the narrative voice appear to be endorsing a specific world view? What tensions are apparent in these chapters? What themes have emerged from your analysis of these chapters?
• The teacher will present a variety of written, visual, and auditory texts to inspire student thinking as they prepare for the final assessment. (See “Multigenre Project Models/Ideas”).

Select a theme from our analysis of the intercalary chapters and construct a multigenre project containing at least four genres. Examples: ballad, prose poem, dialogue, collage, news article, diary entry, scrapbook page, editorial or letter to the editor, political cartoon, storyboard or comic strip, advertisement, video. You must include endnotes explaining the selection of each genre and the piece’s relationship to the theme you have selected.

Additional Resources

• Brief video footage of dust storm
• “Dust Bowl Refugee”
• Hesse, Karen. Out of the Dust. “Pastures of Plenty”
• “Talking Dust Bowl Blues”
• Woody Guthrie Lyrics and Images
• Woody Guthrie’s “Talking Dust Bowl Blues” recording with video footage
• Adler, Mary. “Eliciting Classroom Voices: A Dialogic Steinbeck Curriculum.” Lecture and Powerpoint Presentation, NEH Steinbeck Institute, July 2009.
• Shillinglaw, Susan and Jackson J. Benson, Eds.  America and Americans and Selected Nonfiction . New York: Viking Penguin, 2002.