Topic > Contrasting Analysis of “The Grapes of Wrath” and “The Worst Hard Time”

Depicting a world where the struggle to survive is elemental, two hard-hitting narratives have emerged to describe what life was like during the Dust Bowl. The Worst Hard Time by Timothy Egan includes a nonfiction account of life that follows real figures and stories of people who had to live through one of the most difficult times in history. John Steinbeck's novel The Grapes of Wrath offers a fictional depiction of what people would experience, creating the story of a family who had to transform their lives to adapt to what the Dust Bowl did to their lives in their struggle to find work and money. Both of these works paint a realistic picture of what life was like in the Dust Bowl, as they both comparatively included a unique storyline following multiple families in The Worst Hard Time and one family in The Grapes of Wrath, using figurative language to emphasize certain points that were consistent in life during the Dust Bowl and created a clear tone that connected with the reader on a personal and emotional level. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Both of these texts use a unique structure within each of their stories that provides multiple perspectives on life during the Dust Bowl. In The Worst Hard Time, there were multiple instances where the story passed between different families who had actually experienced the Dust Bowl. Egan stated in an interview that The Worst Hard Time was the kind of story where "[There was] no social security, no accurate predictions... They ate things like weeds - salted and canned - or road kill, cooked over an open fire" (Houghton Miffin Company 3). Egan describes their scenario in a very drastic but accurate way, providing a fictional depiction of what the Dust Bowl was like. In The Grapes of Wrath, there was a clear distinction between the fictional aspect of the majority of the story, which followed Tom Joad's family and their struggles during the Dust Bowl, along with internal chapters of the story that included real stories. information and background from the actual Dust Bowl times, of which Steinbeck commented in an interview that: "You say that the inner chapters were counterpoint and so they were – that they changed the pace and they were also, but the fundamental purpose was to hit the reader below the belt…Open him [to] things on an intellectual level that he would not or could not receive if he were not open” (New York Times 2) Steinbeck includes the story of a family living in a realistic setting during the Dust Bowl, together to these interior chapters that provide the reader with a greater understanding of these times, Egan and Steinbeck include many examples of innovative figurative language that emphasizes certain points to the reader and provided new perspectives on certain concepts of The Grapes of Wrath, Steinbeck writes “Tractors came onto the roads and into the fields, great crawlers moving like insects” (35), Steinbeck uses a simile to describe the tractors that had forced the people to leave their homes during the dust storm, comparing how they walked with the insects. He also uses metaphor to compare important concepts to the story, for example: “It was a part of the monster, a robot on the seat” (Steinbeck 35). In this quote, the tractor driver is compared to a robot, which is a part of this monster, giving the reader an understanding of how these drivers had to do things that made them look like monsters, but that was how they got paid. during these difficult times. There were also many examples of.