文学第十六周John_Steinbeck.ppt

2) Biblical influence --- The story corresponds to “The Exodus”《出埃及记》in the Old Testament of the Bible:基督教旧约全书 The ancient Jews went to Egypt in search of food and stayed there for 400 years and became the slaves of the Egyptian Pharaoh (埃及法老); ---The God sent Moses(摩西), as His prophet to lead them out through the desert toward Canaan (迦南), the Promised Land, the place the God had promised to Abraham(亚伯拉罕，犹太人的始祖), the Father of the Jews ---Under the oracle神谕 of the God when reaching Canaan, Moses made the Ten Commandments 摩西十诫 The Ten Commandments(摩西十诫) Themes of The Grapes of Wrath Man’s Inhumanity残忍 to Man; The Saving Power of Family and Fellowship团体; The Dignity of Wrath; The Multiplying Effects of Selfishness and Altruism利他主义. ①Mans Inhumanity to Man Steinbeck consistently points to the fact that the migrants’ great suffering is caused not by bad weather or mere misfortune but by their fellow human beings. In his brief history of California in Chapter Nineteen, Steinbeck portrays the state as the product of land-hungry squatters who took the land from Mexicans and, by working it and making it produce, rendered it their own. Now, generations later, the California landowners see this historical example as a threat. The novel draws a simple line through the population—one that divides the privileged from the poor—and identifies that division as the primary source of evil and suffering in the world. ②The Saving Power of Family and Fellowship In The Grapes of Wrath, the families merging takes place among the migrant community in general : “twenty families became one family, the children were the children of all. The loss of home became one loss, and the golden time in the West was one dream.” In the face of adversity灾难, the livelihood of the migrants depends upon their union. ③The Dignity of Wrath The Joads stand as exemplary figures in their refusal to be broken by the circumstances that conspire against them. At every turn到处,