Classic/Contemporary Novel Pairing: The Grapes of Wrath and Out of the Dust

Titles:
The Grapes of Wrath and Out of the Dust

Bibliographic Information:
Steinbeck, J. (1939). The grapes of wrath. New York, NY: Penguin Books.
Hesse, K. (1997). Out of the dust. New York: Scholastic Press.

Weekly Requirement:
Classic/Contemporary Novel Pairing

Plot Description:

The Grapes of Wrath is set in the Oklahoma dust bowl during The Great Depression. The story is about the Joad family and their journey to California after the bank takes their home away. The family not only loses their home, but also their land, and most of their possessions. They travel to California in a falling apart truck and face tragedy along the way including the death of grandparents and death their dog. When they reach California they discover that the jobs as scare and the salaries are not enough to survive. The family struggles to find food and shelter. When they do find jobs they are not paid enough and are treated poorly. The family’s will to survive keeps them going despite the tragedies, but in the end they are still plagued by hunger and homelessness.

Out of the Dust is a collect of poems that tell the story of fourteen year old Billie Jo, a young girl who lives with her father and pregnant mother and who loves to play the piano.  The family lives in the Oklahoma dust bowl and are constantly dealing with dust storms that ruin crops and make it difficult to breathe. Billie Jo is involved in an accident that tragically kills her mother and eventually her baby brother as well. The accident injuries Billie Jo’s hands and playing the piano suddenly becomes too difficult to play, both physically and emotionally. Billie Jo struggles to forgive herself and her father, who grows dejected and depressed. Billie Jo and her father start to drift apart and Billie Jo feels alone and abandoned, so she decides to run away. She catches a train heading west and begins to have second thoughts about leaving her father, so she returns home in hopes of mending their relationship and starting over.

How the two books connect:

Both books take place in the Oklahoma dust bowl during the great depression and deal with families who face great tragedies. Both families experience the devastating death of family members, including the babies of the daughter Rose of Sharon and Billie Jo's parents. They both lose animals like the Joad family dog and Billie Jo's family's livestock. Both families struggle with financial issues. Both families deal with dust storms and drought that ruin their crops. The biggest element that ties the book together is that families both have strong wills to survive despite the tragedies they face, especially Ma Joad, the rock of her family, and Billie Jo, the one who's choice to return home helps the family begin to heal.

Quantitative Reading Level:
The Grapes of Wrath: 680 Lexile
Out of the Dust: 5.4 Flesch-Kincaid

Qualitative Reading Analysis:
The Grapes of Wrath is a complex text that includes themes of poverty, social injustice for the poor, immigration, and the pursuit of the American dream. The story's organization is chronical because it describes a family's journal over several months, although several characters do refer back to previous events such as the murder Tom Joad commits and he subsequent time in prison. There are mainy religious allegories, including when Uncle John Joad sends his niece's dead baby down the river in a basket. This is very similar to the story of Moses who as a baby was sent down the Nile in a basket. There is some forshadowing in the story, such as when the Joad family meets people along their journey who insist that jobs are scare in California. The story is in the third person. The language of the characters in the text is from the Southern region of the United States.

Out of the Dust is not as complex as The Grapes of Wrath but it does contain elements that are complex on a simpler level. The story is a first person narrative told from Billie Jo's point of view. It's organization is chronological. The poems span an eleven month period and are divided into chapters for the seasons of each years. It begins with the winter of 1934 and ends in the autumn of 1935. The first poem "Beginning: August 1920" is a flashback to Billie Jo's birth. The poems' themes include death in a family, family stuggles, and poverty issues.

Content Area:
English

Content Area Standard:
English Language Art

Curriculum Suggestion:
High school English as lesson in American history and comparing and contrasting of texts.

Personal Thoughts:
I think these two stories are perfect to pair together because they deal with so many of the same issues. I believe Out of the Dust is a story that today's students will be able to relate better than The Grapes of Wrath because it deals with things students struggle with like Billie Jo's conflict with her parents and the feelings she begins to develop for an older boy named Mad Dog. The Grapes of Wrath also deals with family conflict, such as the father's guilt over what happened during the birth of his son Noah, and the feelings Al begins to develop for a young woman, but since the book and the characters are older I believe it is a little more difficult for students to relate to for the most part. I noticed comments on www.goodreads.com about how many people felt that The Grapes of Wrath was forced upon them in high school and it made them hate it, so I think that pairing it with Out of the Dust could be a good way to remedy that feeling in today's students!

Awards:
The Grapes of Wrath: National Book Award, Pulitzer Prize
Out of the Dust: Newberry Medal, Scott O'Dell Award, Booklist Editor's Choice Award, School Library Journal Best Book of the Year