Materialism and Inhumanity in John steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath and The Pearl

2 - MOOD

The Grapes of Wrath as well as The Pearl is written in a simple language. This simplicity is combined with harsh mood which translates the cruelty of the American materialism during the thirties.

From the beginning of The Grapes of Wrath, there is a menacing atmosphere that predicts farmers' coming trouble, as it is noticeable through this paragraph:

«The men were silent and they did not move often.

And the women came out of the houses to stand beside their men....

To feel whether this time the men would break.» ^6(*)8

This paragraph gives a foretaste of farmers' difficulty. Through a blurred mood, Steinbeck shows the Depression effect as well as the helplessness of farmers in front of people's acquisitive behavior. In fact this ominous mood is also visible through The Pearl in the episode where Kino finds the precious pearl. In an alternating tone, Steinbeck emphasizes poor people's characters that are dived in a money-oriented society. And with a severe mood, Steinbeck depicts the yearning for wealth which is one of the first causes of man's brutality. It is clear that the mood changes between different levels, summarizing the experiences of a large number of people and provides sometimes historical facts in order to make the novel more realistic. Through a regretful mood, Steinbeck criticizes the heartlessness of property-owners in The Grapes of Wrath because instead of buying fruits cheaply, landlords prefer poison and throw the rest of fruits in the sea as it is visible through this paragraph:

«The works of the roots of the vines, of the trees must be destroyed to keep up price

and this is the saddest, bitterest, thing of all. Carloads of oranges dumped on the ground.

The people came for miles to take the fruits, but this could not be...

and men with hoses squirt kerosene on the oranges,

and they are angry at the crime, angry at the people who have come to take the fruit.» ^6(*)9

This paragraph shows one of the cruelest acts of landowners. A constant harsh mood prevails along the paragraph above which demonstrates the callous policy that prevents poor farmers from being able to acquire food. In chapter twenty five, landlords prefer burn their harvest. This strategy creates hunger and anger as it is noticeable through the final moving chapter in The Grapes of Wrath in which Rosharon gives her breast to the hungry man in order to feed him.^7(*)0 The Grapes of Wrath as well as The Pearl is composed with different chapters and moods. The diverse chapters are tantamount to the different degree of people's violence. That is the reason why the mood becomes tenser, illustrating the dualism between moral value and material success. And through a deplorable mood, Steinbeck translates the tragedy of the Joads and Kino's family successively in The Grapes of Wrath and The Pearl.

The use of music through The Pearl is also a way to anticipate the coming mood. The «song of evil» in chapter two^7(*)1 announces a worried mood which demonstrates the coming danger of Kino's family in front of aggressive pearl-dealers. In chapter one, the anxious mood can be felt through Kino's brain as this paragraph illustrates it: «In his mind a new song had come, the song of Evil, the music of the enemy, of any foe of the family, a savage, secret, dangerous melody...»^7(*)2

In this paragraph above, Steinbeck demonstrates the risk that Kino and his family incur. In other words, the unsafe and brutal song predicts a danger toward Kino's family. Similarly, in The Grapes of Wrath, a sad atmosphere invades the whole chapter six. The insecure atmosphere evinces the hard removal of the Joad family who are obliged to move in order to escape from the ferocity of materialistic landowners. The furious mood which is at the start of The Grapes of Wrath is replaced by a dark mood in chapter twenty one^7(*)3 which shows the cruelty of human nature. This depressing atmosphere is noticeable as well through The Pearl in the episode where pearl-buyers want to kill Kino in order to take his precious pearl.^7(*)4 The constant temptation to murder is the reason of the strained mood.

Through a callous setting, Steinbeck reveals the pitiless quest for material success of his fellow citizens in America. The gloomy mood mentioned above discloses also the hypocrisy that prevails around his community as it is obvious through the Doctor's dishonest conducts in The Pearl. The Doctor refuses beforehand to heal Kino's son but after being informed about Kino's treasure, immediately the Doctor changes his viewpoint.^7(*)5 It is clear that the vacillating mood from chapter one to chapter six in The Pearl reveals people's deceptive attitudes and behaviors. The concealment of people's factual purposes is the justification of the wavering mood. This indecisive atmosphere divulges also the image of a divided America whose moral values are relegated to the detriment of material prosperity. Thus, Steinbeck depicts through a bitter mood the American society with a vision more pragmatic. The dark mood which spreads along the narration demonstrates the dark side of an unfair longing for wealth but also a way to disclose the illusory nature of the «American Dream» which causes nothing but sorrow and anger. The changing mood in Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath as well as in The Pearl expresses also the mounting acquisitiveness of pearl-dealers and prosperous landowners. Along the narration of the two novels, a sorry air flows constantly throughout The Grapes of Wrath and The Pearl describing poor people's hard lives who strive to preserve their dignity in front of the materialistic wealthy people. And through an altering mood, Steinbeck exposes the dilemma of some people who are caught between material success and moral values.

In fact, the harsh mood mentioned through the two novels has not the same intensity. From one chapter to another the mood changes considerably. This brutal atmosphere becomes more terrible in the middle of the narration than in the beginning of the narration. Similarly, the insatiability of La-Paz village in The Pearl as well as the unkind behaviors of landowners in The Grapes of Wrath becomes harder at the end than in the beginning of the narration. It is clear that a stern mood dominates along the whole narration of The Pearl and The Grapes of Wrath. This fact is nothing but the translation of the excessive materialism in America and its atrocious consequences. The strength of Steinbeck's writing rests on its full of characters with a depressed mood through the description. In The Pearl as well as in The Grapes of Wrath, the mood is moving and runs so well that one can have an opinion about the cruelty that extreme materialism can cause.

From The Pearl and The Grapes of Wrath, the reader feels shocked by the terrible and acquisitive conduct of people in America. Therefore, these two novels are more than works of imagination because they are genuine revelation of the selfishness and desperation that many Americans felt during the thirties. Through a fiery mood Steinbeck denounces the successful competition for material achievement that goes beyond animosity. The author of The Pearl and The Grapes of Wrath wants his fiction sound as an alarm as well as an incentive for people to adopt more civilized behaviors. Steinbeck creates the appropriate mood in these chapters which is very important in getting readers' interest and allowing them to understand what life should truly like for the deprived people.

* ⁶⁸ John Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath, op. cit., pp. 3 - 4

* ⁶⁹ John Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath, op. cit., p. 385

* ⁷⁰ John Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath, op. cit., p. 502

* ⁷¹ John Steinbeck, The Pearl, op. cit., p. 26

* ⁷² John Steinbeck, The Pearl, op. cit., p. 8

* ⁷³ John Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath., op. cit., pp. 312 - 315

* ⁷⁴ John Steinbeck, The Pearl, op. cit., p. 71

* ⁷⁵ John Steinbeck, The Pearl, op. cit., p. 36