Miracco: Chapter 19
“Steinbeck made this chapter pretty easy for me because it’s jam-packed with schemes, tropes…”
“Goes all Rambo with the emotions”
Locus of Focus
· How do company stores operate?
· What do the Californians think of the Okies?
· Steinbeck’s tone towards the Californians.
· Steinbeck’s use of cause and effect
· Importance of the order of events, and Steinbeck’s use of historical allusions.
Eble: Okie as an epithet?
Anthony: Does have negative connotations…generic stereotype…Okies don’t see themselves as Okies. Hypocritical…
Had Probst read a quote.
Did research about coal mines in Virginia, people flocking there for money…workers were trapped.
Song by Tennessee Ernie Ford; played it in class. Purpose of touching on the company stores?
· Eric Lawhorn: Demonstrated the difficulty of the migrants getting West. Focused on the “man with a million acres,” whether
· Foos: Cited The Dictator (Sasha Baren Cohen)
· Harry Wahl: Even in Uganda…principal of Ursula (who is black) is seen as white…
· Anthony: Located Antimetabole (Eble corrected, saying it is chiasmus)
Went to a photograph with men waiting outside of a business. Tons of men, sitting around. Reference Corey’s slide…
· Daniel: United in grief.
· Eric Scott: Everyone is focused on “their own thing”
· Corey: Contrast between day and night…
· Probst: No one looks poor… (Leander agreed)…
· Eble: Standards of dress have changed (Billy Collins, “The Death of Hats”)
· Leander: You wouldn’t buy white shoes. You buy the heartiest shoes you can buy…
· Harry Wahl: Maybe he was doing well…
· Eble: Title of photograph.
· Miracco: Text = “Men looking for work in town.”
Went to quote two… has a ton to offer…James read it.
· Anthony clarified that many states hired deputies. This is two deputies speaking: One who is worried, one who is panicking (the one who is speaking). Demonstrates a fear of revolt.
· Gilliland: Two comments…in World War Z, they show this exact same theme…explains how one would feel terror. Zombies can’t feel terror, fear. Cited the Battle of Yonkers, how advanced weaponry didn’t work…we base weapons on shock and awe (the idea that you’ll scare enemies instead of killing them). Okies—nothing could scare them…with a child on the verge of death, fathers will go to great lengths…
· Some comments ensued…
· Eble: Idea—Biblical aspect of religion.
Picture: “Young boy sleeps in a box in a Seattle Hooverville” (1933)
· Quote: When it rains, their houses melt away. Sleeping in a box like a cat…
· Daniel: Implications for the family…he looks cute there, but the kid shouldn’t be in a box…
Miracco: Gave a third quote—showed Steinbeck’s sense of warning. Then, read a quote from Chapter 14. Steinbeck keeps putting people on thinner ice. Re-read chapter 14—a warning…Chapter 19—a warning…
· Eble: Do you see the text as a warning?
· Miracco: Sets aside chapters (14, 19) for that purpose…maybe not the story of the Joad.
· Lawhorn: Cited Secretariat breaking the record, like a running back…building anticipation for when the bubble bursts.
· Gilliland: I see this as a scary point…this is now alluding to the government using deputies, guns…in ancient days, this did happen…the elite getting too much control. Cited England, warfare at the time, numbers…Magna Carta. One guy with a machine gun can take out hundreds of people. Technology limits revolution. Would create an apocalyptic scene…
Anthony: Cited the Sociohistorical Background of the novel (Coal Miners in the 19th, 20th century and the company stores).
Historical allusions to Rome, Gaul, Byzantine Empire (CITED SELINA KYLE IN THE MOST RECENT BATMAN)
Seminar Questions:
· Opinions of the Californians?
· Chapter is riddled with allusions…effective? Modern issues?
· Thoughts on the word “hordes” to depict the Okies? (sounds Biblical to me, or apocalyptical)
Kevin: Overpopulation…a country getting too powerful.
May: Relate to modern immigration in your paper…Cited Obama… Why Gaul?
· Gilliland: Largest federation of Frankish tribes…Julius Caesar’s Gaul campaign led to destroying them, putting them under Roman subjugation…
· Kevin: Off-topic, but connecting to overpopulation…mentioned North Korea…
· Eble: The Onion mocked them yesterday…we’re not afraid of people anymore…more technology
· Gilliland: Parallel in the modern day with Mexico, opulence…I like the North Korea / power angle…North Koreans are held hostage by the few.