Objectives
Students will understand the connection between automobiles, class, and economic status.
Students will research automobiles from the early 20th Century and learn their social and economic importance.
Overview
The family met at the most important place, near the truck. The house was dead, and the fields were dead; but this truck was the active thing, the living principle… the new hearth, the living center of the family. (99-100)
The automobile is an essential part of American culture. For the Joads, and other migrant families, their automobiles became more than a method of transportation, they became a home and a means of survival.
Relevant Sections
Materials Needed/Preparation
- The Grapes of Wrath
- Notebook
- Internet access
Estimated Time
On-going: 5-10 minutes per discussion
Procedures
Warm up
- Re-read pages 100-101.
- Journal: What kind of vehicle does Al choose for the family?
- ~Why does Al choose this vehicle?
- ~What does this tell the reader about Al?
- ~What does this tell the reader about the Joads (their social and economic status)?
- Discuss: What role do vehicles play in the novel?
- ~Possible answers: to convey social class, to move the plot along, to convey economic status, as a replacement for hearth and home, an essential tool to finding work, as a means of destruction (tractors and automated picking machines), etc.
Ongoing
- Create a list of all the vehicles mentioned in the section or chapter being discussed.
- ~What do each of these vehicles tell the reader about the people who own them?
- ~How are the vehicles physically described?
- ~How are their owners and/or passengers described?
- How does Steinbeck use the vehicles to show the social and economic levels of their owners and passengers?
Cumulative
- Refer to the Relevant sections (above)
- Consider assigning students to work in pairs or small groups.
- Create a list of all the vehicles mentioned in The Grapes of Wrath.
- ~What do each of these vehicles tell the reader about the people who own them?
- ~~How are the vehicles physically described?
- ~~How are their owners and/or passengers described?
- ~Research each vehicle
- ~~Prices then and the relative prices now.
- ~~Who purchased which type of vehicle?
- ~~What is a modern analog of each vehicle?
- ~How does Steinbeck use the vehicles to show the social and economic levels of their owners and passengers?
Post Activity/Takeaways/Follow-up
Takeaways
- Steinbeck was interested in automobiles and machines of all types, but his use of them in The Grapes of Wrath is about more than passing interest. Students will take away from this lesson not only how important different vehicles are to the novel, but also as a tool for telling a rich story.
Follow-up
- If done as an ongoing exercise, continue to use this lesson throughout the reading of the novel.
Post Activity
- Research automobile ads from the 1920s and 1930s
- How are different vehicles depicted?
- Who were the target buyers for these vehicles? How do you know?
- ~Be specific. What images and words are used?
- ~What social and economic status are the ads appealing to?
- Create a presentation of your findings
- ~Include images from different ads, your interpretations of those images.
- ~Align those ads with the way vehicles are depicted in the novel.
Assessment
- Assess student work based on the depth and accuracy of the textual evidence they site.
Common Core State Standards Met
- Reading Standards for Literature 6-1
- ~Key Ideas and Details: 1, 2, 3
- ~Craft and Structure: 4, 5, 6
- ~Integration of Knowledge and Ideas: 7, 9
- ~Range of Reading and Level of Text Complexity: 10
- Reading Standards for Informational Text 6-12
- ~Key Ideas and Details: 1,2,3
- ~Craft and Structure: 4,5,6
- ~Integration of Knowledge and Ideas: 7,8
- ~Range of Reading and Level of Text Complexity: 10
- Writing Standards 6-12
- ~Text Types and Purposes: 2
- ~Range of Writing: 10
- Speaking and Listening Standards 6-12
- ~Comprehension and Collaboration: 1, 2, 3, 4
- ~Presentation and Knowledge of Ideas: 4
- Language Standards 6-12
- ~Conventions of Standard English: 1, 2, 3
- ~Knowledge of Language: 3
- ~Vocabulary Acquisition and Use: 6
- Reading Standards for Literacy in History/Social Studies 6-12
- ~Key Ideas and Details: 1, 2, 3
- ~Craft and Structure: 4, 6
- ~Integration of Knowledge and Ideas: 8, 9
- ~Range of Reading and Level of Text Complexity: 10
- Writing Standards for Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science, and Technical Subjects 6-12
- ~Text Types and Purposes: 2
- ~Production and Distribution of Writing: 4, 5
