Symbolism Essay

The Grapes of Wrath is highly distinguished from other novels for its forceful symbolism. Steinbeck imbues deeper meanings and universal truths in different characters and events to support the themes of his book. One of the most powerful and overarching symbols of the book is Rose of Sharon’s baby which represents the Joad family’s hope for a new life in the West.

From the beginning of the book, Rose of Sharon is pregnant. She and her husband are ready to make the jouirney west in hope of a new life, and together they dream of their own house with a room dedicated for the new baby, a studying job for Connie, and all the ice they could ever desire to cool them in the heat. The baby in Rose of Sharon represented this hope. There was life in Rose of Sharon, and it was a new life. This baby was going to change their future, and so was the journey west going to change their future.

As hardships mount for the Joad family, Rose of Sharon becomes more protective of her baby. The grandparents die, Noah and Connie abandon the family, and things are looking bleak in the west. Rose of Sharon desperately clings on to her last thread of hope which is her baby. She is determined to see the baby survive, and she is determined to become a mother who nurtures her children. As long as she had her baby, Rose of Sharon would continue to press on and continue the journey. The baby was the symbol of hope.

However, Rose of Sharon’s world crumbles down in the last chapter of The Grapes of Wrath. Her one hope in life is taken away from her when she gives birth to a stillborn baby. The death of the baby symbolized the desperation of the Joad family, and all the migrants in general. Things were getting from bad to worse: No jobs were to be found, the pay was not enough to sustain the family, and the fierce rain was doomed to destroy them all. It seemed to the family that things could not get any worse, and there was no hope to live for. People were left to steal, and if they were shot at, “they did not run”; if they were hit, “they sank tiredly in the mud.” People were tired of this miserable life, and the promises of the west were dead. But it was not the end.

The symbol of the baby serves one last purpose in the novel. Uncle John was given the task to bury the dead baby. He put the baby into an apple box and set it in the rising stream as the rain continued to pour. Uncle John said fiercely, “ ‘Go down an’ tell ‘em. Go down in the street an’ rot an’ tell ‘em that way. That’s the way you can talk.’ ” The dead baby was to become a symbol of hope again for the migrants. The baby would drift into a town, and many people would begin to realize the desperation of the migrants. The baby was their last chance and last gleam of hope, and it could relieve the migrants’ misery.

Steinbeck uses Rose of Sharon’s baby to symbolize hope throughout the entire novel. The baby was the promise of “the golden time in the West”, and people held tightly to that one promise. The people would not break as long as they still had this one hope. When their hopes were dashed, and things looked dismal, the baby would be their hope one more time – the messenger of the migrants’ grief and sufferings to the landowners, law enforcers, and uncompassionate people. Steinbeck uses this baby to powerfully emphasize the migrants’ plight.