Why is the book The Grapes Wrath written by Steinbeck called The Grapes of Wrath? What does it symbolize?

Question

I don't understand what the Grapes represent.

Answer 1

In Julia Ward Howe's Civil War song, "The Battle Hymn of the Republic", the Lord (God) is releasing his righteous anger at injustice that has been going on for many years; he is "trampling out the vintage" (making wine/blood flow) from the stored Grapes of Wrath (the memory and ongoing injustice of slavery, brutality and human suffering).
John Steinbeck used the phrase "The Grapes of Wrath" to symbolize the plight of the migrant workers, who had the land they lived on and the homes they were born and lived in blown away, taken away and destroyed in the Great Depression. Traveling West to find work or places to live, they were welcome only as near slaves, not as fellow Americans or brothers. Steinbeck saw the injustice, and also saw the growing anger and discontent of the workers, and their attempts to bring about change, by organizing, by protesting and also by fighting back. By naming his novel "The Grapes of Wrath" Steinbeck was comparing the righteous anger and struggle of the migrant workers with the original conflict of the Civil War, and warning, by implication, that a similar bloody conflict could result if change did not come in time.

Answer 2

In the depression era of this country, the mid-west was devastated for many years with wind and drought that eroded the top soil. The grapes of wrath was a story of the plyte of the people who lived it and suffered the "wrath" of the conditions. Grapes represent reward of the harvest, and in this case the terrible conditions were the reward. A bitter-sweet condition that people had to endure, but they survived anyway.

Answer 3

It comes from the Battle Hymn of the Republic by Julia Howe

Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord;
He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored;
He hath loosed the fateful lightning of His terrible swift sword;
His truth is marching on.

To understand, you would have to know what "wrath" means.

Pax - C.

Answer 4

The migrant workers were going to pick GRAPES during the great depression

Answer 5

I think that the people pick grapes or something like that ant it is from their farming lifestlye that comes their downful, or something stupid like that. Steinbeck sucks.