by Jessica Barno

Created on: March 05, 2010

“...the LORD God formed the man from the dust of the ground...” (Genesis 2:7a).  No doubt the most obvious subject in the novel is dust. In fact, the dust that comes from the land defines the people who tend it, care for it, cry for it, and love it. Steinbeck uses this particular allusion to show the deep connections between the people and the land. In this particular novel, these people are the Joad family. Steinbeck alludes to many specific Biblical references such as the one above mainly to keep the story moving forward, but more importantly, as an appeal to the wealthier, more powerful Christian moral majority of the United States to generate their compassion and a sense of responsibility to take action against the plight of the migrant farm workers.

Several obvious Biblical allusions exist in the novel. Jim Casy, of course, represents Jesus Christ himself. By sacrificing his life for the cause of the migrant workers, he is the symbolic christ of the migrant people. He exclaims, “You don’ know what you’re a-doin’,” (386) seconds before he is killed trying to stop a group of Californian picketers. Similarly, in Luke 23:34a, we are told that as He was dying, “Jesus said, ‘Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing...’” Another significant Biblical allusion, although perhaps not as obvious, is that of Grampa Joad’s death. Grampa Joad’s death is representative of the fall of man in the Garden of Eden, and man leaving the garden and eternal life and entering into spiritual death. Casy explains to Tom, “An’ Grampa didn’t die tonight. He died the minute you took ‘im off the place.” (146) The fall of man occurred at the moment of man’s original sin – the disobedience of Adam and Eve. They entered into spiritual death the moment they left the Garden of Eden. For Grampa, that “Garden of Eden” was the farm in Sallisaw, Oklahoma. This is significant to the underlying Biblical motif of the story, because if man had not fallen in the Garden of Eden, then there would be no need for Christ’s sacrifice.

The most obvious literary reason that Steinbeck uses Biblical allusion to enhance his novel is that it gives the fiction certain points toward which to move. By following the Biblical motif in the story, Steinbeck chooses to grant himself loose guidelines by which to write his novel because the Bible is one of

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