Education of the Heart

A detailed Summary of Education of the Heart

John Steinbeck shows the readers many themes in "The Grapes of Wrath". One

of the most apparent is as Steinbeck stated, "The Joads passage through a process of

education for the heart." Many characters in "The Grapes or Wrath" exhibit this theme,

but it is valiantly apparent in the actions of the Joads as a family, Tom, Casy, and Rose of

Although each person in the Joad family is a separate individual, the family often

acts as thought it were one person. As one might expect the experiences they incur

change the family personality. At the end of the book the Joads have lost their family

identity, but they've replaced it with something equally worthy: they've found kinship

with other migrant families. The Joads merge with the Wainwrights and the Wilsons,

because each family needed the other and the fragmented family becomes whole again.

The members don't share last names, but they give support to each other in the form of

food, blankets, a kind word, medicine, advice, and even love. As Casy says, "nobody has

an individual soul, but everybody's just got a piece of a great big soul." By opening their

hearts the Joads transformed into members of the universal family.

nothin' but set aroun'." Months later we run into Casy again. Out of jail, he has begun to

filling station. Tom doesn't despise each man, but only because each feels defeated by

himself so that others may be better off.

individual who realizes the importance of having a heart. Tom has a quick temper, he

Approximate Word count = 1003
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English

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