Grapes+of+Wrath+Assignment

Community Connections Seminar #3 - American Literature Seminar

Due April 2, 2008 4-6 pp Grapes of Wrath: the new chapters

In Grapes of Wrath, John Steinbeck lets us experience hard times in America from several different perspectives. The very first time we see Tom Joad, Steinbeck shows us how it feels to return home from prison by contrasting Tom’s matter-of-fact dignity with the nosiness of the truck driver. We travel with the Joads down the roads of America, seeing the migrant camps by the side of the road as the nightly way stations of spontaneous civility created by the travelers but seeing also the disrespect and disregard of the farm owners, labor contractors, banker men, and tractor drivers who not only dispossess the migrants but despise and dehumanize them as well. For your third seminar, we’d like you to focus on a specific moment or incident that you have encountered in your Community Connections work this year. We’d like you to create a narrative that echoes Steinbeck’s technique by developing the details of that moment as two very different people see and experience it. There will be three parts to this narrative: //1. In one version, tell the story of what happened from one person’ perspective (which could be your own): bring to life in your own words the story of that moment, including a description of the place, the people, and the dialog that you can recreate.// 2. In a second version, tell the same story from the perspective of another person involved in the encounter: we have met children as well as adults, the homeless and the impoverished, advocates and caseworkers as well as clients and neighborhood people. Imagine yourself in the position of one of these people as the events of the moment recalled in the first part of this assignment unfold, and tell the same story now from their perspective. Try to create a credible voice in which to recast those events. 3. The third level of your narrative should imitate the Steinbeck intercalary voice, the detached observer of social and political trends putting the experience of the moment into a historical or philosophical or revolutionary framework.

You may find it useful to set each of the three parts in a different font to underscore the different voices you are exploring in each section. At the top of your paper on the right side list in this order: Your name Your Comm Conn group Your Am Lit Teacher Today’s date In addition, you must email a copy of your narrative to your Comm Conn group leader. Your narratives will be published for the class as an anthology this spring. All narratives will be included in the anthology. Each revision that you hand in must include all previous drafts.

Grapes of Wrath: the new chapters: Rubric

First version of story vividly brings to life an interesting, specific incident (uses effective description of place and people, crisp dialogue).

Paper strives to reach a genuine multiplicity of perspectives about the incident.

Intercalary section conveys a broader awareness of the underlying social issue here.

Stories are written smoothly.

Writing mechanics are accurate throughout.

Name of writer __

Steps to be ready for publication: