Theme of Humanity's Journey in The Grapes of Wrath In Steinbeck's novel, The Grapes of Wrath, he describes the incessant struggle of the people who they depend on the soil for their sustenance. means of livelihood. The main characters define a quiet dignity and courage in their never-ending struggle to survive and care for their loved ones. Through this novel, Steinbeck shows his respect for the poor and oppressed of this world. The Joads' Journey conveys Steinbeck's message of respect for the poor and oppressed on three levels. The first is literal: he used the journey and his ever-changing environment to put the Joads in many situations. The second level is general: the Joads' journey can be seen as the same one that forced farmers to become migrants from the dust bowl westward or indeed as any mass migration since the beginning of time. The third level is the symbolic level, which I call the fractal idea of ​​identity, that many things are identical at different levels. The first level, the literal one, is simply to describe the events the Joads witness and experience. Steinbeck uses the journey to present his characters with a series of dilemmas. He is therefore able to draw reactions from them. As each character involved in the situation reacts, we can see Steinbeck's respect for the poor shine through. Uncle John's "never say die" efforts to stop the water from rising are an example of Steinbeck's theme of incessant struggle. The constant effort of the entire Joad family to find work, even though they are poor, oppressed and hungry, shows us that Steinbeck wants to show their extraordinary courage and dignity. In this way, Steinbeck is able to use the structure of the journey to describe these beautiful qualities that he sees and respects in the poor. If we read a little deeper into The Grapes of Wrath, we find that the Joads' journey mirrors that of other Okies and other forced migrations throughout history. The Joads' journey has its ups and downs. Migrants are not always welcomed with open arms; they are persecuted and considered not even human. For them the promised land becomes the land of despair. In many ways, the journey of black Africans to America as slaves is similar to the dust migrations. Both are forced to abandon the land they love by almost non-human forces. They were taken to the land of the rich where they were poor. However, the slaves were taken by force but the Okies allowed themselves to be seduced by the lure of work and prosperity. To help understand the third and deeper reading level, we can apply a mathematical idea, namely the Fractal Idea of ​​Sameness, according to which things are identical at different levels. For example, if we look at a mountain we see that it has the same shape as a smaller peak, which has the same shape as a small mound, up to a pile of earth. If we apply this principle to this novel, we see that Tom's journey is identical to that of the Joads which is the same as that of all humanity which is the same as that of the turtle in chapter 3. Each of these journeys has its ups and downs. lows, setbacks and positives. Everyone starts doing something and ends up doing something else. But everyone is moving on. Steinbeck implies that all of humanity is on a journey, and for better or worse, we continue to move forward. This is why the structure of the trip is so suitable as it is a theme itself. The Joads' journey is equivalent to the messy progress of mankind towards a goal, perhaps it is finally justice. Just as the turtle is constantly moving, it never knows the outcome until it gets there. Yet it continues.