The Words of Wrath

The Words of Wrath

While watching the movie yesterday, I found it interesting the amount of times literacy was referenced. Either directly, like whenever someone says that they can’t read, or indirectly, when Grandpa dies and the note they write to place with the body is poorly written and has numerous grammatical errors. In addition to the power of literacy, where those that are educated hold all the cards and those who are not are victims throughout the film – the use of writing and signs in general was interesting to me.

For example, when Tommy is fixing the note for Grandpa’s grave, the only thing he changes is “funeral” to “funerals” – implying that more deaths are on the way. The paper they all received that enticed them out west were all lies, the one that kicked them off their homeland was devious, but legal, and the multitude of “Stop:___” signs throughout the film began to wear on me. “50 cents a night, camp,” etc, because people were taking advantage of their fellow man in a time of depression.

But these points aside, it seemed to me that the enemy to the Joad family throughout the movie was the written word. It forced them off their land, led them out west, took their money, and was in the hands of the men that gave them jobs paying 5 cents a bucket – whenever it is present it is never positive. And this movie had positive moments, Ford was just certain not to include writing in any of the upbeat scenes, so you get the feel, or at least I did, that it is somewhat to blame for their predicament.