Ideas are like rabbits. You get a couple and learn how to handle them, and pretty soon you have a dozen.
John SteinbeckRead
In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote suggests that the anger and suffering of people are building up over time, waiting for a moment of reckoning or release.
In this quote, Steinbeck metaphorically describes the collective frustration and anger of the oppressed as 'grapes of wrath' that are accumulating and becoming increasingly heavy. This imagery conveys the idea that social injustices and hardships faced by the people are reaching a tipping point, implying that a significant change or upheaval is imminent, much like a harvest that must eventually occur when conditions are right.
Themes
AngerOppressionChangeInjusticeSocialWrath
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used during a speech on social justice to emphasize the buildup of anger against oppression.
More from John Steinbeck
All quotes βAt one point, as Samuel urges Adam to raise his boys well regardless of the blood that might be in them, Adam tells him, "You can't make a race horse of a pig." Samuel replies, "No, but you can make a very fast pig.
John SteinbeckRead
And when that crop grew, and was harvested, no man had crumbled a hot clod in his fingers and let the earth sift past his fingertips. No man had touched the seed, or lusted for the growth. Men ate what they had not raised, had no connection with the bread. The land bore under iron, and under iron gradually died; for it was not loved or hated, it had no prayers or curses.
John SteinbeckRead
The comfortable people in tight houses felt pity at first, and then distaste, and finally hatred for the migrant people.
John SteinbeckRead
People do not want advice - they want corroboration.
John SteinbeckRead
It is one of the triumphs of the human that he can know a thing and still not believe it.
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