1、AcknowledgementsI am deeply grateful to Mr. Liu Zhigang, my tutor, to whom I owe a great deal of gratitude and appreciation. Mr. Liu gave me a lot of invaluable instructions and helped me much in every stage of my thesis writing. His patient help and timely encouragement are worthy of high acknowled
2、gement.I would also like to offer my sincere gratitude to those teachers who spend their precious time in reading this thesis.Moreover, to thank all my friends, I could not have finished my paper without their help.Finally, I would also like to take this opportunity to thank my parents who give me c
3、onfidence and enable me to do my own work freely.AbstractThe Grapes of Wrath was a modern American novel by John Steinbeck and mainly described the economic panic of 1930s in United States where a great number of farmers went bankrupt and fled from famine. The story depicted a thrilling picture of s
4、ocial struggle, in which several leading characters reflected a yearning for existence. In this story, peoples mutual independence and help, their vigorous and perseverant life and the connotation of human nature in benevolence and kindheartedness had highlighted the glory of humanitarian thoughts,
5、thus sublimating the humanity.Key Words：economy; social struggle; desire for existence; human nature摘 要愤怒的葡萄是美国现代小说家约翰斯坦贝克的作品。它主要描写了美国三十年代经济恐慌期间大批农民破产，逃荒的故事，反映惊心动魄的社会斗争图景，在几个主要人物身上体现了一种对人生的生存欲望的向往，人类的相互依存和互助，生命的生生不息和坚忍不拔以及人类的善良和仁爱精神的人性内涵，彰显人道主义思想的光辉，从而人性再次得到了升华。关键词：经济；社会斗争；生存欲望；人性1. IntroductionJohn
6、 Steinbeck was an American writer, who was born in a middle-class family in California. He lived in the town, with a ranch, and loved the natural scenery of the countryside. By his mothers influence, he very early contacted with European classical literature, such as “the Bible” and Arthur King lege
7、nd story. In 1919, John Steinbeck went to Stanford University to study. During the learning period, the farmer and the road transported team workers. He was familiar with the people at the bottom of society, and many of his works were based on their heros as well as the performance of the bottom of
8、the kind, simple character, creating a “Steinbeck hero” image. In the late 1930s, the vigorous development of the workers movement made Steinbeck a great influence. In 1935, “Totti Prefecture” published then immediately received praise, and later published “victorious battle”, “mouse and people”, “l
9、ong valley”, “angry grapes” were his masterpieces. It won the Pulitzer Prize. In 1937 and 1947, Steinbeck visited the Nordic and the Soviet Union twice. During the Second World War, he went to Europe as a war correspondent to write reports and propaganda works. The late main works were two novels “E
10、den to the East” and “Our Dissatisfied Winter”.The Grapes of Wrath was written by Steinbeck. In the United States in 1930s, as the background of the Great Depression of the documentary fiction masterpiece, there was a reflection of the plight of peoples disturbance, castigating American social and e
11、conomic ills of left-wing literary works. The novel reflected the 30s Great Depression of American Society: many farmers left the hometown, and forced by big business travel, hoping to find their “Hope Town” California, but they had hardships and setbacks. A novel by Joad as the representation, in w
12、hich about twelve of them fled from Oklahoma to California. It was a difficult experience. In several of the main characters, we saw a desire for survival of life, human interdependence, mutual aid, the connotation of human nature and human life, life and growth in nature good, firm and indomitable
13、spirit of benevolence. In Steinbecks view, these human nature connotation had deep value, and were more eternal. With the deepening of the story of the novel, the main characters of the ideological and behavioral changed, and the glory of humanitarian ideas continued to flash. Human nature had been
14、constantly sublimated.2. An Analysis of CharactersThere were so many people in the novel, they all had their own different characters, and their different characters had the very important effect to the novel. In this novel, these three people were the most important people, and they were the main c
15、haracters in the novel, next I would analyze Casy, Joad and Joads mother one by one.2.1 CasyThe main character in the novel, Casy, did not belong to the family of Joad. He was a priest because of his faith in the Christian doubt, so he gave up teaching, to the common people. Although he was no longe
16、r a priest, he was still willing to publicize some of the truth in life and to give people inspiration. In the wilderness, he was like Jesuss spiritual quest, His insights could be seen in his outlook on life was beyond the ordinary people. He was the pursuit of spiritual wealth, and he realized a persons strength was limited. Only the individual soul combination in the “soul” had the strength to overcome difficulties and to strike the ideological root