About this episode

The episode discusses the first seven chapters of John Steinbeck's 'The Grapes of Wrath', focusing on themes such as political statements and character sympathy.

Welcome to the beginning of a new series as we dive into John Steinbeck’s classic novel. In this episode we discuss Steinbeck’s unique use of alternating chapters, his desire to make a political statement, the intensity of his prose, which characters we are supposed to sympathize with, and turtles. Happy listening! This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit closereads.substack.com/subscribe

Topics covered

• Steinbeck's prose
• political statement
• character sympathy
• literary analysis
• alternating chapters

Keywords

• The Grapes of Wrath
• John Steinbeck
• literary analysis
• political themes
• character analysis
• alternating chapters
• turtles

Mentioned in this episode

Books & works: The Grapes of Wrath

More episodes of Close Reads Podcast

• The Grapes of Wrath: To the End · April 27, 2026 · 1h 4m
• The Grapes of Wrath: Chapter 26 · April 20, 2026 · 1h 2m
• The Grapes of Wrath: Chapters 22-25 · April 14, 2026 · 1h 2m
• Short Story Hour: "Leaf by Niggle" by J. R. R. Tolkien (FREE PREVIEW) · April 10, 2026 · 1h 6m
• The Grapes of Wrath: Chapters 19-21 · April 7, 2026 · 1h 13m
• The Grapes of Wrath: Chapters 15-18 · March 30, 2026 · 1h 9m

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