![]() When the reader first meets Jim Casy of The Grapes of Wrath, he is described thus: “It was a long head, bony, tight of skin, and set on a neck as stringy and muscular as a celery stalk.” Similarly, in the first paragraph of the novel, the earth itself, with its cracked, desecrated day and mournful wind becomes a living image of the people's spirits. The association becomes complete when Pepe tries to speak, and the only sound of which he is capable is a “thick hiss.” Along with the very frequent animal imagery, the reader often encounters earth imagery, usually in the form of a simile. Pepe “crawled,”“wormed,”“wriggled,”“darted,”“writhed,” and “squirmed” in the final stages of his torment. When Pepe is stripped of all civilized tools, his movements are increasingly described in verbs that suggest a primordial or serpentine creature. In “Flight,” for example, the reader finds animal imagery of two sorts. Even a brief purview of recent criticism will indicate such common patterns as animal (for instance, as in The Pearl) and earth imagery. John Steinbeck's use of imagery is a well-known and frequently mentioned subject in discussions of his stylistic art.
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