*Man vs. Nature (Ch.1-10,G)

        The everlasting antagonist, nature, presents itself  in the novel "The Grapes of Wrath" by John Steinbeck. The theme of man vs. nature portrays the human struggle to survive against a hostile environment. Steinbeck starts off the novel with an ominous wind sweeping through the land of Oklahoma, which foreshadows the Dust Bowl of the 1930s. The wind lifted the land so high from it's roots that the atmosphere became dark and the sun appeared, "a dim red circle that gave a little light, like dusk; and as that day advanced, the dusk slipped back toward darkness, and the wind cried and whimpered over the fallen corn" (2). The farmers and their families were incredibly fearful of this unusual storm and how it was destroying their crops. The men stood silently and thought. Children emerged from their houses, but they did not run or play. Then the women came out of their houses, wearing weary lines on their faces as they watched their husbands. They knew the amount of destruction nature was capable of., and worried that the men would break, stood beside them & "studied the men's face secretly, for the corn could go, as long as something else remained" (3). But once the "watching men lose their bemused perplexity and became hard & angry & resistant" (3) the women knew that they would be safe because they understand that when a man is whole, then there is nothing to great too bear. In Chapter 1 of the novel, Steinbeck sets the tone of the story and reveals a motif that will continue throughout the novel. The harshness of nature will present many obstacles for the Joads; encounters with social chaos, inhumanity, & other unthinkable situations.