Getting To The Other Side

Animals during the 1930s were pretty much just left alone and not worried about since the Dust Bowl migrated a lot of the population in the Midwest. The picture above is a Eastern River Cooter turtle, a slow but tough and tenacious animal. The narrator in chapter 3 of Grapes of Wrath talks about this turtle and his/her hopes of reaching 'the other side.' 

The narrator in chapter 3 writes, "All over the grass at the roadside a land turtle crawled, turning aside for nothing, dragging his high domed shell over the grass." As the turtle boldly carries on with his life, so do the migrants like the Joads as they protect both their own lives and the lives of their families. The turtle can be viewed as a symbol of two factors; hardships/struggles and real life. As the turtle begins its journey, it is apparent that he is destined to "get to the other side." 

The turtles wish to go across the road foreshadows the people’s struggle for their best life and dreams. implementations we see that they have the same position. During the 1930s and the Dust Bowl, drought and crop failure took place in the Midwest, adding on to the overall crisis in the country and the Depression. This resulted in the ruining of thousands of agricultural workers, forcing them to leave their homes and taking a long journey for a better life, as the Joads had hoped. Immigrants and people left with no work or nowhere to stay, like the turtle. went to search for their dreams and new life.