One night I left my copy of The Grapes of Wrath at home. Not wanting to fall behind in the reading, I scoured the internet for a pdf copy. Luckily, quite a few were publicly available, including one with the cover above. Immediately, I was intrigued. The cover appealed to me in a way that our hard copy’s didn’t. After a few minutes of research, I discovered that this was the cover originally pictured on the novel’s first publication.
Immediately I was drawn to the Joads, who are pictured front and center. Their vehicle, which is clearly overpacked, appears to be headed west, out of the plains and to the mountains. It’s clear that they’re peering towards these mountains, and while the Joads are the only visible characters on the cover, the sheer amount of other cars headed in the same direction convey that their sentiment is not unique. This foreshadows the events of the novel and mirrors real life, as the camps the Joads ended up at were crowded and work was scarce. Their looks toward the valley convey a feeling of hope as they take a leap of faith that there is a better life on the other side of the mountains. While that ultimately isn’t the case, the idea of abandoning everything out of sheer hope encapsulates the concept of the American Dream.
I like this cover a lot more than the version on the copy our class received, simply because the details do a much better job of conveying the essence of the Grapes of Wrath. Ultimately, the novel is about hope and desperation- moving to a new place out of a lack of options, having faith that their lives would be better. It’s this hope that is encapsulated in the cover.
Great American Novels 2020 
This is a really interesting topic to write about. When I first glanced at the vehicle in the lower left, it looked more like a covered wagon, reminding me of Westerns, which this sort of is in a weird way.
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The cover is super cool. I agree with hope being encapsulated in this cover, and I think the artist did this through the way they positioned the characters, with the Joads almost looking towards their future with hope.
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I felt the same vibe from this cover. I think covers in general are very important. At least for me that is the setting that mind usually goes to when I am reading and has a huge effect on how I see some of the characters. I think the amount of color in this cover gives off a stronger feeling of hope and I think that alone would have given me a greater interest in the book which originally seems sort of dull to me.
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