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Definition of Foreshadowing
Foreshadowing is a literary device in which authors hint at plot developments that don't actually occur until later in the story. Foreshadowing can be achieved directly or indirectly, by making... read full definition
Foreshadowing is a literary device in which authors hint at plot developments that don't actually occur until later in the story. Foreshadowing can be achieved... read full definition
Foreshadowing is a literary device in which authors hint at plot developments that don't actually occur until later in the... read full definition
Chapter 10
Explanation and Analysis—California :
As the Joad family packs up and prepares to leave Oklahoma for California, using Uncle John’s home as a temporary base, Tom and Ma Joad discuss the future. Ma Joad’s words foreshadow the later difficulties that the family will face in California:
Seems too nice, kinda. I seen the han’bills fellas pass out, an’ how much work they is, an’ high wages an’ all; an’ I seen in the paper how they want folks to come an’ pick grapes an’ oranges an’ peaches. That’d be nice work, Tom, pickin’ peaches [...] An’ it’d be nice under the trees, workin’ in the shade. I’m scared of stuff so nice. I ain’t got faith. I’m scared somepin ain’t so nice about it.
While Grampa Joad and some other members of the family speak optimistically about California, which they believe will be a warm and fertile paradise, Ma Joad is more cautious. California, she suggests, “seems too nice.” Though she has seen handbills and newspaper advertisements promoting California as a land of prosperity and opportunity, she feels “scared of stuff so nice” and confesses that she “ain’t got faith.” Concluding, she states that she is scared that “somepin ain’t so nice about it.” Ma Joad’s words foreshadow later events in the novel. Indeed, as she fears, conditions in California are very poor for the migrant workers, as farm owners have conspired to encourage migration to California in order to create competition between workers and thereby undercut wages.
