# Religion in "The Grapes of Wrath"



## Nebrexan (Jun 7, 2008)

One of my favorite novels is _The Grapes of Wrath_ (quiz question: *whose* wrath is the title referring to?) by John Steinbeck. One of the themes that appears regularly in the book is religion, but a type of religion that I've never been around. Here are a couple of memorable excerpts.



> Beside an irrigation ditch a preacher labored and the people cried. And the preacher paced like a tiger, whipping the people with his voice, and they groveled and whined on the ground. He calculated them, gauged them, played on them, and when they were all squirming on the ground he stooped down and of his great strength he picked each one up in his arms and shouted, Take 'em, Christ! and threw each one in the water. And when they were all in, waist deep in the water, and looking with frightened eyes at the master, he knelt down on the bank and he prayed for them; and he prayed that all men and women might grovel and whine on the ground. Men and women, dripping, clothes sticking tight, watched; then gurgling and sloshing in their shoes they walked back to the camp; to the tents, and they talked softly in wonder:
> 
> We been saved, they said. We’re washed white as snow. We won't never sin again.
> 
> ...





> A large woman in a torn black dress looked into the tent. Her eyes were bleared and indefinite, and the skin sagged to her jowls and hung down in little flaps. Her lips were loose, so that the upper lip hung like a curtain over her teeth, and her lower lip, by its weight, folded outward, showing her lower gums. "Mornin', ma'am," she said. "Mornin', an' praise God for victory." Ma looked around. "Mornin'," she said.
> 
> The woman stooped into the tent and bent her head over Granma. "We heerd you got a soul here ready to join her Jesus. Praise God!"
> 
> ...


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## py3ak (Jun 7, 2008)

Given the statements I can only suppose that they belonged to a denomination in the holiness movement. But I am not very aware of their history and distinctives.


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