The Literalist strikes out as a symbol hunter

 My Dad was in a literature discussion group and one time they discussed Steinbeck's book:  The Grapes of Wrath.  

In the beginning of the movie (I hadn't read the book at that time) Tom Joad tells Casey the preacher:

 "Maybe Ma will have pork for supper. I ain't had pork but four times in four years, every Christmas."

So I asked my Dad if pork was symbolic of something else ?

He told me that sometimes pork is just pork :)

The movie version directed by John Ford is excellent but there were a couple of things I didn't like.  

For one thing they made Grampa look senile when he was raving about spare ribs.  In the book the Joads had slaughtered a pig before the trip so naturally there would have been an air of pork about the place :)  

The second thing concerns Tom's brother Noah.  In the movie they show Noah bathing in the Colorado river with the other Joad men but then poof, he's gone from the movie, no explanation.  When Connie leaves Rose of Sharon it's explained but not Noah.  Why was Noah included at all ?

The silhouette shots against that big sky were amazing !

Best Regards,
Chuck, WB9KZY
http://wb9kzy.com/ham.htm