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The Land of Milk and Honey
Sacrifices had to be made in order to get to the land of milk and honey. These sacrifices include Rose of Sharon losing her baby and in the end the land of "milk and honey" is literally alluded to Rose of Sharon breast feeding her "milk."
Bob Marley 
"Ma, most of the preachin is about the poor we shall have alwasy with us, an' if you got nothin', why, jus' fol' your hands an' to hell with it, you gonna git ice cream and gol' plates when you're dead" (pg571).- land of milk and honey
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The Grapes of Wrath relates to the bible story of Exodus. The Joad family of twelve leaves their life of poverty in Oaklahoma and travels to California in seeking a better life. This relates to the bible story of Exodus because the twelve family members resembles the twelve tribes of Israel along with the twelve disciples of Jesus. The journey of the Joad family resembels when people would follow Moses to find the promised land. Traveling with the Joad family was a man by the name, Jim Casy which has the initials of Jesus Christ. Jim Casy furthur resembels Jesus Christ when he went to jail to protect Tom Joad and then was killed by a group of people that hated his actions. In the Grapes of Wrath Jim Casey stated, "You don't know what you'r a doin," and similar to this Jesus stated, "Forgive them, Father, they know not what they do."
twelve disciples These pictures represent the land of milk and honey. The land of milk and honey discribes the place the Joad family as well as Moses was searching for.
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Rose of Sharons' Pregnancy strongly alludes to Exodus in dealing with the idea of a promising new beggining. Throughout her pregnancy, Rose of Sharon is consumed in the love for her unborn baby "Her whole thoughts and actions were directly inward on the baby. She balanced on her toes, for the baby's sake. And the world was pregnant to her; she thought only in terms of reprodction and of motherhood"(pg130). Her excited expectations of what the future might hold for her relates to the promising new begining of the Jews leaving Egypt.
Moses and his people crossing the red sea is synonymous with the Joad family trying to travel to California. Leaving their familiar surroundings and comfort, the Joads like Moses and his people, venture into the unknown with the hope of a better life. Both are escaping their past oppresions by working together to get to "their land" of milk and honey.
Parting of the Red Sea |
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| Land of milk and honey |
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| The Land of milk and honey |
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Exodus and the Grapes of Wrath both show strong examples that when people work together they prosper. The opposite is also shown. In the Grapes of Wrath the Joads' family dog strays away from the group it dies.
"The dog wandered, sniffing, past the truck, trotted to the pubddle under the hose again and lapped at the muddy water...A big swift car whisked near, tires squealed. The dog dodged helplessly, and with a shriek, cut off in the middle, went under the wheels" (pg176-177). While alone from the group, Casy encounted a similar fate. "The heavy man swung with the pick handle. Casy dodged down into the swing. The heavy club crashed into the side of his head with a dull crunch of bone, and Casy fell sideways out of the light" (Pg 527). These two situations occured after both the dog and Casy strayed from the protection of the group.
In Exodus, working together was vital to the survival of the people. "And the Lord said unto Moses, I will do this thing also that thou hast spoken: for thou hast found grace in my sight, and i know thee by name" Exodus:33:17. The Lord is telling Moses that without him he would be unable to lead the people to the land of milk and honey.
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