I finished Grapes of Wrath this morning. How many of you have read it? I saw the movie when I was in my teens, and even then I remember enjoying the b+w film. It was long, and so was the book. But, there is a crucial point in the story that I thought was challenging and brilliant. The Ending.

After the Joad family has suffered seperation, starvation, and humiliation, John Steinbeck brings you and ending that is almost blasse. There isn’t any justice, there remains a bleakness that is the truth of real life, and hope is a fading imagination. The Joad family, whom you’ve followed over the Western regions of the nation, ends with being flooded out of there makeshift home and seeking refuge in a run down barn. I must admit, I was expecting a fairy tale ending, but when in life to we ever accomplish such things? The protagonist, hope in humanity, is met with the horrible antagonist, the Great Depression. The ending is similar to my own story.

Shawn, the protagonist in Ruse of Discontent, is met with the antagonist, himself. Thrown into the throes of a life of addiction, Shawn choices and decisions cause twists and turns in his life that bound to scar him, and leave him destitue. The ending to my novel, which you all will have to read and find out, is very close to endings of junkies. When I wrote the story, rather brain stormed it, I wanted to have realism with a hint of symbolism. Though the Grapes of Wrath is a far better story than mine, there is a relation between their horrific truths: Life is a bitch. (I’m sure Steinbeck would be appalled at my conclusion) I will say this, for all of you happy ending believers, there is hope in my novel. I’m curious to see what you all think that hope is when Ruse of Discontent becomes available to read. Until then, I implore you all to read Grapes of Wrath and enjoy Steinbecks story telling abilities.

Go see something live!

Matthew Epperson
DOC #284812