Rhetorical Analysis

Steinbeck uses both syntax and metaphors to show the evolution from farmers when they took land from Mexico to when the Okies were taking land from the new "farmer." He uses antithesis to talk about the weak, but fed Mexicans and the strong, starving Americans. Then the author uses parallelism to continue the story. Steinbeck continually uses anaphora and the same words to enforce the similarities as the farmers change. By constantly repeating himself, the audience can tell that the story is the same but the characters have different names. The Mexicans become the storekeepers, and the Americans become the Okies. The parallelism throughout allows to understand the differences that do not really matter in the long run; it is all just a cycle. The simile of ants and Okies helps to show how many people were migrating to California and the rest of the west, looking for food and money. Ants travel, searching for food in multitudes as well. Steinbeck's different rhetorical strategies develop his thesis of how the even though the farms are evolving, the ones making it happen are the same.