The Grapes of Wrath, Uncle John

14. Uncle John is an interesting character in this book. In the beginning of Grapes of Wrath the reader learns that his wife died when he was younger. We find out that he thinks his wife’s death and the death of the baby was entirely his fault. For much of the traveling to California the reader hears nothing about Uncle John. For a while I forgot that Uncle John even existed. For much of the book the reader only hears his name, but he does not say anything directly. Uncle John is not involved in much dialogue. He is very remorseful about his wife’s death. He is always trying to make it up to everyone. He gives things to people, or does things for them. It is like he is trying to make up for what he thought he did by doing good things. He is trying to ease his conscious by helping other people. On the trip he was hiding five dollars so that when they go to California he could get drunk. Whenever he was upset or depressed he would go out and by himself whiskey. I am not trying to run anyone’s life, but I do think that getting drunk is going to solve anyone’s problems. He seemed to think anytime something went wrong part of it was his fault. When Rose of Sharon had her baby, he volunteered to burry the baby. I think he did this because he wanted a chance to burry the baby that had died in his wife’s womb. It probably helped ease the pain of the loss, now that he had a chance to burry the baby. I found it interesting however that Uncle John did not burry the baby, instead he put the baby in the swollen river and let it float away. In the end of the book it seemed like he did not care about living anymore. When the flood broke through the levy they had built, he did not hurry to get out.