Democracy and Pragmatism Philosophies: Approaches to “The Grapes of Wrath” Essay

In 1939, The Grapes of Wrath by jakes Steinbeck formed an agitation of ex raisement and controversy upon its emancipation. The book forced the American public into a heightened awargonness of national consciousness. Influenced by the thoughts of several preponderating American philosophies such as transcendentalism, democracy and naive realism, Steinbeck creates a masterpiece that edifies Americans about their value scheme. This work of art finds its main lineage from three pastime elements of American philosophical system Emersonian transcendentalism with its perception of the oversoul and conviction in the putting green man, Walt Whitmans devotion of the common man and his credence in passel republic, and Pragmatism as advocated by William crowd together and John Dewey.TranscendentalismTranscendentalism is a popular opinion system that espouses a non-traditional appreciation of nature and includes intuition, individuality, and self-reliance. It initiated as a remonstrat ion, in opposition to the general situation of society, and specific all in ally, the state of intellectualism and the principle of the Unitarian church at that juncture. Transcendentalists fundamental principle is an epitome of sacred state that goes beyond the physical and empirical aspects and is barely attained by agent of peoples instincts, rather than through the dogma of conventional religions (Goodman).Steinbeck was indeed influenced by this philosophy and the ideologies of this are evident in his novel, The Grapes of Wrath. The designer conveys the idea of transcendentalism to the readers through a range of exceedingly singular characters. iodine such character is that of Jim Casey, a former reverend and long-time conversance of the Joads. As a preacher like none other, he does non give a sermon of the conformist thoughts of delivererian faith. Instead, he sermonizes of the Emersonian tenets of the Oversoul.Jim Casey symbolizes a contemporary Christ form who desir es to pass on spiritual solidness to migratory people heading towards the West (Steinbeck). Among the various correlations between Jim Casey and saviour Christ are the resulting. Casey pays attention to the people, thinks deeply and philosophically about what is misfortune to them, and be accompanys a role model for most of the characters in the story. A reiterate from the narrative denotes the aforementioned similarities. Muley is a lost soul. He wouldnt come along with us (Steinbeck). Casey in this quotation acts as Jesus Christ contemplating why Muley, depicted as one of His Apostles, would not approach and follow him.Alternatively, transcendentalism can alike be seen in Ralph Waldo Emersons essay, which is empower Nature. As indicated in his essay, he believes that a nation of men get out exist because each believes that he is inspired by the Divine intelligence which also fills all men with stimulation (Emerson). He closed the oblige by encouraging men for a revolutio n in piece consciousness. Emerson discards the Unitarian line of reasoning that miracles confirms the fact of Christianity and finds evidence for religion world more direct in creating a pious response (Goodman).DemocracyThis is generally defined as the rule of the people where the individuals share in guiding the national activities, functioning either directly or by means of delegates, to manage their stands for their particular objectives. Equality is of great worth in considering this and would free persons as much as feasible from constraints which are not self-imposed.Steinbeck was also influenced by this philosophy and its ideologies are also reflected in his work. One of his characters, named Tom Joad, the oldest child of Ma and Pa Joad represents this. As we can cite in the books introduction, Tom Joad gets a lift at a truck stop and tells the driver hes paroled from prison house in McAlester (for murder) and hes headed home (Steinbeck), the author unveils Tom as departi ng from imprisonment which symbolizes democracy and arrives at their place after being on the rampage. He subsequently learns a lot of things from their family friend, Jim Casey, and eventually matures in the variant of their voyage, leaving their customary society to combat disparity (Steinbeck).In friendship with advocating democracy, another avid supporter of this view comes with the poem referred to as I Hear America Singing. Walt Whitman, as the author, appears to hold the love of all men and of mass democracy. Blessed with an exceptional ear for inner cadence, his application of a musical tone and mood all through the poem makes a connection to the notion of the free democratic structure in the society.Whitman expresses his considerably liberated, undulating, and continuing stanzas which invigorated the whole world of rhythmical sprint of writing, and particularly asserts that America has to establish its own modern dynamic and comforting voice. He made a hymn the whole time with his piece. His orthodontic braces embarks on presenting various people with different everyday tasks. In their routine lives each person sings what belongs to him or her and to none else (Whitman).Through his poem, he voices his belief that every American has pride in their life and vocation thus, enhancing the concept of democracy. And for this, Whitman is honored as the Bard of Democracy, as the United States of America came to telephone the excellent writer. But needless to say, he also showed his support in democracy as affirmed in his letter to Emerson which states that To freedom, to chroma, to poems, to personal greatness, it is neer permitted to rest, not a genesis or part of a generation (Whitman).PragmatismThen as the final viewpoint, pragmatism is termed as a way of thinking wherein the certainty of a representation is considered by its consistency with provisional consequences and by its realistic result. This prevails to be contrasting in doctrines tha t stick to the idea that a fact can be achieved by means of deductive reasoning from a priori justification of premises. Furthermore, the accepted wisdom is taken as merely a mechanism for sustaining the life aspirations of human beings and has no authentic metaphysical implication (Shook).Steinbeck was also influenced by this philosophy and its ideologies are also apparent in his work. Appearing in the novel, when Ma Joad, the wife of Pa Joad and the matriarch of the family, addresses the people to go on (Steinbeck), it is a unequivocal delivery of steadfast pragmatism. Ma is in fact the source of strength and determination for all of the family members and is especially close to Tom. Moreover, She states that her thinking about the upcoming would be too much. She has to take care of whats in straw man of her (Steinbeck).And as regards to advocating pragmatism, a proponent named William James, states that pragmatism is a specific philosophy in which beliefs are consequential as long as they have useful outcomes in tangible human events. He also believes that pragmatism is a worthwhile solution to some recent points of the word. James also avers that pragmatic values have certain attitudes which are eligible as true or false depending on how effective they attest in deed.Another proponent of pragmatism like James, named John Dewey, maintains that the mind is an official document for realizing purposes(Goodman). According to him, in pragmatisms moral facet, it holds that real association and human values play as essential roles in the cream of means employed in order to attain an end.Both James and Dewey contend that a large extent of the discussion about the association of the mind to the body take effect from abstract uncertainties. They also claim that it is not essential to speculate the psyche as an ontological association (Shook).ReferencesEmerson, R. W. Nature. Pearson Education, Inc. New Jersey. scholar Hall (2002).Goodman, Russel. Philosophy of Dewey. The Radical Academy. 2006. May 24 2007. .Goodman, Russel. Transcendentalism. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. 2007. May 24 2007. .James, William. .Shook, John. The Pragmatism Cybrary. 2007. May 24 2007. .Steinbeck, John. The Grapes of Wrath. (1939).Whitman, Walt. letter to Ralph Waldo Emerson. 1656. May 24 2007. .Whitman, Walt I Hear America Singing. Pearson Education, Inc. New Jersey. Prentice Hall (2002).