the turtle in the Grapes of Wrath

A turtle is the main focus in one of the first couple of chapters in this book. When I finished reading the chapter I was really confused as to why a whole chapter was written about a turtle crossing the road. When I thought about it, I realized that I had to read in between the lines and not take the turtle crossing the road so literally. I realized it was a symbol. It is a symbol of determination and progress. The turtle, like all turtles moved slow. He spent a lot of time getting to the road, and then when the road came along, he attempted to cross it several times. Some people swerved to avoid hitting it, while others purposely hit it. I believe the drivers to be people that will come along in your life and situations that will occur. Bad things will happen along with bad people that are not looking out for your best interests, but along with this there will also be good people that look out for you and help you get going. The adventure across the road took dedication. He could have stopped and let cars kill him but he kept going. The time it took him to get across is also seen as progress in a person's life. I also see this to be foreshadowing the events of the book. Now that I have finished the book, I see that it kind of outlines the Joad's journey to California. They had many hardships and a few good things happened to them, but no matter what, they kept on going.