Abstract: The Grapes of Wrath was published in 1930s which was considered as an epic in The Great Depression of the 1930s in the USA. This is a study of the Bible archetypes in The Grapes of Wrath based on the theory of Northrop Frye. With the novel’s cultural context concerned, this article analyzes the archetypes in the work in order to explore the ideological content of the work. It is found that Christianity and the Bible have been reflected in the novel through John Steinbeck’s background of western Christian culture, religious images in the novel, characters and plots. Combined with the analysis of the Bible, three archetypes in the novel are detailed analyzed: “scapegoat”,  “death-rebirth” and “quest”, as well as how the novelist uses and makes these archetypes concretely. In the end, the researches done in this paper are summarized and suggestions for future research are presented briefly.

Key Words：The Grapes of Wrath；John Steinbeck；archetype criticism.

CONTENTS

Abstract

摘要

1. Introduction-1

1.1 A Brief Introduction to John Steinbeck and The Grapes of Wrath-2

1.2 Archetype criticism to The Grapes of Wrath-2

2. Literature Review-2

3. The Archetype of “Scapegoat”-4

3.1 Jim Casy As a Scapegoat-4

4. The Archetype of “Death-Rebirth”-6

4.1 Jim’s “Death-Rebirth”-6

5. The Archetype of “Quest”-7

5.1 Jim’s “Quest”-8

6. Conclusion-9

Bibliography-9

Acknowledgements-10