The Big Terrible Flood

Flood is a terrible natural disaster that not only kills and destroys, but also makes a big ugly mess. The story “The Flood” is a short writing piece from The Grapes of Wrath, writing by John Steinbeck, that describes the disaster in a very real and sad way. Steinbeck, like many of his other works, starts out by giving a concrete description of the surroundings. We can tell this is happening by the first sentence “Over the high coast mountains and over the valleys the gray cloud marched in from the ocean (Steinbeck 1)”. This first sentence is telling us about the coming of the flood. I like the structure because I get to know straight off hand what is happening in the story. After the descriptions of the incoming weather, Steinbeck introduces the humans in the story which can establish the tone of the writing piece: a very sad and depressing tone. Steinbeck described the action of the people as “They Splashed along, carrying the children, carrying the very old, in their arms. And if a barn stood on high ground, it was filled with people shivering and hopeless (Steinbeck 2)”. This line is a very heartbreaking and moving line. It is also a line that can immediately introduce the tone to the reader. Steinbeck talks about how sad and poignant the victim’s situation is, which easily sets the tone of depression and sadness. Last of all, Steinbeck is a bit simple to Langston Hughes in the sense that they both like to use simple words and phrases to establish a good description of the big picture. For example in the beginning, Steinbeck creates very vivid images, using pretty simple words and phrases but in niche positions. He wrote “The rain began with gusty showers, pauses and downpours; and then gradually it settled to a single tempo, small drops and a steady beat, rain that was gray to see through, rain that cut midday light to evening (Steinbeck 2). This line consists of fairly simple words, yet creates a very bright picture of the atmosphere of the incoming flood. In conclusion, the writing piece “The Flood” is a sad and very descriptive piece of work that outlines how hard it was at that period of time in history.