Wrath of the MachineBy:

Peter DerksMr. Kabachia

Humanities 30-1October 24, 2009

Hearing the two songs played, I believe the Rage Against the Machine's (RATM) version of The

Ghost of Tom Joad does the most influential job of portraying the dominant narrative tone in John

Steinbeck's novel The Grapes of Wrath. The dominant narrative tone in his novel is an accelerated anger

created by the continues struggles forced upon the migrants. Each event throughout the novel builds

upon the frustration of an already struggling family, which is the Joads. A lack of food, shelter, and work

emerges from the migrants as a wrath at the men of knowledge or ,in RATM's opinion, the machine.

Tom Joad shows a strong characteristic when he speaks "[wherever there is] a fight so hungry people

can eat, I'll be there". The characteristic he displays is that of a revolutionary, because he wishes to

make change in the world. RATM and Tom Joad share the same perspective to promote equality and

freedom from oppression in their respective societies.

The reason RATM does a better job, as opposed to Bruce Springsteen, of presenting anger is

because "The Ghost of Tom Joad" speaks of anger and revolution. Phrases within the text depicting

these emotions include: "New World Order", "NO REST!", "gun in your hand", and "strugglin' for a place

to stand". RATM also uses lighting to convey their message of anger towards the machine, there is red

lighting in times where revolutionary words are spoken such as "You'll see me!", and calm lighting

(green/blue) when the verses speak of desperation. RATM uses powerful music that entertains the

audience, making them think about the music and want to hear it again and again, which is why they

chose to do this song. The Ghost of Tom Joad emphasizes that the migrants deserve to be treated

equally through revolution and RATM makes the audience share this belief, rather than simply hope this

equality as in Bruce Springsteen's version.

P.S. Revolution is an emotion because it is the feeling one gets when he expects change."Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." John F. Kennedy