Personal Philosophy

In life we have our family, friends, teachers, acquaintances, and just people we greet every day. But what about strangers? With so many people in our life, we forget about the people we do not know and choose to ignore them. Every place we go is filled with strangers and every stranger in those places, in most cases, remains a stranger. For example, when you go for an outing we walk pass by several people, we do not greet them or even look at them, and miss the opportunity to make a new friend. As children we taught “stranger danger”, but that phrase has extended to something as powerful enough to have fear in meeting new people. I personally believe that we should take every opportunity we can have to meet people, and not let the moment pass us by as we walk pass by strangers.

Being a shy person myself, it is always difficult for me make new friends. I expect people to come to me and for them to be the ones to initiate some kind of conversation. Sady, this expectation does not really work out in the real world. When I’m with new people I am always in the corner not even trying to make new friendships. After looking back through my days, I always regret not taking action and speaking to new people I have never met before. I do not want to ignore these people, but many factors pull me away. There is always a fear that people will not like me for who I am or that they simply will ignore me. In reality, we should not fear people. Through personal experience I have learned to let go of this fear and accept the fact that no one is out to get me.

Before last year, I had no best friend. I was placed in a class in which I knew absolutely nobody. Being who I am, I ignored everyone and just did my own thing. I was very lonely, so I figured it would be best to at least make one friend. As I was approaching this guy, I felt my heart dropping and my body shaking. I was about to turn away when suddenly he got up and approached me. At that moment I knew there was no turning back. I thought he was going to tell me off, but he actually came to me in a friendly matter and introduced himself. I made a new friend. I had someone to talk to and socialize in this class. Although I did not officially make a friend myself as he was the one approaching me, I learned something new. This situation taught me to not be afraid of talking to new people and that sometimes people actually want to get to know you.

There will always be new people in our lives, but when was the last we actually made an effort to make a new friend? Every time we see new people, there is an opportunity that awaits us to meet someone new. Perhaps meeting someone is too much, but at least giving friendly smiles or even a “bless you” to sneezing strangers can bring some type a friendship. Open up your friendship circles to anybody. A stranger can turn to a friend almost instantly if you stop ignoring them and try to be their friend.

"Go Away!" A Poem - Chapters 16-19 (B)

This poem is from a point of view of a Californian resident that was born and raised in California. They are disgusted  from the Okies arriving, as they are foreigners that are nothing like people from California. The theme of this poem is the hatred toward the unknown.

Go Away!
The foreign species keeps on coming
The square miles keep descending
What has California come to?
Will they be doubling by two?
All I know is that their end must be near
As we need to prevent them to appear
We will never share the pie
We will just let them die
They better not come near my oak trees!
Goodbye Okies!

Unity Until The End (or so they thought) - Chapters 16-19 (D)

At the beginning of the trip, it seemed like the family was going to stick together all the way. Unfortunately, some have died and by circumstance have had to abandon the family. But others are starting to leave by choice.

"He turned abruptly and walked downstream along the shore. Tom started to follow, and then he stopped. He saw Noah disappear into the brush, and then appear again, following the edge of the river. And he watched Noah growing smaller on the edge of the river, until he disappear into the willow at last. And Tom took off his cap and scratched his head. He went back to his willow cave and lay down to sleep" (209).

Noah voluntarily left his family. This has importance because it is the first character who has done this, as the one before him died. It is also important because Tom had the opportunity to stop him, but he just watched him leave. This shows how Tom does not care because he did not go to his family and tell them, he just went to sleep. If Tom cared, he would have ran after him or at least tell his family right away. The situation would have been different if Ma replaced Tom though. As we know with past situations, Ma is very good with keeping the family together. If Ma was there, she would have convinced Noah of staying. This is Noah's way of confirming that he no longer needs his family. In the beginning, they needed one another to survive through the trip. Now that he no longer needs them he is going his own way. This can be seen as a selfish act because Noah just used his family until he was able to live off on his own. Perhaps this is why he left. He was described as different from the rest of his family in the beginning of book and his selfishness, compared to his families unity, shows that he did not belong with them. More and more people are leaving the trip, and the more people leave, the less the family is in shock about leaving someone behind.

Ma on Life - Chapters 11-15 (D)

"...You can't do that. I can't do that. It's too much livin' too many lives. Up ahead they's a thousan' lives we might live, but when it comes, it'll on'y be one. If I go ahead on all of 'em, it's too much. You got to live ahead 'cause you're so young, but it's jus' the road goin' by for me..." (124).

Before Ma says this, Al questions her if she thinks California will not be as nice as they think it will be. This quote impacted me because it seems it like a small life lesson coming from a person that has had life experiences and that is wise when it comes to questioning the future. She understands that because Al is young, he questions the outcome of the trip. Being wise, she explains to him that they should be thinking about this moment, not the future. The life that you are living now is more important than the life that you might be living. I think Ma is one the main people that have kept the family stable because of this. For example, she has always kept the family together and when Tom and Al had plans of staying behind and fixing the car she refused. She does not want bad to happen, so she keeps the family together.

I believe what Ma said has truly given me a lesson on life. I think so much about the future and whether my life will be failure or successful, when I really should be worrying about what is going on with my life right now. With progress, the outcome of what I am doing right now will come later on. There are so many possibilities that are able to happen, but those depend on what I am doing at the moment. It will all come to place in the end.

Highway 66 - Chapters 11-15 (B)

Highway 66 (source)

Highway 66 runs from Chicago, Illinois to Santa Monica, California. It goes though major cities and small towns. (source) 

Pictures of Highway 66 during the 1930s:

A Jalopy on the Highway (Source)

The View (source)

Woman on the side of the highway (Source)

As seen on the pictures above, highway 66 was not a pretty road. Most of it looks dry and exposed to the sun. The Joads are constantly thirsty for water, and the setting of the road just make things worse. In all three pictures, the jalopies are covered in personal belongings. With the Joads having 12 people, their jalopy might seem even crazier. They are barely about to leave the state and they have already gone through so much. The highway shows no sign of grapes or oranges, which could throw the Joads off and make them lose some hope. 

Greetings from Oklahoma - Chapters 1-10(B)

Source

• "The Sooner State" - Oklahoma was known as the Sooner State because many people, before it was legal to, illegally went into Oklahoma and claimed land for themselves. They were there sooner than the people who did it legally. (Source)
• The Indian - Oklahoma was Indian territory before Americans took over and created the Oklahoma state. (Source)
• The Map - Oklahoma state broken down to several cities, places, and public works.

A letter to the Sooner State:

Dear Oklahoma,

I grew up here. And although I got locked up here, you hold many memories. My life story so far revolves around you, but sadly that is going to change. Soon I am going to be on my way to California and I will have to leave you. I am sad that we will be separated, but leaving you is bringing me closer to my family. You're great, but I love them more than I love your warm dry dust against my feet. My house has already been destroyed, and my family is already packed and ready. My childhood is coming with me, my parents, my siblings, my grandparents, and even my preacher. I will no longer be with you, but my memories here will be forever. Stay dry!

Love,

Tom Joad 

Jalopies - Chapters 1-10(H)

Car salesmen are always trying to get to sell cars. In Chapter 7, salesmen take it to extreme and want to sell the worst cars that they have.

"...We ain't sellin' cars—rolling junk. Goddamn it, I got to get jalopies. I don't want nothing for more'n twenty-five, thirty bucks...What cut do you make on a new car? Get jalopies. I can sell 'em fast as I get 'em...If we don't get some jalopies we got nothing to sell" (62).

Jalopies are cars that are ruined, run down, and basically junk. Sadly, this is what these salesmen want to sell to innocent people. They know the cars are bad, but they just want their money. They take no consideration of the consequences that buyers will have because they just want to make quick money. They are not thinking about others, but only about themselves. Their jobs are more important than people's trust. Throughout Chapter 7, the main goal is to sell as much jalopies as they can. They do not even care if they run or not, they just want to sell them. Their job is a business, which only wants to make profits. The quality does not matter to them, the money does. They even admit that they "don't give a damn"(65). These ripoffs are coming from a real business that are only interested in selling their most cheapest cars that will bring profits. The businessmen are doing a selfish act , yet they do not care. Although it is not stated directly, it suggested that the Joad's fell into the trap of buying a jalopy.

A Modern Jalopy (Source)