status with that of the Negroes point to the fact of the universality of human condition/suffering. If the novel is juxtaposed with its substructure – The Bible - the aspect of universality becomes obvious.
.
The Carnivalesque nature of chronotopicity in the novel Jago Morrison, while explicating different aspects of the Bakhtinian chronotope states thus:
“ The Dialogic Imagination argues that , in the wake of ‘the dissolution of the medieval world view’ (p.205) in which the theological doctrine of The Last Judgement had been so dominant, a fundamentally new conception of time and space was needed , which could ‘permit one to link real life (history) to real earth. It was necessary to oppose to eschatology a creative and generative time, a time measured by creative acts, by growth and not by destruction’(p.206). It is to popular folklore that Bakhtin looks in search of this new chronotope, showing how carnival instituted itself as an antidote to the ordered, official culture of medieval society.” (Morrison—p.37) If chronotope integrates time and space into one-the lived experience of human beings- it challenges the conventional assumptions of absolute, abstract time instituted by hegemonic structures of society and its institutions. It is this challenge that is materialized in expressions of carnival- the flouting of authority, critiquing of accepted notions of morality and religion that we find in various socities at various times. Thus chronotope turns out to be at least a potential motif of different forms of carnival, if it is not one itself. All forms of resistance to oppression and all means employed by the migrant farmers in the novel to survive are carnivalesque. Religion, state and other social institutions are connived together to exploit the poor, the dispossessed and the novel presents to the reader many occasions where established religious views and the laws of the land are overtly or covertly flouted. The sacrilegious nature of carnival to pollute whatever is held sacrosanct by institutions of power and pelf is very explicit in the novel. Preaching of a Gospel of liberation/redemption through communion Eschatology is defined by M.H.Abrams thus: “the events that are to come in “the last days” of Christ’s judgement and the life after death of individual souls.” (Page—133) Christian eschatology is founded on the concept of the fallen man and his sin, atonement to sin and redemption. That the novel has as its substructure the Bible is ample evidence for its eschatological affiliations. Yet it is to be noted here that though the mould of the novel is that of the Bible and of Christian eschatology it has none of their teleological presumptions. It is more in tune with the Movement of Liberation Theology which declared ‘God takes sides, sides of the oppressed’. The Bible is the history of the progressive, onward march of mankind towards its definite redemption through the interference of God. It is basically like the conventional history that presumes history to be an onward movement towards a grand civilization. The linearity inscribed in the very nature of conventional history is seen in the Bible also. Christian eschatology founded on the Bible envisages very clearly the finality …show more content…
Maybe all men got one big soul ever’body’s part of.” (The Grapes of Wrath, Page-24)
It is the Gospel of communion that Jim Casy preaches as the redemptive sacrament for the human condition. His living of this Gospel is at its zenith in the scene where he is murdered. He is killed because he sowed the seeds of communion among people who were stranded on a foreign land. His response to the murderer “ You fellas don’ know what you are doin’. You are helping to starve kids” (The Grapes of Wrath, Page—354) clearly echoes Jesus’ words on the cross ‘ Forgive them ,Father, for they know not what they are doing”.
So also are uncle John and Mrs.Joad in the novel. Uncle John, through his severe sense of guilt and sin, is at times in bouts of depression. As an atonement to what he considers to be his sin he does some charitable works like feeding the starving children. He is a loner only because his sense of communion is founded on his purely religious conviction of right and wrong. Towards the end of the novel Uncle John is almost on the path of reconciliation with himself. This is evident from what he states while placing the stillborn on
.
The Carnivalesque nature of chronotopicity in the novel Jago Morrison, while explicating different aspects of the Bakhtinian chronotope states thus:
“ The Dialogic Imagination argues that , in the wake of ‘the dissolution of the medieval world view’ (p.205) in which the theological doctrine of The Last Judgement had been so dominant, a fundamentally new conception of time and space was needed , which could ‘permit one to link real life (history) to real earth. It was necessary to oppose to eschatology a creative and generative time, a time measured by creative acts, by growth and not by destruction’(p.206). It is to popular folklore that Bakhtin looks in search of this new chronotope, showing how carnival instituted itself as an antidote to the ordered, official culture of medieval society.” (Morrison—p.37) If chronotope integrates time and space into one-the lived experience of human beings- it challenges the conventional assumptions of absolute, abstract time instituted by hegemonic structures of society and its institutions. It is this challenge that is materialized in expressions of carnival- the flouting of authority, critiquing of accepted notions of morality and religion that we find in various socities at various times. Thus chronotope turns out to be at least a potential motif of different forms of carnival, if it is not one itself. All forms of resistance to oppression and all means employed by the migrant farmers in the novel to survive are carnivalesque. Religion, state and other social institutions are connived together to exploit the poor, the dispossessed and the novel presents to the reader many occasions where established religious views and the laws of the land are overtly or covertly flouted. The sacrilegious nature of carnival to pollute whatever is held sacrosanct by institutions of power and pelf is very explicit in the novel. Preaching of a Gospel of liberation/redemption through communion Eschatology is defined by M.H.Abrams thus: “the events that are to come in “the last days” of Christ’s judgement and the life after death of individual souls.” (Page—133) Christian eschatology is founded on the concept of the fallen man and his sin, atonement to sin and redemption. That the novel has as its substructure the Bible is ample evidence for its eschatological affiliations. Yet it is to be noted here that though the mould of the novel is that of the Bible and of Christian eschatology it has none of their teleological presumptions. It is more in tune with the Movement of Liberation Theology which declared ‘God takes sides, sides of the oppressed’. The Bible is the history of the progressive, onward march of mankind towards its definite redemption through the interference of God. It is basically like the conventional history that presumes history to be an onward movement towards a grand civilization. The linearity inscribed in the very nature of conventional history is seen in the Bible also. Christian eschatology founded on the Bible envisages very clearly the finality …show more content…
Maybe all men got one big soul ever’body’s part of.” (The Grapes of Wrath, Page-24)
It is the Gospel of communion that Jim Casy preaches as the redemptive sacrament for the human condition. His living of this Gospel is at its zenith in the scene where he is murdered. He is killed because he sowed the seeds of communion among people who were stranded on a foreign land. His response to the murderer “ You fellas don’ know what you are doin’. You are helping to starve kids” (The Grapes of Wrath, Page—354) clearly echoes Jesus’ words on the cross ‘ Forgive them ,Father, for they know not what they are doing”.
So also are uncle John and Mrs.Joad in the novel. Uncle John, through his severe sense of guilt and sin, is at times in bouts of depression. As an atonement to what he considers to be his sin he does some charitable works like feeding the starving children. He is a loner only because his sense of communion is founded on his purely religious conviction of right and wrong. Towards the end of the novel Uncle John is almost on the path of reconciliation with himself. This is evident from what he states while placing the stillborn on