This volume of criticism brings together a variety of new, classic, and contemporary essays on this major American novel. New essays offer a comprehensive introduction to the novel's key themes, social context, and critical history as well as a complete survey of Steinbeck criticism. One essay describes an actual Okie migration in comparison to Steinbeck's fictional depiction, while other essays discuss the novel's Christian symbolism, assess the politics of the novel and analyze Steinbeck's feminine archetypes.