John Steinbeck incorporates many different symbols and allegorical elements into The Grapes of Wrath.

1) The Bank:
The Bank, or the "monster," symbolizes the landowners, and the oppression the small farmers were subjected to during the Great Depression. This monster is taking over the farmers’ land, and is incontrollable according to the tenants. It is corruption beyond human control, too powerful to stop.

"We’re sorry. It’s not us. It’s the monster. The bank isn’t like a man. Yes, but the bank is only made of men. No, you’re wrong there – quite wrong there. The bank is something else than men. IT happens that every man in a bank hates what the bank does, and yet the bank does it. The bank is something more than men, I tell you. It’s the monster. Men made it, but they can’t control it (45)."

2) Turtle/Tortoise:
The turtle in GoW is actually another allusion in itself, however, it does symbolize the common worker’s plight – working hard but getting nowhere, and being suppressed by a force larger than you.

"And now a light truck approached, and as it came near, the driver saw the turtle and swerved to hit it. His front wheel struck the edge of the shell, flipped the turtle like a tiddly-wink, spun it like a coin, and rolled it off the highway. The truck went back to its course along the right side. Lying on its back, the turtle was tight in its shell for a long time. But at last its legs waved in the air, reaching for something to pull it over (22)."

3) Grapes:
"Grapes of wrath" is the title of the novel, as well as a symbol appearing in a few chapters. The grapes symbolize the worker’s rage – the "ripe fruit of revolution." The workers are enraged as they are forced to watch perfectly good food be destroyed in order to keep prices high to benefit the large landowners.

"And they stand still and watch the potatoes float by, listen to the screaming pigs being killed in a ditch and covered with quicklime, watch the mountains of oranges slop down to a putrefying ooze; and in the eyes of the people there is the failure; and in the eyes of the hungry there is a growing wrath. In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage (477)."

4) The Flood:
At the end of GoW, there is a great flood, a parable to the Noah’s Ark story in the Bible. Several men at the Hooper Ranch unite to build a dam to stop the water from rising. After the flood, the landowners are not mentioned again, just as in the Biblical story, the flood washes away all of the corrupt individuals.

"Over the men came a fury of work, a fury of battle. When one man dropped his shovel, another took it up. They had shed their coats and hats. Their shirts and trousers clung tightly to their bodies, their shoes were shapeless blobs of mud (599-600)."