[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"doc-seo-143386-105":3,"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":81,"doc-detail-143386-en":130},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"ok",{"site_id":7,"language":8,"slug":9,"title":10,"keywords":11,"description":12,"schema_data":13,"social_meta":74,"head_meta":76,"extra_data":78,"updated_unix":80},105,"en","the-grapes-of-wrath-prologue-dust-storm-in-oklahoma","The Grapes of Wrath - Prologue - Dust Storm in Oklahoma","","The Grapes of Wrath opens with a vivid description of Oklahoma’s changing landscape as harsh weather and escalating drought transform green fields into dust-gray plains. Gentle spring rains give way to withering heat, cracked earth, and rising plumes of particulate that invade roads, homes, and daily life. As storms of dust intensify, people protect themselves with cloth and goggles, while the air becomes muffled and suffocating. The opening frames survival, displacement pressure, and the physical toll that drought brings on ordinary families.",{"@graph":14,"@context":73},[15,34,56],{"@type":16,"itemListElement":17},"BreadcrumbList",[18,23,27,31],{"item":19,"name":20,"@type":21,"position":22},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",1,{"item":24,"name":25,"@type":21,"position":26},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/","Document",2,{"item":28,"name":29,"@type":21,"position":30},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/story-novel/","Story & Novel",3,{"item":32,"name":10,"@type":21,"position":33},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/the-grapes-of-wrath-prologue-dust-storm-in-oklahoma/143386/",4,{"url":32,"name":10,"@type":35,"image":36,"author":41,"headline":10,"publisher":44,"fileFormat":47,"inLanguage":8,"description":12,"dateModified":48,"datePublished":49,"encodingFormat":47,"isAccessibleForFree":50,"interactionStatistic":51},"DigitalDocument",{"url":37,"@type":38,"width":39,"height":40},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/the-grapes-of-wrath-prologue-dust-storm-in-oklahoma/143386.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":42,"@type":43},"Hazel","Person",{"url":19,"name":45,"@type":46},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-10-18","2026-08-25",true,{"@type":52,"interactionType":53,"userInteractionCount":55},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":54},"ViewAction",7,{"@type":57,"mainEntity":58},"FAQPage",[59,65,69],{"name":60,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":62},"How does the novel’s opening describe the change from spring rains to drought in Oklahoma?","Question",{"text":63,"@type":64},"Spring rains arrive gently and help corn grow, but afterward the sky pales, weeds darken, and the earth forms a thin hard crust as heat intensifies.","Answer",{"name":66,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":67},"What role does dust play in the opening scenes?",{"text":68,"@type":64},"Dust rises from moving roads and broken crusts, then spreads with wind until it darkens the sky and infiltrates homes, leaving an even blanket over the land.",{"name":70,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":71},"How do people respond when the dust storm reaches its peak?",{"text":72,"@type":64},"People huddle indoors, tie cloth over noses, wear goggles, and keep houses shut tight as the air becomes muffled and visibility collapses.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":32,"og:type":75,"og:title":10,"og:site_name":45,"og:description":12},"article",{"robots":77,"canonical":32},"index,follow",{"doc_id":79,"site_id":7},143386,1787694840,{"code":4,"msg":82,"data":83},"success",[84,87,91,95,100,105,109,114,119,122,126],{"id":22,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":29,"show_sort_weight":85,"slug":86},90,"story-novel",{"id":26,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":88,"show_sort_weight":89,"slug":90},"Literature",80,"literature",{"id":33,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":92,"show_sort_weight":93,"slug":94},"Exam",70,"exam",{"id":96,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":97,"show_sort_weight":98,"slug":99},5,"Comic",60,"comic",{"id":101,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":102,"show_sort_weight":103,"slug":104},6,"Technology",50,"technology",{"id":55,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":106,"show_sort_weight":107,"slug":108},"Healthcare",40,"healthcare",{"id":110,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":111,"show_sort_weight":112,"slug":113},8,"Research & Report",30,"research-report",{"id":115,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":116,"show_sort_weight":117,"slug":118},9,"Religion & Spirituality",20,"religion-spirituality",{"id":117,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":120,"show_sort_weight":117,"slug":121},"World Cup","world-cup",{"id":123,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":124,"show_sort_weight":123,"slug":125},10,"Lifestyle","lifestyle",{"id":127,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":128,"show_sort_weight":96,"slug":129},19,"General","general",{"code":4,"msg":82,"data":131},{"doc_id":79,"user_id":132,"nickname":42,"user_avatar":133,"doc_module":4,"category_id":22,"category_name":29,"doc_title":10,"doc_description":12,"doc_content":134,"file_id":135,"file_url":136,"file_type":137,"file_size":138,"view_count":55,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":22,"is_downloadable":22,"audit_status":22,"page_count":139,"language":140,"language_code":8,"site_id":7,"html_lang":8,"table_of_contents":141,"faqs":142,"seo_title":143,"seo_description":12,"update_tm":80,"read_time":144},137441390410,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/avatar/2000252f4ab5702993?_k=1776741390130283984","The Grapes of Wrath  \nJohn Steinbeck  \nCopyright 1939 John Steinbeck  \nTo  \nCAROL  \nWho willed this book To TOM  \nWho lived it  \n1  \nTO THE RED COUNTRY and part of the gray country of Oklahoma, the last rains came gently, and they did not cut the scarred earth. The plows crossed and recrossed the rivulet marks. The last rains lifted the corn quickly and scattered weed colonies and grass along the sides of the roads so that the gray country and the dark red country began to disappear under a green cover. In the last part of May the sky grew pale and the clouds that had hung in high puffs for so long in the spring were dissipated. The sun flared down on the growing corn day after day until a line of brown spread along the edge of each green bayonet. The clouds appeared, and went away, and in a while they did not try any more. The weeds grew darker green to protect themselves, and they did not spread any more. The surface of the earth crusted, a thin hard crust, and asthe sky became pale, so the earth became pale, pink in the red country and white in the gray country.  \nIn the water-cut gullies the earth dusted down in dry little streams. Gophers and ant lions started small avalanches. And as the sharp sun struck day after day, the leaves of the young corn became less stiff and erect; they bent in a curve at first, and then, as the central ribs of strength grew weak, each leaf tilted downward. Then it was June, and the sun shone more fiercely. The brown lines on the corn leaves widened and moved in on the central ribs. The weeds frayed and edged back toward their roots. The air was thin and the sky more pale; and every day the earth paled.  \nIn the roads where the teams moved, where the wheels milled the ground and the hooves of the horses beat the ground, the dirt crust broke and the dust formed. Every moving thing lifted the dust into the air: a walking man lifted a thin layer as high as his waist, and a wagon lifted the dust as high as the fence tops, and an automobile boiled a cloud behind it. The dust was long in settling back again.  \nWhen June was half gone, the big clouds moved up out of Texas and the Gulf, high heavy clouds, rainheads. The men in the fields looked up at the clouds and sniffed at them and held wet fingers up to sense the wind. And the horses were nervous while the clouds were up. The rainheads dropped a little spattering and hurried on to some other country. Behind them the sky was pale again and the sun flared. In the dust there were drop craters where the rain had fallen, and there were clean splashes on the corn, and that was all.  \nA gentle wind followed the rain clouds, driving them on northward, a wind that softly clashed the drying corn. A day went by and the wind increased, steady, unbroken by gusts. The dust from the roads fluffed up and spread out and fell on the weeds beside the fields, and fell into the fields a little way. Now the wind grew strong and hard and it worked at the rain crust in the corn fields. Little by little the sky was darkened by the mixing dust, and the wind felt over the earth, loosened the dust, and carried it away. The wind grew stronger. The rain crust broke and the dust lifted up out of the fields and drove gray plumes into the air like sluggish smoke. The corn threshed the wind and made a dry, rushing sound. The finest dust did not settle back to earth now, but disappeared into the darkening sky.  \nThe wind grew stronger, whisked under stones, carried up straws and old leaves, and even little clods, marking its course as it sailed across the fields. The air and the sky darkened and through them the sun shone redly, and there was a raw sting in the air. During a night the wind raced faster over the land, dug cunningly among the rootlets of the corn, and the corn fought the wind with its weakened leaves until the roots were freed by the prying wind and then each stalk settled wearily sideways toward the earth and pointed the direction of the wind.  \nThe dawn came, but n","cbCainJm2FVJHbpN","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCainJm2FVJHbpN","pdf",1464331,313,"English","# To the Red Country\n## Drought and heat transform the land\n## Dust rises from roads and fields\n## Rain fails, then the wind intensifies\n## People protect themselves as visibility vanishes","[{\"question\":\"How does the novel’s opening describe the change from spring rains to drought in Oklahoma?\",\"answer\":\"Spring rains arrive gently and help corn grow, but afterward the sky pales, weeds darken, and the earth forms a thin hard crust as heat intensifies.\"},{\"question\":\"What role does dust play in the opening scenes?\",\"answer\":\"Dust rises from moving roads and broken crusts, then spreads with wind until it darkens the sky and infiltrates homes, leaving an even blanket over the land.\"},{\"question\":\"How do people respond when the dust storm reaches its peak?\",\"answer\":\"People huddle indoors, tie cloth over noses, wear goggles, and keep houses shut tight as the air becomes muffled and visibility collapses.\"}]","The Grapes of Wrath - Prologue - Dust Storm in Oklahoma | PDF",482]