With my cover, I really wanted to focus on the 'wrath' aspect of this classic American novel. The characters in this book suffer a great deal and it is their outrage that keeps them from losing their dignity. This is especially true where the protagonist, Tom Joad, is concerned. Though this book has a lot of rich themes and characters, Tom Joad was the focus for me. I wanted to depict him as outraged, hungry, and determined.
The tone of the Grapes of Wrath is very gritty with the Dust Bowl and the Great Depression providing the setting. I chose a dark gray coupled with rust orange to emphasize the despair and deterioration of society felt by the characters in the novel. I chose to imitate traditional printmaking techniques because, historically, printmaking is a medium closely associated with addressing social ills. The printmaking technique also lent itself well to imitating the suffocating dust that filled the air during the Dust Bowl. My hope with this cover was to design something that would open this amazing novel to new readers.
