One of the greatest joys in the course of writing this paper is reading various sources of literatures and the novel itself. The process of reading is not only reading the words but also appreciating the ideas and emotions of the author. I have acquired a lot of knowledge whatever concerned with the novel or not. The writing process fulfills my leisure time and broads my horizons. 24432
My profound gratitude first goes to Ms Zheng Yurong, my supervisor, who has generously shared her stimulatory and provocative ideas during many of our face-to-face discussion sessions. I will never forget that almost everyday during this period, she has spared much of her precious time for me, discussing and suggesting the theme of my paper-paragraph by paragraph. She will always carefully and patiently guide and correct several mistakes of writing methods and expressing skills. 
Abstract
John Steinbeck, born in California, is one of the most famous novelists in the 20th century America. Among all his works, he is memorized by his masterpiece The Grapes of Wrath. During the Great Depression, due to the natural and economic difficulties, the American landless peasants lost their home and land, and were forced to leave their hometown and started a journey to the west-California make a better living but, out of their expectation, with difficulties and adversities. The novel is full of the country’s current disgrace and disruption, the hopelessness, dirty life and the broken family, however, it was not extremely that despair.
The purpose of this paper is to explore how the theme of the novel is developed and expanded. Through an analysis from such three perspectives as the spiritual conversion of the main characters from selfishness to altruism, the transition of family and social structure, and the application of narrative devices, the thesis argues and illustrates one of the novel’s main themes: inpiduals can find their greatest strength only when they are united into a community. 
The paper falls into six parts. The first part serves as an introduction. The second part aims at analyzing the main plot of the novel as well the major characters. The third part presents the theme and the background of the novel. The fourth part argues how the theme is expanded from inpidual to community. The fifth part mainly probes into how the narrative devices help to expand the theme effectively. The last part functions as a conclusion.
Key words: John Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath, inpidual, community
摘要约翰•斯坦贝克出生在加利福尼亚，他是二十世纪美国最著名的小说家之一。在他生平所有作品中，他的杰作《愤怒的葡萄》被世人所熟知和缅怀。小说描述了在美国大萧条时期，农民由于自然和经济的困境，失去了家园和土地而被迫远离家乡，踏上去西部加利福尼亚州的艰难困苦的谋生旅途。这部小说充满了耻辱、分裂、瓦解、绝望、肮脏的生活和破碎的家庭，然而,这部小说也并非是真的极其绝望的。
本文的写作目的是探讨这部小说的主题是如何发展和深化的。通过从三个方面来分析，主要人物从自私的利己主义到利他主义的转换，家庭和社会结构的转型，以及叙事手法的应用，从而提出了一个新的主题：只有当个人团结一致，才能形成一个可以拥有最大力量的集体。
本文共分为751个部分。第一部分为绪论。第二部分旨在分析小说的主要情节和主要人物。第三部分呈现了小说的主题和背景。第四部分讨论了主题是如何从个体深化到集体的。第五部分主要从叙事手法的角度探讨了主题是如何有效深化的。最后一部分作为对全文的总结。
毕业论文关键词：约翰•斯坦贝克，《愤怒的葡萄》，个体，群体
 CONTENTS
Acknowledgments    i
Abstract    ii
摘要    iii 论《愤怒的葡萄》中主题的扩展:http://www.751com.cn/yingyu/lunwen_17921.html