Snake
"Let the Hero born of woman crush the serpent with His
heel."
~Battle Hymn
“A rattlesnake crawled across the road
and Tom hit it and broke it and left it squirming.” (314) The Grapes of Wrath
The snake in the song "Battle Hymn," can be seen as
all the evil in the world that the "Hero" or Christ was going to stamp out. This, along with the snakes that Al and Tom both
run over with the truck can be seen as symbols to represent the farmers and the banks who control all of the land. Tom
knew they needed to be stopped and the action of him crushing them shows his anger and anguish that it all needs to be stopped.
Rosesharon's Baby
"Let the hero born of women..." The Battle
Hymn
"In the beauty of the lillies Christ was born
across the Lord" The Battle Hymn
"...And' Connie says I'm gonna have a doctore,
when the baby's born; an' he says we'll see how time is, an' maybe I'll go to a hospiddle...well, I'm gonna have a 'lectic
iron, an' the baby'll have all new stuff." (224) The Grapes of Wrath
In The Grapes of Wrath, the hopes of the future can be seen in Rosesharon's baby.
Rosesharon, throughout the entire book is always worried about her baby and has pride for the baby inside of her. She has
high hopes for the future with the baby coming and this is like the hopes of all the people that went to California in the
book. The baby is like the future, good and pure and this is what the migrant people hope for when they get to California.
In The Battle Hymn they talk about the "hero born of women" and for Rosesharon the baby that she will give birth
to is her hero of new hope. The baby is what she looks to for hope and strength to go on each day, even after she loses Connie,
her husband and babies symbolize new life and new beginnings.
