The Grapes of Wrath

Watched the film last night for the upteenth time -- but I'm not sure if I ever enjoyed it more. It's such a quintessential American story, full of American themes:

• The importance of family v. the forces that break families apart
• Institutionalized power v. individual powerlessness
• the search for a better life in new territory
• prejudice v. the kindness of strangers
• the search for explanations for bad times
• the search for community
  

And so much more.

Time to reread the novel as well. Maybe this is the Great American Novel after all. I always thought it was Dos Passos' USA Trilogy but maybe I'm wrong.