To Forget About Life For A While

     In the song "Rainbow Connection," it mentions that "Rainbows are visions, but only illusion."  And then in the song "True Colors," the lyrics says "True colors are beautiful, like a rainbow."  Of course, the most famous one, "Somewhere over the Rainbow" it states that "Somewhere over the rainbow, skies are blue and the dreams that you dare to dream."  So why Rainbow? 

     Rainbow appears briefly only after it rains.  A rainbow's colors are bright and cheerful which bring comforting feelings.  When a song is affiliated with rainbow, the effects are usually positive--even though the real meaning of the song is glooming.  That is the power of melody.  A good song will soothe one's mind and ease the burdens, especially in a calamitous situation.  So essentially, a song will provide temporary relief which will let a person to forget about life for a while.  In The Grapes of Wrath, Steinbeck mentions song, music, and dance periodically.  Those activities not only help Joads to pass difficult times, but also for everyone during the 1930s.  These popular activities work almost like a medicine because it can put away the pain.  The goal of this exhibit is to survey what kind of activity that people would engage in the most, during the 1930s, in order to hide away from the realtity.  Most importantly, will any of those entertainments ease The Joads' pains, at all?