John Steinbeck’s heart-rending, epic novel, The Grapes of Wrath, set during The Great Depression, clearly depicts human struggles, futile dreams, and turbulent futures. Steinbeck introduces the Joad family and their constant struggles, but one member, Ma Joad, holds the family together with her courage, hope, and love. To begin, Ma Joad demonstrates her remarkable physical and emotional courage to her family. Because the Joad’s had lost their farm in Oklahoma, they were en route to California. Of course, they had heard that California was a beautiful and bountiful land full of rich soil and vast orchards. Also, they had heard that jobs were plentiful. They thought that by combining the men’s wages, they could effectively support their large …show more content…
They promised that they would eventually catch up with the family. Ma knew that this was a terrible idea and that she would never see her sons again. Ma vehemently stated, “‘I ain 't a-gonna go’” (Steinbeck, 168). Pa was so taken aback by her resistance that he insisted that she would have to go, to look after the family. However, Ma stood her ground and retrieved an old jack handle from the vehicle. Ma continued by saying, “‘On 'y way you gonna get me to go is whup me.’ She moved the jack handle gently again. ‘An ' I 'll shame you, Pa. I won 't take no whuppin ', cryin ' an ' a-beggin '. I 'll light into you’” (Steinbeck, 168). It was quite obvious that Ma was willing to fight tooth and nail for the well-being of her family. Ma demonstrated her physical courage by standing up to her husband and her emotional courage by talking back to her husband and refusing his orders. Women were not supposed to talk back to their men or have their say; it was a male-dominated world back then for women. I believe circumstances can change one, and I believe that old Tom Joad knew that he had lost. He knew it would not benefit anyone if he …show more content…
Clearly, Ma was well aware that if she had shown her feelings of distress or fear, it would have affected her family negatively. As Steinbeck writes, “And since old Tom and the children could not know hurt or fear unless she acknowledged hurt and fear, she had practiced denying them in herself” (74). Thereupon, Ma bore her feelings of fear and grief alone, a great example of her love for her family. Since they had lost their farm and were making plans to move to California, it would have been disastrous for them if Ma had sat around feeling sorry for herself after losing her home. Instead, Ma showed enthusiasm and a positive attitude because she knew that they needed it. Steinbeck continues to write, “She seemed to know, to accept, to welcome her position, the citadel of the family, the strong place that could not be taken” (74). Ma was the stronghold or the fortress for her family. If the fortress crumbled, the family would fall. Ma loved her family and saw to it that they were constantly happy. Again, Steinbeck writes, “She seemed to know that if she swayed the family shook, and if she ever really deeply wavered or despaired the family would fall, the family will to function would be gone” (74). For example, let’s compare the Joad family to a book. Ma Joad is the spine, old Tom Joad the cover, and the children are the pages. Once the spine of the book tears away, then
In the 1930s, America’s Great Plains experienced a disastrous drought causing thousands of people to migrate west. As their land was devastated by the Dust Bowl, deprived farmers were left with few options but to leave. The Grapes of Wrath depicts the journey of the Joads, an Oklahoma based family which decides to move to California in search of better conditions. Coming together as thirteen people at the start, the Joads will undertake what represents both a challenge and their only hope. Among them are only four women embodying every ages: the Grandma, the Mother and her two daughters, the pregnant Rose of Sharon and the young Ruthie. Appearing in Chapter Eight the mother, who is referred to as “Ma”, holds a decisive role in Steinbeck’s novel. She is, along with her son Tom (the main character of the book), present from the early stage of the story until its very end. We will attempt to trace back her emotional journey (I) as well as to analyze its universal aspects and to deliver an overall impression on the book (II).
Throughout the novel, The Grapes of Wrath there are intercalary chapters. The purpose of these chapters are to give the readers insight and background on the setting, time, place and even history of the novel. They help blend the themes, symbols, motifs of the novel, such as the saving power of family and fellowship, man’s inhumanity to man, and even the multiplying effects of selfishness. These chapters show the social and economic crisis flooding the nation at the time, and the plight of the American farmer becoming difficult. The contrast between these chapters helps readers look at not just the storyline of the Joad family, but farmers during the time and also the condition of America during the Dust Bowl. Steinbeck uses these chapters to show that the story is not only limited to the Joad family,
Steinbeck strikes at the fear in every man’s soul, with his portrayal of the poverty stricken life of the Joads as they travel from one stage of abandonment and what would seem like a helpless state to a journey of enduring perseverance. The Joads, Steinbeck’s creation in the Novel Grapes of Wrath is a large close-knit family living in Oklahoma during the “Dust Bowl” era. Steinbeck documents their journey beginning with their homelessness due to the crop failures to them surviving in a box car at the end of their journey. I think Steinbeck’ intention is to illustrate to the reader that being poor doesn’t always equate with being helpless. The Joads demonstrate this by their resilience to overcome homelessness, death, and prejudice.
On the Joad’s journey to the land of milk and honey, they encounter people that are cruel and brutish. Yet they still find it in themselves to help others as well as some people helping the Joad’s out. At their first official camp, the Joad’s unpack and cook something to eat, stew to be exact. As the stew is cooking, the smell of food attracts a slew of children. They try to help Ma out as she is cooking; doing everything they can to be fed. Ma knows she doesn’t have enough to feed the children seeing that she can barely feed her own family, yet she still decides to do the right thing, “I’m a-gonna set this here kettle out, an’ you’ll all get a little tas’, but it ain’t gonna do you no good,”” but Ma could see the children starve, “I can’t he’p it. Can’t keep it from you.”” (Steinbeck 258) Ma is incapable of leaving children to starve.
The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck is considered a classic novel by many in the literary field. The trials and tribulations of the Joad family and other migrants is told throughout this novel. In order to gain a perspective into the lives of "Oakies", Steinbeck uses themes and language of the troubling times of the Great Depression. Some of these aspects are critiqued because of their vulgarity and adult nature. In some places, The Grapes of Wrath has been edited or banned. These challenges undermine Steinbeck's attempts to add reality to the novel and are unjustified.
“’Let ‘em come,’ she said. ‘We got a-plenty.’” (Steinbeck 73). Although short, this quote is a strong statement of Ma Joad’s attitude and strength as a leader to accept people and keep them together because they really did not have plenty, but she was willing to take new people in regardless.
Ma Joad is a woman of strength and hope who is the backbone of the family. She represents the Mother Nature archetype while she posses the physical aspect of guiding the family and staying strong when the family needs her most. Steinbecks shows the importance of ma's character by the syntax usage to describe ma. " Ma was heavy, but not fat; thick with child-bearing and work...her ankles, and her strong, broad, bare feet moved quickly and deftly over the floor", Ma is described with these features to show her strength as a mother who has control and survives through hard situations (95). Her 'bare feet' being close to the earth shows how she takes on a 'Mother Nature' archetype to her character. She is one with the earth just as Mother Nature is. Mother Nature is one that gives birth, produces, sustains life and nurtures her family. All of these archetypes are expressed in ma's character.
Because of the devastating disaster of the dust bowl, the Joad family was forced to leave their long-time home and find work and a new life elsewhere. They, like many other families, moved to California. "The land of milk and honey". The people in the dust bowl imagined California as a haven of jobs where they would have a nice little white house and as much fruit as they could eat. This dream was far from the reality the migrant farmers faced once in California. The dreams, hopes, and expectations the Joads had of California were crushed by the reality of the actual situation in this land of hate and prejudice.
The plot of Grapes of Wrath follows a simple flowing pattern where every event leads clearly into the next. There are no points in the novel where the reader is taken off track from the main plot of the story. The ending to the novel is neither happy nor unhappy. The Joad family has been largely split apart, however, Tom has decided to take a moral position that could possibly better the lives of many migrant workers. Ma Joad and the rest of the family are forced to leave their newest home because of a horrible rainstorm. But Ma Joad's strength and w...
In fact, one principal character who was involved in a difficult situation was Ma Joad. She was a wife and mother whose only occupation in life was a housewife. She lived in an unfair time period; women were forced to do almost everything that the man commanded. However, Ma Joad was different. Ever since the family traveled to California, she slowly began to take charge. This was first seen when Tom, Ma’s son, suggested that the family continue driving while he and Casy, the preacher, stayed behind to fix the Wilson’s (a family the Joads met on their way to California) automobile. Ma Joad was furious with this idea. She brought out a jack handle and said, “ ‘You done this ‘thout thinkin’ much. What we got lef ‘in the world’? Nothin’ but us. Nothin’ but the folks…An’ now, right off, you wanna bust up the folks’ “ (Steinbeck 218). Ma J...
On the way to California, the Joad's encountered other people that had already been to California and were now returning. One of these encounters, with the ragged man with the sunburned face, is described on page 242. The ragged man had children that died because wages were too low and work was too scarce to afford food for his children and wife. His story was one of pain and despair and was evidence of the cruel and inhumane treatment which resulted from the California farmers prejudice towards the migrant workers.
In the Grapes Of Wrath, by John Steinbeck, Tom Joad is faced with endless hardships that plague him his family and all the people from the Great Plains. Tom is faced with endless adversity whether it’s that he can’t find his family or the lack of work in California he refuses to give in. Tom is strong through out because he realizes that things are bad, but you have to keep fighting and giving up is not a option. The main way to fight back against the adversity is presence of family and friends. Tom says that “But I now know a fella aint no good alone”(418). By the end of the novel Tom realizes that you couldn’t go through this experience alone. You needed each other weather it be Ma, or Rose of Sharon they had get through this storm to together and refuse to give in to the lack of work. Tom connects with everybody when he tells his mom “Even getting hungry even bein sick; some die, but the
Though the Joads do not have much, Ma feels that it is her duty to take care of others during the journey. In order to bring Jim Casy on the trip, she poses the idea that "[it's not] kin we... it's will we." She acknowledges that what they are about to endeavor is beyond their means already and that the decision to bring Casy along will be made for compassion, not ability. Presenting kindness to one's neighbor regardless of one's situation is a key Christian concept. This type of sacrifice soon becomes a standard in the behavior of Ma. Time and again, Ma gives to the others, forgetting her own needs. For the family, she lies with Grandma after her death so that so family can cross the Californian border. She does not complain or think of herself, but only asks 2 them to leave her alone so that she will be able to stay strong. This causes their small hierarchical family's troubles to be eased. She says: "I'm tar'd" because Ma gives her strength to all of them.
Tom Joad is an ex-convict that was only into his own self-interest and lived by a mantra of live your life day by day and not concerned with the future, to becoming a man who thinks about the future and someone with morals and an obligation to help others. Ma Joad is a typical woman of the early 1900’s whose main role was a mother only with a role of caring and nurturing. Later in the novel, she becomes an important figure for the family and is responsible for making decisions in keeping the family together and emphasizes the importance of unity. Another important transition in the book is the family starting off as a single close knit unit to depending on other families to survive. This common interest and struggle bonded the community of individual families to a single one. Steinbeck wrote this novel very well, by having great character dynamics and development that displays the characters strengths and also their
The Grapes of Wrath is a novel by John Steinbeck that exposes the desperate conditions under which the migratory farm families of America during the 1930's live under. The novel tells of one families migration west to California through the great economic depression of the 1930's. The Joad family had to abandon their home and their livelihoods. They had to uproot and set adrift because tractors were rapidly industrializing their farms. The bank took possession of their land because the owners could not pay off their loan. The novel shows how the Joad family deals with moving to California. How they survive the cruelty of the land owners that take advantage of them, their poverty and willingness to work.