Ma Joad: Leader of the Pack
In my opinion, Ma Joad is the hero of “The Grapes of Wrath”. She is the main force of the force of the family and the one who kept them moving. And although she is the most loving member of the Joad’s, she hides her pain and fear. Without Ma, the family would not have been together at the end of the novel. She can be grouped into many different types of heroes such as, Catalyst, Group Oriented, and Matriarchal Family Strength. In “The Grapes of Wrath,” John Steinbeck makes Ma Joad the leader of the family to convey she is one main heroes of the novel. Ma Joad is a Catalyst Hero because she would sacrifice herself for any of the other family members. Throughout the novel, Ma does not change that much. She is always trying to keep the family from doing any foolish actions. She will never do what is best for herself, but what is best for everyone else. Ma Joad is also a Group Oriented Hero. Group Oriented Heroes tend to be a part of a group in the beginning, venture into a far and unknown land, and is then separated
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She is the main female character of the novel and is the leader of the family. She would never let the family spit up. In Chapter 16, Tom suggests that the family should go to California while him and Casy stay behind and fix their car. Ma responds with “‘On’y way you gonna get me to go is whup me.’… ‘An’ I’ll shame you, Pa.’” (Steinbeck 168-169) She was disgusted by the idea of leaving people behind and would never do it. She hides her fear and pain so that the others do not have a reason to be scared. One of the rare times in which Ma shows her fear is when she finds out Ruthie had said Tom was in hiding because he killed two men. “‘Oh, my!’ Ma said wearily. ‘Oh! My dear sweet Lord Jesus asleep in a manger! What we goin’ to do now?’” (Steinbeck 413) The whole family is confused. They do not know how to react to this and just does what Ma
1. The Grapes of Wrath was written by John Steinbeck and is historical fiction. 2. Tom Joad who has recently been released from prison for manslaughter goes back to his family farm in Oklahoma. He becomes acquainted with a preacher named Jim Casey.
“The Grapes of Wrath” takes place during the great depression: which was a substantial economic downside in United States history. At the same time, racism continues in the United States. The Okies are very talented farmers and most of them travel along route 66 to hope for a better life, but something was waiting for them that was unexpected to these people. They did not receive any governmental supports they were ignorant, and this makes native people easier to realize Okies as an outsider also they found menial and low paying jobs. Steinbeck implies that man turns against another human for the survival of the fittest; therefore, they do not mind to put another human in a situation that is challenging to survive.
Though it is a book that has been on the censored list, Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck is a worthy novel to continue in the high school curriculum due to its accurate portrayal of the time period. As a student reading this novel after many extensive United States history classes and the previous year taking AP United States History, I felt a new outlook after reading a fictional story about the matters of the depression and dust bowl of the 30’s. Steinbeck’s use of literary depiction strengthens the novel and makes it more than just a recollection of the time. His biblical allusions, imagery, symbolism, and figurative language allow the reader to immerse themselves in the time. As a result of this, the novel went from a tale of history to
The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck is a novel with a lot of weight to it. The characters are a huge part of the story, and the author has them all stand for something and represent some element to help the novel provide a good overall picture of the impact of the dust bowl. One character in specific that adds a lot to the overall story is former preacher Jim Casy. Jim Casy transforms throughout the novel by going from being totally lost to finding his purpose, and Steinbeck uses his growth to help further the theme of faith in the story.
In Grapes of Wrath, by John Steinbeck, Ma Joad is also someone with hidden emotions. Many people show their emotions very well and make it public so that everyone can know. Ma Joad keeps it all to herself and no one knows that she deep down is having a hard time in life. In the movie, she would be around a group of people just happy as can be, and the next scene she will be alone, and she suffers privately, not knowing what to do with her life. This is a very good trait to have because it makes everyone else's lives so much better.
In The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck follows the Joad family as they suffer the hardships caused by the Dust Bowl in the 1930’s. The most important lesson people can learn from the novel is the value of a human life. Although the 1930’s was a low point in American society, the ill-treatment of human beings is still relevant today. Just like Jim Casy’s philosophy, it is important to fight for the rights of the people and their dignity. There are several examples of oppression in The Grapes of wrath.
(Steinbeck 144) Ma Joad displays the similarity between her and Virgin Mary through her strength and selflessness. At the time the Joads were crossing into California, she keeps quiet about Grandmas death and rides along with her dead body the whole night. This actions suggests that Ma thinks of the family as an unit that must always stick together, her sense of honesty since she tells Grandma directly that she can’t be helped, and her own appreciation of beauty, especially seen in her remarks about burying
This story reveals all the difficulties and all of the suffering proceeding of many of the migrant laborers during the Great Depression and also the Dust Bowl. The novel by Steinbeck has been written to criticize many of the careless and self-interested people and overly important corporate and banking elites for trying to increase their profit policies that would ultimately force many of the farmers to suffer and go through major tribulations. Through these careless actions many of these farmers had to go through things such as starving. It is a very well written political piece, it describes the actions by the lower classes in a great way. As the Grape of Wrath begins, the Joad family is a very traditional family and the structure of the family is in which where the men make the decisions and the women do as they are told.
It’s difficult to get kicked out of a land you have lived in for so long and end up having nowhere to go. In this novel, Grapes of Wrath, written by John Steinbeck, shows Tom Joad’s journey with his family to a new place where they've never been. They travel from Oklahoma to California and encounter a lot of hardship. Tom Joad is the main character in the story and is portrayed in the beginning as someone who can’t control their anger. He shows development in managing his anger issues as a result of his family’s unwavering emotional support.
Since the book came out in 1939, everyone has had a opinion on the ending to John Steinbeck’s Grapes of Wrath. It has a very controversial ending, that Steinbeck thought would name the last nail into the coffin, so to speak, on how bad the dust bowl and moving west really was. The ending starts when the Joad family is threatened with a flood, so they make their way to a old barn where they find a boy and his old father. The boy says his father is starving, and that he can’t keep anything solid down. He needs something like soup or milk.
Through this, the characters eventually seek help and companionship from family and friends. In The Grapes of Wrath migrants are forced out of their homes and move West in hopes of attaining a better life. When “a majority of the people are hungry and cold they will take by force what they need. And the screaming fact that sounds through history: repression works only to strengthen and knit the repressed. The great owners ignored the three cries of history.
In chapter 10 of The Grapes of Wrath, the Joad family decide to persevere by following through with selling their belongings. They quickly feel embarrassed in doing so, but they know it is the right and only thing to do. They persevere here because instead of dragging on
Through John Steinbeck's plot in The Grapes of Wrath, the struggle of the typical American dreamer is depicted in the Joad’s attempt to move to California for a better life. While attempting this dream, the Joad family had to make multiple sacrifices. The first sacrifice occurs early on in their journey, the abandoning of their property (Steinbeck 59). This was extremely difficult for the Joads because they had lived on this land for a long time and they had many memories that had been created there.
The shift from an independent, self-concerned character, to one of forethought and communally orientated is a common occurrence in fiction works. This notion is also known as a dynamic character, “a literary or dramatic character who undergoes an important inner change, as a change in personality or attitude.” In John Steinbeck’s Grapes of Wrath, almost every character undergoes a change and attitude shift from “I” to “we”, but each does so in a different manner. Tom Joad is the focus of a great majority of of the novel, and is ever-changing from the moment he is introduced, to his conclusion, while on the contrary, Reverend Jim Casy’s shift is quite apparent to readers. Tom Joad is first introduced in the very early chapters of the novel
In The Grapes of Wrath, Ma Joad, like the woman in the painting, does do domestic “chores” she cooks, and follows Pa around and let him lead the family. But she isn’t weak, she still is a strong woman who will fight back. In chapter 8, Steinbeck describes Ma Joad as “heavy, but not fat; thick with childbearing and work” (Steinbeck 74). That’s just like how the woman above looks, thick with work and childbearing. Also in chapter 26, “Ma put the clean dripping tin dish out on a box.