Character Analysis Of Ma Joad In The Grapes Of Wrath

The Grapes of Wrath is a novel about a family living in Oklahoma Dust Bowl during the era of the Great Depression. They are driven off their land and decided to travel to California in search of jobs, land, and a better life. However California was not what they excepted it to be. Ma Joad is the most resilient and strongest character in the story. In the novel, the narrator describes Ma as the backbone of the family and a really strong person. Ma is described as “the citadel of the family, the strong place that could not be taken.” and has also “practiced denying [hurt or fear] in herself.” The narrator says “she seems to know that if she swayed the family shook, and if she ever really deeply wavered or despaired the family would fall, the

There were two parts in the novel that showed Ma as a strong woman who was not scared to fight back. One part was when the cop asked Ma and her family to leave, she wanted to fight back because the cop called them “Okies” and she tells Tom “maybe I oughta ast you that, cause I nearly hit 'im with a skillet.” The other part was when the religious fanatic Mrs. Sandry inveighed Rose of Sharon , Ma advanced on her and told her to go away. She tells Jim Rawley, the camp manager, that “if she comes back, I might hit her. I ain't sure. I won't let her worry my girl no more.” Another thing she did was being with the dead body of Granma in the back of the truck all night when they were traveling to California. She told the family that “Granma's dead” and that she was dead “before [the cops] stopped [them] las' night.” Ma endured the pain of staying with the body because '[she] was afraid [they] wouldn' get acrost [the desert].” The other thing Ma had to endured was telling the dying Granma that “[they] couldn't he'p her,” and “the fambly had ta get acrost,” and “[they] couldn't stop in the desert,” and “there was the young ones- an' Rosasharn's baby.” One more thing that showed Ma was strong and resilient was when Ma had to let Tom go away. The narrator says that “her eyes were wet and burning, but she did not cry.” Towards the middle of the novel, Ma had