Character Analysis Of Ruth In The Grapes Of Wrath

What if someone married at fifteen? You think everything is going to be perfect; live your life on a ranch with your own roan but, your husband is an alcoholic and abusive. That is exactly what happened to Ruth in Lady Gunfighter. She was to marry at fifteen to Stan; little did she know how much he drank and what alcohol could do to him. So who is Ruth? How does she act as a person? Well the author uses indirect characterization to show us how strong and determined Ruth is to not let Stan see how much he hurts her: “[t]hen, I stood up. Nothing hurt. The blows I had received ceased to hurt” (Fryer 22). She is trying to prove that his blows does not hurt her. Ruth wants him to know just because he is low enough to hit her it does not hurt her;

Ruth develops and changes over the course of the novel by blossoming from that little woman who cowers in the corner and kisses Stan’s boots: “…he hauled off and knocked me flat in the dirt. I just lay there in the dust crying…” (Fryer 8) to a strong courageous gunfighter not scared of anything. She began to get a burn in her stomach in the middle of the novel, and an ache that would not go away as she states, “[t]he fire began to boil in my stomach…” (Fryer 178). She was boiling with revenge wanting vengeance. She wanted to beat Stan like he was beating her but she does not know if she can take him yet. So she decided to take out Wayne, Stan’s best friend first: “When his hand grabbed me, my right hand slashed downward across his throat, and he stood there grabbing his throat, gurgling, then he toppled at my feet”(Fryer 262). But by the end of the book she gains more gall and impudence in herself. Shooting her own son along with the love of her life and Tom, her best friends son because they “stabbed her in the back” and she did not even give none of them time to explain themselves: “[w]hy son? Why have you turned on me?” … “Mom for God’s sake listen.” … “Little One, you must listen” … [m]y wrist touched my leg, and a bullet went deep into his chest! Dallas yelled and came at me. The silver gun spit at him, and a bullet doubled him over… (Fryer 300). She gained the confidence

And the theme of the novel is the reader should not take **** from no one; one needs to stand up for themselves and stand their ground. This is exemplified when the end of the novel nears and Stan shows back up to try and steal the cattle again. Ruth finally stands up to Stan, “[y]ou don’t really think, for one damned second, I’m going to sit here and let you and your thievin’ friends take cattle that belong to hard working men, do you?” He smiled, looking at his friends for courage, and then at me, and he said spitefully, “[y]ou ain’t got no choice!” The silver gun belched a red flame, kicked gently against the palm of my hand… [t]he power of my bullet slammed him between the eyes (Fryer 323). Now obviously the reader should not go out and shoot someone if they back talk them but they just shouldn’t let them walk all over