Stereotypes In The Grapes Of Wrath By John Steinbeck

Gender and the stereotypes that accompany this topic have played an immense role in history. Throughout history, the stereotypical family unit consists of a man being the head of the household, being the dominant and steadfast leader. It also favors women and children in a submissive role more focused on preserving the family within the household. These themes are extremely present in Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck. The Joad family which the story focuses on is a lower-class farm family in the Dust Bowl Era. The Dust Bowl era came with severe economic and agricultural damage that hurt families in the same social standing as the Joads and challenged their unity. Gender and traditional stereotypes play a large role in the construction of

Ma plays the role of the glue attempting to hold the family together. Earlier in the novel when the car breaks down, Tom suggests the family splits up for a short amount of time. Ma responds with violence, and upon realizing the family is being broken down by outside forces, chooses to take the leading role. Ma does not pretend to be an early feminist, as she does not take on this role as a way of making this shift in familial power a norm. However, she takes on this role as she sees it as a necessity when Pa seems to lose a piece of himself when he can no longer play the leader. At the end of the novel, only Ma and Rose of Sharon remain in the focus of the novel. Rose of Sharon shows her character development in the last chapter by allowing a dying man to drink her breast milk. This challenges the stereotype of a man being the one to provide for women and children. It also implies that women are the source of life, giving Rose of Sharon an extremely important role. Ma and Rose no longer play a submissive role as there are no longer men to follow in suit of. Steinbeck opposes the traditional family structure that he introduced in the beginning of the novel and instead portrays Ma and Rose of Sharon as the core of the