In “The Grapes of Wrath”, John Steinbeck developed Ma Joad as the matriarchal hero of the story. Ma Joad exhibited her matriarchal heroism in many ways throughout the story. She endowed people with hope, took on leadership roles, and kept the family bonded together. As the Joad family drove towards California with the Wilsons. Their car broke down. Tom Joad, knowing that if the family, and the Wilsons waited for the car to be fixed. It would consequentially waste their resources. As a result, Tom suggested that he’d stay behind with Casy to fix the car while the rest of the group continue towards California. All of the men, including Pa Joad, Uncle John, Mr.Wilson, and Al Joad agreed with Tom’s plan. Ma Joad suddenly steps in and says, “I …show more content…
They met a child, and his father whom was very weak and on the verge of death. The boy pleaded for Ma’s help. She replied "You jus' be easy. He'll be awright. You jus' wait'll I get them wet clo'es off'n my girl." The men stay silent instead of intervening to help out the father. The boy then impatiently cries, "He's dyin', I tell you! He's starvin' to death, I tell you. (454)" With authority, Ma replies, “Hush(454).” Steinbeck then writes ,“She looked at Pa and Uncle John standing helplessly gazing at the sick man.” Ma at the moment is expecting the men to do something. But instead they stay silent. Ma then looks at Rose asking her to breastfeed the poor man, which Rose replies in agreement. This moment truly exemplifies Ma’s leadership in this family as well as the matriarchal culture the family adapted. The leadership Ma showed, saved the father’s life and gave the boy hope knowing that his father would live another day.
In the beginning of the “Grapes of Wrath” we saw the men act as leaders. Moreover patriarchy seemed to be how the Joad family operated. As the Joad family moved further away from home. The leadership role the men once held were taken over by Ma. Conversely led to the patriarchal family now being led by a woman, Ma Joad. Ma Joad not only took a leadership role but proved that she could be a hero to those around her. Whether it be inspiring hope or keeping a family together. Undertaking a role that was very demanding; Ma Joad executed it
Tom and Jim decide to go to Tom’s uncles house because they think they will find Tom’s family there. When
In The Grapes of Wrath, Steinbeck tells the narrative of the Joad family, traveling West in hopes of finding work. During their journey Rose of Sharon, one of the family members, has a miscarriage. Before her miscarriage, Rose of Sharon lacks responsibility and empathy; after her miscarriage, she possesses both. Through Rose of Sharon’s story
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.
Intercalary Chapter Literary Analysis During the Great Depression, the nation as a whole was stripped of financial security and forced into a survivalist way of living. This changed the ways that people interacted with one another and the overall mentality of society. In the Grapes of Wrath, the Joad family is torn from their land and find themselves with nothing, a common story for migrant farmers of that time, derogatorily called “Okies” by Californians. But this is not the only group that is struggling, the entire county was in a state of panic and bruteness, no matter how “well off” they seemed to be.
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
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.
The tone of chapter 11 in John Steinbeck's, “The Grapes of Wrath,” is sympathetic, sad and hopeless. His word choice and syntax show how the sad houses were left to decay in the weather. His use of descriptive words paints a picture in the reader's mind. As each paragraph unfolds, new details come to life and adds to the imagery. While it may seem unimportant, this intercalary chapter shows how the effects of the great depression affected common households.
In the novel “Of Mice and Men” John Steinbeck portrays the theme of social injustice throughout the story in the lives of several characters that include Lennie, Curley’s Wife, and the stable buck, Crooks. All of these characters are mistreated in some way, shape or form. The hardships that these characters faced help guide us to see the social injustice that is prevalent in the story. Lennie is a victim of social injustice due to the fact that he is mentally disabled. He is not treated fairly when he was accused of rape.
John Steinbeck has a style of writing unparalleled in history and in the modern world. In the same way, his philosophies are also unparalleled, with his focus in socialism not extending to communism or abnegation of spiritualism. His ideal world is utopian, holding the dust bowl migrant at the same level as the yeoman farmer was held in Jeffersonian times. In The Grapes of Wrath Steinbeck Steinbeck, who posses impregnable technique, conveys his message of a group working tirelessly for the betterment of the community.
Readers see that while the family goes through more hardships, Ma ends up being the person the family looks up to. This was unexpected for the reason that Pa Joad was seen as the leader in the beginning, while Ma was expected to take the motherly role. Similarly, Clark believes that women have a misconception of what they are capable of. Clark mentions “Women might have different expectations about their roles and responsibilities in the household. That is they might hold themselves more responsible for household chores than their spouses or other male members of the family.
Casy takes the fault after a physical dispute with the deputy while Tom flees so Tom doesn’t have to go back to jail. When he returns, they
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.
In The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck, the chapters alternate between two perspectives of a story. One chapter focuses on the tenants as a whole, while the other chapter focuses specifically of a family of tenants, the Joads, and their journey to California. Chapter 5 is the former and Steinbeck does an excellent job of omniscient third person point of view to describe the situation. Chapter 5’s main idea is to set the conflict and let the readers make connections between Steinbeck’s alternating chapters with foreshadowing. Steinbeck is effectual in letting readers make connections both to the world and the text itself with the use of exposition, and symbolism.