X and Y Chromosomes are the ones at fault in the end. Male and Female, one has XX chromosomes the other has XY. Both getting assigned roles with their sex. Steinbeck known author challenged literature and gender roles in 502 pages in a novel called The Grapes of Wrath. “…women came out of the house to stand beside their men-to feel whether this time the men would break” (Steinbeck 3). In the beginning of The Grapes of Wrath, Steinbeck describes the terrible fate the country folk face during the Dust Bowl in the 1930’s. Women come out to support their husbands even if it is just standing next to them. Further in the text the women wait for the men’s expression to know if they would be alright, to see if they could survive another day. Men …show more content…
Symbiosis, “biology: the relationship between two different kinds of living things that live together and depend on each other” (Merriam-Webster). Both organisms benefitting from one another and thriving. Male and female can be viewed the same, one is not more important than the other. In the Joad family both sexes have their fair share of work. Women do the house work and care for the kids and the men bring in a steady income. Yet, a relationship is not always fifty percent effort on both parts, sometime one has to put seventy even ninety percent effort. Throughout The Grapes of Wrath Ma Joad was the strong leader when Pa Joad faulted changing the family structure. Pa Joad redeems himself by showing valiant effort to protect his family when making a dam during a flood. Both showing best interest to keep the family together in their own way. Steinbeck challenges the typical character archetypes throughout his literature. Women are not automatically labeled the damsel in destress that need to be saved. Men are not necessarily the Heroes doing the saving either. Rose of Sharon character evolved in many ways, starting off as Star-Crossed lovers with Connie, damsel in distress when he left the family and finally into a mix of Earth Mother and Platonic Ideal when saving a sick man in a barn. Tom Joad assuming the role as hero in the beginning or returning young man but falls into the role of the outcast
John Steinbeck’s novel, The Grapes of Wrath is one of the most influential books in American History, and is considered to be his best work by many. It tells the story of one family’s hardship during the Depression and the Dust Bowl of the 1930’s. The Joads were a hard-working family with a strong sense of togetherness and morals; they farmed their land and went about their business without bothering anyone. When the big drought came it forced them to sell the land they had lived on since before anyone can remember. Their oldest son, Tom, has been in jail the past four years and returns to find his childhood home abandoned. He learns his family has moved in with his uncle John and decides to travel a short distance to see them. He arrives only to learn they are packing up their belongings and moving to California, someplace where there is a promise of work and food. This sets the Joad family off on a long and arduous journey with one goal: to survive.
Ma Joad in the Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck In the 1930s, America’s Great Plains experienced a disastrous drought, causing thousands of people to migrate west. As their land was devastated by the Dust Bowl, deprived farmers were left with few options but to leave. The Grapes of Wrath depicts the journey of the Joads, an Oklahoma-based family which decides to move to California in search of better conditions. Coming together as thirteen people at the start, the Joads will undertake what represents both a challenge and their only hope.
In literature as in life, people often find that they must make difficult choices in order to survive. The reasons behind their decisions and the results of their subsequent actions affect our opinion of them. In the Grapes of Wrath, written by John Steinbeck, the author portrayed situations where two main characters became involved. The nature of their choices, the reasons behind their decisions, and the results that followed affected them greatly. However, the choices that they made were surmounted successfully. Ma Joad and Tom Joad are two strong characters who overcame laborious predicaments. Their powerful characteristics helped to encourage those that were struggling.
In The Grapes of Wrath, Pa is the main male character and plays a leadership role of the family. After Grampa's death, it is clearly stated that Pa is the family leader. "Pa was the head of the family now" (151). Steinbeck purposefully puts Grampa, then Pa in the position of head of the family because the eldest male is most commonly the leader. This is a typical example of a patriarchy. Pa carries this role until they reach California and begin looking for work. Pa is ashamed that he cannot work to support his family and fulfill his position as leader.
Steinbeck created many characters for the Joads to come in contact with for different reasons. These three characters mentioned above were created to contrast the Joads and to recognize the weaker individuals in a society. By giving up, or refusing to try, these characters display a fear of new challenges and a resistance to change.
Tom Joad experiences many struggles in The Grapes of Wrath. Due to his struggles, he undergoes an immense change that causes him from being unconcerned and impassive to being contemplative and expressive. The journey with Casy and his family affects how he achieves success to become a true, strong character. With his responsibility of taking care of the family, he carries great burden and doubtful decisions of leading them to California. Throughout the journey, he faces trials and sufferings that lead him to have an inner conflict with himself in order for his family to have the golden opportunity to live prosperously in the scarce but hopeful land. His moments of feeling helplessness and vulnerability in the position of a deterred migrant,
Tom Joad is an ex-convict that was only into his own self-interest and lived by a mantra of live your life day by day and not concerned with the future, to becoming a man who thinks about the future and someone with morals and an obligation to help others. Ma Joad is a typical woman of the early 1900’s whose main role was a mother only with a role of caring and nurturing. Later in the novel, she becomes an important figure for the family and is responsible for making decisions in keeping the family together and emphasizes the importance of unity. Another important transition in the book is the family starting off as a single close knit unit to depending on other families to survive. This common interest and struggle bonded the community of individual families to a single one. Steinbeck wrote this novel very well, by having great character dynamics and development that displays the characters strengths and also their
The tale of The Grapes of Wrath has many levels of profound themes and meanings to allow us as the reader to discover the true nature of human existence. The author's main theme and doctrine of this story is that of survival through unity. While seeming hopeful at times, this book is more severe, blunt, and cold in its portrayl of the human spirit. Steinbeck's unique style of writing forms timeless and classic themes that can be experienced on different fronts by unique peoples and cultures of all generations.
The ending of The Grapes of Wrath maintains its historical accuracy by enforcing the idea of the women being the force that holds the family together. From even the beginning of this text we can see that Ma Joad is an incredibly strong ch...
After the women come across a shattered jar of canned fruit, they converse about Mrs. Wright’s concern about the matter. Mrs. Peters states, “She said the fire’d go out and her jars would break” (Glaspell 918). The women here identify with Mrs. Wright’s concern, because they understand the hard work that goes into canning as part of the demanding responsibilities women endure as housewives. The Sheriff’s reply is “Held for murder and worryin’ about her preserves” (Glaspell 918). In other words, the men perceive the event as insignificant; they clearly see women as a subservient group whose concerns hold little importance.
The plot of Grapes of Wrath follows a simple flowing pattern where every event leads clearly into the next. There are no points in the novel where the reader is taken off track from the main plot of the story. The ending to the novel is neither happy nor unhappy. The Joad family has been largely split apart, however, Tom has decided to take a moral position that could possibly better the lives of many migrant workers. Ma Joad and the rest of the family are forced to leave their newest home because of a horrible rainstorm. But Ma Joad's strength and w...
For readers who observe literature through a feminist lens, they will notice the depiction of female characters, and this makes a large statement on the author’s perception of feminism. Through portraying these women as specific female archetypes, the author creates sense of what roles women play in both their families and in society. In books such as The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck and The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, the roles that the main female characters play are, in different instances, both comparable and dissimilar.
Sex and gender make up one of the most basic functions in our society. Gender helps delineate tasks and how we refer to people, and is reinforced for us throughout our lives (Lorber 2006). Gender interacts with sex in varying ways (Disch 2006). Those who are not strictly heterosexual male or female are not readily accepted and face adversity as they bend gender and defy sex.
The Grapes of Wrath believably portrays the American struggle to overcome the difficulties of that time. In fact, there were several men without jobs that they had camps that provided shelter as along as you worked. However some camps were ruled by police and it caused some police brutality. In this case, Casy, a friend of the Joad’s was murdered by the police. In turn the police try to pin Tom Joad for the murder but he does not want to ruin his family’s chance at getting a job so he leaves them.
The major theme in this book is that greed and selfishness are the root of all suffering and that unity and selflessness can overcome everything. Steinbeck used the story of the Joad Family to parallel the state of society at the time. This book is relevant to today’s society as well. Tom Joad is the main character in this book. Ma and Pa Joad are his parents, Jim Casy is an associate of Tom’s (and former pastor), and Rose of Sharon is Tom’s pregnant sister (Connie’s wife).