The Dust Bowl was both a manmade and natural disaster that lasted 6 years and caused many families to travel to California and create a brand new life and way of living. There are many important characters in the Grapes of Wrath, but I believe that Ma is one of the most heroic characters of all of them. Ma Joad is a hero because she has the characteristics of caring about others, standing up for what she believes in and looking for the best in situations, the characteristics of a hero and Ma translate to some Disney princesses and make them heroes as well. Ma is a hero because she cares about everyone. Ma cares about her family a lot, but she also cares about Jim Casy and the Wilson family. I know that this is true because of how she talks to Reverend Casy when he comes to the family with Tom. “Ma threw some sticks into the stove. ‘I’ll get you a bite now, but it ain’t much’” (Steinbeck 95). When Ma says …show more content…
Ma is willing to do whatever it takes to do what she thinks is the right thing to do and stands by her word. This is shown when Granpa is about to pass away and the family is deciding what will happen to his body. “‘I was gonna wash Grampa all over,’ said Ma, ‘but he got no other clothes to put on. An’ ‘course your quilt’s spoilt. Can’t ever get the smell of death from a quilt. I saw a dog growl an’ shake at a mattress my ma died on, an’ that was two years later. We’ll wrap ‘im in your quilt. We’ll make it up to you. We got a quilt for you’” (Steinbeck 141). This evidence shows that Granpa was very sick and Ma had just met the Wilson family but asked to use some of their things to treat him properly. This shows that Ma is standing up for what she believes in because she doesn’t care that she just met some people, but she wants to treat her father in the best way possible before he is buried. In summary, Ma will put all things aside to stand up for what she believes
The Grapes of Wrath explicates on the Dust Bowl era as the reader follows the story of the Joads in the narrative chapters, and the migrants in expository chapters. Steinbeck creates an urgent tone by using repetition many times throughout the book. He also tries to focus readers on how the Dust Bowl threatened migrant dreams using powerful imagery. As well as that, he creates symbols to teach the upper class how the Dust Bowl crushed the people’s goals. In The Grapes of Wrath, John Steinbeck utilizes imagery, symbolism, and repetition to demonstrate how the Dust Bowl threatened the “American Dream.”
Al Joad is a fairly skinny guy of medium built who starts out being a
John Steinbeck once stated: “If he needs a million acres to make him feel rich, seems to me he needs it 'cause he feels awful poor inside hisself, and if he's poor in hisself, there ain't no million acres gonna make him feel rich, an' maybe he's disappointed that nothin' he can do 'll make him feel rich.” The classic text Grapes of Wrath contains several characters with a considerable amount of depth. Characters like Tom and Ma Joad are usually celebrated for their symbolism and dialogue. I feel as though Grandpa Joad is a highly underrated character in Steinbeck’s text Grapes of Wrath.
Along with Jim Casy and Uncle John, Tom Joad secures redemption by leaving to protect his family, promising to continue Casy’s legacy, and developing into a stronger character who aspires to restore justice to the migrants, despite his previous nonchalant attitude toward his crime. Initially, Tom Joad has no inclination for absolution, remarking, “I’d do what I done again...I killed a guy in a fight, knocked his head to plumb to squash” (Steinbeck 35). His words indicate his feelings about his crime, and reveal his apathetic and uncaring persona. However, Tom’s attitude shifts when he kills another man shortly after Casy’s death, and “did not sleep. The nerves of his wounded face came back to life...to shake him” (Steinbeck 528). This foreshadows
Throughout history man has made many journeys, both far and wide. Moses’ great march through the Red Sea and Columbus's traversing the Atlantic are examples of only a couple of men’s great voyages. Even today, great journeys are being made. Terry Fox's run across Canada while fighting cancer is one of these such journeys. In every one of these instances people have had to rise above themselves and overcome immense odds, similar to a salmon swimming upstream to full fill it's life line. Intense drive and extreme fortitude are qualities they needed to posses during their travels.
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.
or fear." Thus, if Ma acts as if everything is all right, then the family
Floyd Knowles was another character associated with Tom. At one point the police were after Floyd and Tom trips the policeman, resulting in him going to hide in the willows so they don’t find him and catch him. The Joads wanted to leave that camp site soon after that happened, after one of the family members went missing, Tom went to find him. The missing member was drunk by the river and Tom was forced to knock him out to get him back to the truck so they could load up and leave. It’s hard for people to change from their old ways, like Tom is doing and Steinbeck is showing us this, and showing that Tom is the protagonist in this novel.
I’ll Have What She’s Having We live in a time where gender equality is almost a reality. Women can do many of the same jobs men can do and in single families or in times of need take a patriarchal role in their family or the workplace.
In the novel The Grapes of Wrath, by John Steinbeck, a fictitious migrant family, the Joads, travel west in search of a new life away from the tragedies of the Dust Bowl in Oklahoma. Along the way, Steinbeck adds a variety of minor characters with whom the Joads interact. Steinbeck created these minor characters to contrast with the Joad’s strong will power and to reflect man’s fear of new challenges, and to identify man’s resistance to change. Three minor characters who fulfill this role are Muley Graves, Connie Rivers, and the tractor driver.
One of America’s most beloved books is John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath. The book portrays a family, the Joads, who leave Oklahoma and move to California in search of a more prosperous life. Steinbeck’s book garnered acclaim both from critics and from the American public. The story struck a chord with the American people because Steinbeck truly captured the angst and heartbreak of those directly impacted by the Dust Bowl disaster. To truly comprehend the havoc the Dust Bowl wreaked, one must first understand how and why the Dust Bowl took place and who it affected the most. The Dust Bowl was the result of a conglomeration of weather, falling crop prices, and government policies.
The Grapes of Wrath is a novel written by John Steinbeck, which focuses on an Oklahoman family that is evicted from their farm during an era of depression caused by the Dust Bowl. The Joad family alongside thousands of other refugees (also affected by the dirty thirties) migrates west towards California seeking employment and a new home. John Steinbeck’s purpose for writing this novel was to inform his audience of how many of their fellow Americans were being mistreated and of the tribulations they faced in order to attain regain what they once had. As a result, The Grapes of Wrath triggered its audience’s sympathy for the plight of the Dust Bowl farmers and their families.
Ma Joad is a woman of strength and hope who is the backbone of the family. She represents the Mother Nature archetype while she posses the physical aspect of guiding the family and staying strong when the family needs her most. Steinbecks shows the importance of ma's character by the syntax usage to describe ma. " Ma was heavy, but not fat; thick with child-bearing and work...her ankles, and her strong, broad, bare feet moved quickly and deftly over the floor", Ma is described with these features to show her strength as a mother who has control and survives through hard situations (95). Her 'bare feet' being close to the earth shows how she takes on a 'Mother Nature' archetype to her character. She is one with the earth just as Mother Nature is. Mother Nature is one that gives birth, produces, sustains life and nurtures her family. All of these archetypes are expressed in ma's character.
The severe dust storms created a sunless atmosphere that made it seem like nighttime, and respiratory problems along with other health issues were caused by the breathing in of the dust. With the dust storms causing damage to the crops and livestock, this led to economic hardship and widespread hunger. Many individuals and families were forced to leave their land and homes that they had known all their life, but the government owned. There was a large migration that was also referred to as the “Okie migration” that led to the displacement of over hundreds of thousands of people because of the Dust Bowl. The author of The Grapes of Wrath wanted to highlight the amount of sheer human strength and resilience seen in real life in the novel and how tragic the real-life event was.
After World War One, in the early 1930’s, tractors became available, and farmers started cultivating the land and eventually the overcultivated land dried out in drought. Dust storms, disease, and drought forced thousands of farmers and their families to escape the destruction and travel to find new opportunities and work. In John Steinbecks, The Grapes of Wrath, the novel, based on Steinbeck’s experiences living with the migrants, follows the Joad family and preacher Jim Casy across the country in a quest for a new life. On the Joad family’s journey to escape the Dust Bowl, Jim Casy, the preacher, shows compassion; Tom Joad, the oldest son, shows determination; and Ma Joad, the pillar of the family, shows generosity. Through the examples of