Ma Joad as Leader in The Grapes of Wrath

In a crisis, a person's true colors emerge. The weak are separated

from the strong and the leaders are separated from the followers. In John

Steinbeck's novel The Grapes of Wrath, the Joad family, forced from their

home in Oklahoma, head to California in search of work and prosperity only

to find poverty and despair. As a result of a crisis, Ma Joad emerges as a

controlled, forceful, and selfless authority figure for the family.

Ma Joad exhibits exelent self-control during the sufferings and

frustrations of the Joad's journey. Ma knows that she is the backbone of

the family, and that they will survive only if she remains calm. Ma keeps

her self-control when Ruthie tells some children about Tom's secret. The

family becomes nervous and enraged over the situation, but Ma restores

order by handling the situation in a calm and collected manner. If Ma were

to ever show fear, the family would most likely collapse. For, "Old Tom

and the children could not know hurt or fear unless she acknowledged hurt

or fear." Thus, if Ma acts as if everything is all right, then the family

will assume everything is all right. Most members of the family openly

express their doubts or fears. Ma may be just as frightened as the rest of

the family, but she always maintains a front for the rest of the family.

When Ma had fears, "She had practiced denying them in herself." This

extraordinary self-control helps to keep the Joad unit together and alive.

Ma, like all leaders, must be forceful for things to work in her

favor. Numerous situations occur in which Ma must be forceful or

relinquish her role as the head of the family. Her forceful leadership

occurs once when the family, without Ma's consent, agrees to leave Tom and

Casey behind to fix the Wilson's car. Ma feels this will break up the

family and uses a jack handle to prove her point. It is at this point Ma

replaces Pa as the official head of the family. Ma's forceful leadership

also surfaces when she threatens a police officer with a frying pan and

when she decides for the family to leave the government camp. In both

situations Ma must use force to achieve her objectives; in both situations,

she emerges victorious. Eventually, Pa becomes angered because of his loss

of power to a woman and says in frustration, "Seems like times is changed.