Reading Grapes of Wrath made me feel as if I probably should respect my mom more… Ma Joad is basically everything and then some in the Joad family. They say that during a crisis, people’s courage and valor begin to show. Ma is faced with a very substantial crisis in which her whole family is forced to move to California to find work and a place to live. She is a very determined and loving motherly figure, but at the same time, takes fatherly the place of Pa Joad because their journey is too much for him to handle. No matter what situation arises, Ma Joad is always there to stand as the backbone for the family, even when times of sorrow and anguish arise. “For a moment Ma looked down at the dead old man. And then in pity she tore a strip from her own apron and tied up his jaw. She straightened his limbs, folded his hands over his chest. She held his eyelids down and laid a silver piece on each one. She buttoned his shirt and washed his face,” (Steinbeck 192). I honestly think this is one of those most brave and noble acts in the entire book (besides Rose of Sharon breastfeeding some complete stranger, that one may take the gold). Grampa’s death greatly affects all of the Joad family, but Ma is able to regain her composure and tend to the dead man. Even in times of suffering Ma keeps the family unit together.
I kind of see Ma Joad as being the typical motherly figure of the 1930’s. She is hard working and her whole life revolves around her family. Despite society’s typical mindset of males being the head of the family, I believe (not that I am bias or anything) that women, like Ma Joad, were one of the reasons more families stayed together back then. In my opinion, I believe Steinbeck portrays Ma Joad as the leader of the Joad clan to demonstrate the importance women had in society too.
Steinbeck, John. The Grapes of Wrath. New York: Penguin, 2006. Print.
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