In my last blog, I talked about why I thought the novel was just okay. One of the reasons I actually enjoyed The Grapes of Wrath is because of the fascinating ending. Like I said before, it was an extremely weird ending, but I think it left readers with an image they will never forget. Just to clear up with happened in the end, Rose of Sharon and her family head to a barn on top of a hill to avoid being drowned by the heavy rain water. In the barn, they find a weak father and his son. The son tells Ma Joad that his father is dying and needs help. Rose of Sharon asks everyone to leave the barn as she does the unthinkable. Because she had just lost her baby, Rose of Sharon was able to breastfeed the man hopefully back to good health, although we will never know if her grave efforts were in vain. And then, the novel ends. Just like that. Steinbeck ends the novel in this manner so that readers can finish in their own minds what happens to the old man, Rose of Sharon, and the other Joads.
The act of human compassion that Rose of Sharon exemplifies is beyond any other I have read about in a classic novel. Most books have their own big endings where the hero of the novel does something important and leaves readers content. It is your typical happy ending. But with Steinbeck’s The Grape of Wrath, he does not follow the typical ending like in typical novels. He is far from typical. Rose of Sharon was never the “hero” in my eyes, until she acted upon such a brave and noble cause. In a way, Steinbeck shows readers that it does not matter who you are, everyone is capable of being their own story’s hero.
Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed the ending of The Grapes of Wrath. It was supposed to be weird for a reason, and I hope other audiences do not take the ending the wrong way. I was very satisfied with the way Steinbeck wrote chapter thirty.
Steinbeck, John. The Grapes of Wrath. New York: Penguin, 2006. Print.
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