Gender Roles In John Steinbeck's The Grapes Of Wrath

The Grapes of Wrath is a classic American novel written by John Steinbeck in 1939. It narrates the lives of American families, specifically the Joads, as they migrate from their homes in the Midwestern US to find work in California. Steinbeck discusses many social issues such as poverty, greed, abuse of power, social pressures, and gender roles, in a naturalist style throughout the novel. This paper will briefly and specifically analyze Steinbeck's commentary in the novel on gender roles and social pressure to conform, and how he uses these themes to develop the characters in the novel. In America during the early 20th century, gender roles were still heavily imposed on both men and women. In general, men at the time had the most power and influence, while women were …show more content…
Steinbeck uses the Joad family to show again that his characters are almost locked into these roles, almost as if their lives are predetermined simply based on the gender they are assigned at birth, and that they have no control over this aspect of their lives. Having lived on a farm in rural Oklahoma, the Joads have had even less exposure to modern culture and ideas of breaking away from cultural and societal norms, so their family is naturally inclined to follow tradition without question. For example, the men gather for group discussions to decide what'll be best for the family, and once the Joads make it to California, Pa, Tom, Al, and Uncle John are all expected to find work and provide for the family financially. Ma and Rose of Sharon are shown as homemakers, cooking and cleaning at home and/or camp and making sure to keep up appearances. None of the family members question their roles, again showing the theme of