Ma Joad In The Grapes Of Wrath

The Grapes of Wrath is a novel about the Joad family living in the Oklahoma Dust Bowl during the era of the Great Depression. They were driven off their land and decided to travel to California in search of jobs, land, and a better future. However, California was not what they expected it to be. Throughout the novel, there were many struggles for the Joads but Ma Joad was the most resilient and strongest character in the story. In the novel, the narrator describes Ma as the backbone of the family and a strong person. Ma was described as “the citadel of the family, the strong place that could not be taken,” and has also “practiced denying [hurt or fear] in herself.” What this means is that she has to remove all distractions so that she can take care of the family, thus being the backbone of the family. The narrator says, “she seems to know that if she swayed the …show more content…
Towards the middle of the novel, Ma had started to lead the family. She encouraged the family to move out of the Weedpatch camp, a government-sponsored facility where migrants govern themselves, because they were not getting much money by telling them things like “[they] got to do somepin,” “[they] ain't got the right to get discouraged. This here fambly's goin; under. [They] jus' ain't got the right,” “[She is] not watchin' this here fambly strave no more,” “[they] got to git goin', an' goin' quick.” Pa even says that “the man ain't got no say no more.” He is starting to know that he is not the head of the family anymore but Ma is. Another time when Ma showed leadership was when they needed to move to higher grounds when it was raining hard near the end of the novel. Ma told the family,“[They're] a-gettin' outa here, getting' to higher groun'.” But, Pa responded that they cannot. Ma said, “It ain't rainin' now, an' [they're] a'goin'.” The leadership of Ma kept the family strong during their