In the final chapter of the book, the men work tirelessly for hours to try to build a dam against the water rising towards the boxcars as it pours rain. Rosasharn is having her baby, so Pa is motivated to work even harder to protect her, and he gets the other men to stay and help him.
Unfortunately, it doesn't work, and a tree falls, knocking down the wall they have built and flooding the camp site. "The weary men watched, their mouths hanging open... The tree moved and tore the bank... And then the bank washed quickly down" (601-602). Despite all of the hard work the men put in to build the bank, all it took was a tree falling down to ruin it, and all of their cars became flooded with water so they could not drive them. This is like an overarching metaphor for the Depression as a whole. Men worked as hard as they could for their families, but it was still never enough. An outside force that they had no control over was controlling them, ruining the economy and making it nearly impossible for them to find jobs. This outside force took over and took everything from them, ruining their lives and their futures, just as the tree and water took away the few things they had left. Many small instances throughout the book are similar to the Depression as a whole, and this example of people working and still getting nowhere is one of them.
In 'The Cruelest Year' they talked about many suicides because men felt out of control and like they could no longer do anything for their families. This utter hopelessness seems to be a theme of the Depression that comes from hard work with only negative results. I wonder if we had seen more of the Joads story if Pa would have fallen deeper into this hopelessness or if he would have been able to remain strong with the help of Ma.
Very interesting connection. We can also think back to how hopeless Uncle John was when he went out to get drunk at the end of one of the 'Hoovervilles.' No one knew what to do as they kept knocked harder and deeper into the ground, having to get back up knowing that the pain and suffering will continue. Ma definitely gave the family a spark of hope as she never gave up and continued to push her people along. Without Ma or Tom the family surely would have broken apart much more quickly than it did. Hopelessness is an aspect, but I think optimism and persistence also hold key instances of the depression.
ReplyDeleteEliza, I really love this connection you made. I also like Adrian's ideas that the themes of optimism and persistence are also present in the book, and I agree with his and your ideas of the themes present. Ma and Tom seem to drive the family through this rough time, and the rest of the Joad family all seem to have more hopelessness than them. While Ma was very strong throughout the whole book, I'm not sure her strength would endure enough to keep Pa out of a hopeless downward spiral. Tom and Ma seemed to have this unwritten connection between them, and almost seemed to help each other with their strength. Tom was always trying to find ways to make money for the family, and had hope in that, while Ma ran the family with the money they had, and tried to keep everyone optimistic. Without Tom's hope, Ma's strength will decrease, as she worries more and more about Tom when she doesn't see him over time. Pa would be put into needing to have the hope and faith that they will make money just as Tom did to help keep up Ma's strength so she can carry the weight of the family. I'm not sure Pa would be able to put his hopes up because he seems so tired at the end of the book, and they have no food or way to acquire it to refuel their energy.
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