An Odd Ending

After I finished reading the book, I was surprised at how Steinbeck ended the novel. Really, there is no resolution for the Joads. You don't know where Tom is or if he's alive, and you don't know if the other Joads will survive. The book ends with Rose of Sharon feeding the starving stranger her milk so he can survive. The last sentence of the book is, "She looked up and across the barn, and her lips came together and smiled mysteriously" (619).

I wonder why Steinbeck ended the book like this. It kind of reminded me of the circle of life, and, as I mentioned in a comment to one of Holly's posts about Rose of Sharon, why Steinbeck named her character Rose of Sharon, and how maybe it's a symbolism of new life. Grandpa and Grandma Joad died towards the beginning of the book, and maybe Steinbeck wanted to end the book in this small hope that Rose of Sharon would save the man's life by giving him something to live on, which would also explain the biblical metaphor of Rose of Sharon's name. But, why would Steinbeck choose this moment to be the last we see of the Joads? Why is it important? Why wouldn't Steinbeck resolve the family issues? Is it because he didn't know how the Joads should come out of the Depression, or if they should come out?

Hard work leads to nothing

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.

Ma's kids

I thought it was interesting on page 538 when it says, "Tom lay down again and covered himself, covered his bruised cheek with the blanket and made a little tunnel to breathe through," because I used to do that all the time when I was little (minus the bruised cheek), and it seems like a pretty childlike action. But Tom doesn't seem very childlike most of the time. He kills two men in the book.

I wonder if one of the reasons Ma is so intent on keeping her family intact is that she still sees all of these little things that her kids do that make them look like children again, and that's how she still views them. When we read, we see three adults, a teen, and two kids, but I imagine that she still thinks of them all as kids.

Rose of Sharon's baby

Okay, so I haven't started the last section of the book. Shh. Don't tell. But at the end of the last section, Rose of Sharon was really close to having her baby. It seems like with so little left to the book, even if she has her baby, it won't be a really big part of the plot. I don't see how it can be significant in the last 30 pages to come. But it's not going to end without her having it, so it still needs to mean something....

I was thinking about how the book might end, and I can't imagine it would be a typical 'and they lived happily ever after,' where the farm owners give them good wages, they get a house for Ma, and the family is reunited. But a baby being born at the end could be part of what Ma says about the circle of life. "'They's a time of change, an' when that comes, dyin' is a piece of all dyin', and bearin' is a piece of all bearin', and bearin' an' dyin' is two pieces of the same thing. An' then things ain't lonely any more. An' then a hurt don't hurt so bad, 'cause it ain't a lonely hurt no more, Rosasharn. I wisht I could tell you so you'd know, but I can't,'" (286). Maybe in the beginning, the deaths of Grandma and Grandpa signified the start of the hardships for the family, and now at the end, the birth of Rose of Sharon's baby will signify the start of easier times.



By the way, this is a Rose of Sharon:

Pa vs. Ma- Gender Roles in the Thirties

After a little bit of analyzing of Ma's character in class, I looked back into my post-it noted pages in my book. I came across a quote in which Pa talks directly about the role of women in the thirties and how it's changing.

At this point in the book, the Joads are debating on whether to move on north to Tulare, where there's word of cotton-picking work. Ma has just decided for the family that they'll be leaving in the morning in search of work at a cotton farm. Pa's response was, "Pa sniffled. 'Seems like times is changed,' he said sarcastically. 'Time was when a man said what we'd do. Seems like a women is tellin' now. Seems like it's purty near time to get out a stick'" (481).

Pa was raised in a way that told him that the men were always in charge. As we see in the book, while on the road, Ma becomes the glue of the family through her strength and determination to find a way to survive. Although Pa is technically the head of the family still, Ma seems to be the one who is really in charge once they go West. Also, even though Pa makes the comment about her role as a woman, he seems to always look to Ma for advice, making their decisions more made by Ma and him, or just Ma. Is Steinbeck inferring that times are changing in society, and that women are being empowered through the Depression because the men aren't able to support their families like they used to? Is he trying to say that men in the thirties were also recognizing this change, and didn't want it to happen? Does Steinbeck support women having a powerful role in their families, or does he support Pa's point of view?

The Preacher

Jim Casy throughout The Grapes of Wraith has been an influential character in the Joad's life. He has helped them through situations, calmed them down with 'scriptures,' and ultimately sacrificed his own life in an act to defend the people. Casy only wanted for his fellow migrants to be happy and work for decent pay, actually living a life. Reckless as he was rebelling against the hand of the government, Casy was indeed a true hero.

As Tom witnessed the guard killing his beloved friend Tom went into a bloody rage. Tom seized a weapon and, as we can infer, killed the man that felled Casy. Tom acted very quickly and seemingly in an act of blind rage. But did Tom know what he was doing? Did he let his rage control him, or was it an act of justice? Many foreshadowing leading up to the book's climax (as it seems) were blatantly obvious, time and time again Tom had to stop and control himself so that he did not lose it. There is honor in what Tom did, however, even if it may have been an uncontrollable loss of temper. Thoughts?

Helping each other out

In Chapter 26 the Joads find jobs picking peaches for credit at the local store. When Ma goes in to use the money they have made, she finds that prices in the store are too high for her to buy sugar. Eventually the man working pays for the sugar with his own money and Ma says "I'm learnin' one thing good... Learnin' it all a time, ever' day. If you're in trouble or hurt or need--go to poor people. They're the only ones that'll help--the only ones" (513-14)

Throughout the Joads time in California, they have been helped out many times by other poor people and migrants like them. Casy takes the blame for something Tom did in Hooversville and goes to jail for it. The Wallaces alert Tom about a job while they are staying in the government camp. The Joads even help the Wainwrights by telling them about a job, and they in turn help the Joads when Rosasharn feels ill. These poor, desperate families have nothing and yet they are still willing to help each other. The more well off people scorn the migrants because they are afraid of them, and they refuse to help, instead making their lives harder. During the Depression there were many rich people who barely knew that there were so many poor people in their country, and in their home towns, and they did nothing to help the less fortunate. Despite the fact that they have no money, the other suffering people understand what the Joads are going through and they want to help each other in any way they can, even if it would be better for them not to.

We had wondered earlier on whether or not the bond between families would last when they got to California and realized how hard it would be. Throughout their time in California we have seen that this connection and helping of other families has not decreased much. The struggling migrants continue to help each other and be kind to each other despite the fact that other families could be seen as their enemies. I wonder if this bond and desire to join together and help each other out will lead to more. Will there be more strikes or uprisings as the families realize that joining together makes them stronger?