Grapes of Wrath- Ma Joad

In the book Grapes of Wrath, Ma Joad is the mother of the Joad clan. I would describe Ma Joad as very determined, but she is also very loving toward her family. As the health of Pa Joad deteriorates we see Ma Joad transform to the center of strength for the entire Joad family. No matter what is thrown her way, Ma Joad's main goal is to keep the family together. As the family travels to California, she shows us her at her best by keeping the family together and keeping the family from going insane. On the long journey, the size of the Joad family becomes smaller, because of both death and people just leaving. Through it all Ma Joad keeps it cool and tries to keep the rest of the family together. I think that we see the best of Ma Joad while they are traveling to California and Ma Joad sits in the back, privately suffering because she knows that Granma is dead. Even though she is going through a really hard time, Ma Joad keeps her head up and stays strong for her family. I think that Ma Joad is a very strong person, because I think if I were to be in the same situation as her I would not be as strong as she was and I would want to give up. That is why the Joad family is still together, because Ma Joad did not give up on them and did not let them give up on each other. I think that without Ma Joad, the family would not have done what they did and gotten through everything they got through. I really liked the way the author portrayed Ma Joad, and I liked how she would stop at nothing to keep her family together. I think that Ma Joad is a very important character in this book because without her the book would not have been as good.

Bibliography

Steinbeck, John. The Grapes of Wrath. New York: Penguin, 2002. Print