... of unity and acts accordingly as the primary cohesive force to keep her family together to ensure survival on their strenuous journey to California. From the beginning, Steinbeck immediately establishes Ma Joad as the center building block of family unity. When Tom first sees his mother for the first time since his imprisonment, she is described as "the citadel of the family ... " her. She can get buried in a nice green place. Trees around" an" a nice place. She got to lay her head down in California. (311). After listening to Ma Joad, Casy is filled with admiration for Ma's extraordinar...

• Word Count: 1488
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: High School

... at daybreak, the "emotional", but not physical death of Grampa occurs, as he refuses to leave the day of departure. Ma then slips some sleeping syrup into Granpa's drink, and the Joad family begins their journey to California. The second section of the novel is about their journey to California. Highway 66 is the ... . All of these foreshadow the future. After Ivy decides that the last stretch of the journey will kill Sarah, they separate from the Joad family. Ma soon becomes a symbol of humanism, when she keeps quiet about Granma's death so the family can cross the desert without a huge...

• Word Count: 1730
• Approx Pages: 7
• Grade Level: High School

... women in Of Mice and Men is the exact opposite of how he portrayed Ma. Her outstanding characteristic is the essential need for the family's unity. As the emotional and physical backbone of the Joad family, Ma demonstrates her leadership skills throughout the journey to California. There were many situations in ... the story in which, the family began to drift apart and Ma would shift to a position of active leadership. Ironically, the father ... of the family but usually the father was the central figure. Another issue dealt in both books is the cruelty of the world. The Joad family ha...

• Word Count: 2022
• Approx Pages: 8
• Grade Level: High School

... on social motives, and became an influence on society (Owens 1). In The Grapes of Wrath, Steinbeck's social philosophy is expressed primarily by Jim Casy, acted on by Ma Joad, and eventually realized by Tom Joad (CliffsNotes 10). Although the characters are socialistic figures, they remain distinctly American in their beliefs. Steinbeck's social thought is based upon three strands of 19th century American ... accordance with socialist belief, that all humans are a part of a whole. Steinbeck's strong transcendentalist inclination also stressed rugged individualism and self reliance as ess...

• Word Count: 1670
• Approx Pages: 7
• Grade Level: High School

... to no one in particular, but rather to all people as a general whole. In the next chapter, the book begins a narrative of the Tom Joad, an ex-convict searching for his family after a four-year sentence. This narrative also takes place in Oklahoma. This alternating pattern between passive historical chapters ... is always present in an unexplainable way. The novel consists of an account of the travels conducted by the Joad family, Tom Jr., Tom Senior, Rosasharn, Ruthie, Winfield, Connie, Granma, Granpa, Uncle John, and Ma; as well as their close friend Casy, an ex-reverend. The bank had b...

• Word Count: 1327
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... main theme of the book is the fear of loneliness and the need to dream that all men innately have. It is very similar to the bond which the Joad family has in The Grapes of Wrath. However, the Joads are a family of evicted sharecroppers traveling to California to become migrant workers, and that sets them apart ... but it shows that white and black men have some things in common. The issue of prejudice, especially against women, is dealt with in The Grapes of Wrath. Ma Joad is an exemplary woman of strength, dedication, conviction, and love. Over the course of the book, she actually repl...

• Word Count: 1752
• Approx Pages: 7
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School