Critical Analytical Response #1

Critical Response to Text

By: Laramie Sissons

Throughout the novel The Grapes of Wrath, Ma is the glue that holds the family together. She is the emotional and physical backbone of the Joad family, she knows that her family will only know the feeling of fear and pain through her, so she herself works hard to deny these emotions when she experiences them.

When we are first introduced to Ma it becomes very clear that she is not a typical woman of her time, this is proved when Tom tells John Casey and Murley Graves “I seen her beat the hell out of a tin peddler with a live chicken one time 'cause he give her an argument. She had the chicken in one han', an' the ax in the other, about to cut its head off. She aimed to go for that peddler with the ax, but she forgot which hand was which, an' she takes after him with the chicken."

When the family initially begins their journey to California Ma’s main priority is to ensure that the family arrives in one piece. This almost immediately changes as the family begins encountering unexpected experiences. Ma must take actions that benefit the family in order to ensure that they made it through to see tomorrow.

When the others members of the group begin to loose hope Ma takes the reigns and essentially becomes the sole decision maker in the family. This is incredibly futuristic thinking for a family during the period that this novel is set, but when Pa begins to falter and fails to make decisions in order to give the family a chance to succeed. With each struggle that the Joads encounter, Ma gradually begins to take over Pa’s role as the head of the family. When Tom proposes splitting up the family, Ma threatens him with the jack. While camped at the Colorado River, she takes advantage of a nearby skillet when confronting an officer who orders the family to leave.

Although throughout the novel Ma does maintain her traditional feminine roles such as nurturing and protecting, Ma is forced to take a strong leadership role, as her main goal is to “keep the fambly whole.” However towards the end of the novel around the time that Ma makes the decision to leave the boxcars for higher ground, when Tom wants to leave the family in order to carry on Jim Casey’s legacy through preaching, Ma realizes that by letting Tom going he will be part of bigger family and this brings her comfort.

It is in the latter chapters of the novel when Ma realizes that she has succeeded in raising her children right and they will be able to survive in the world alone. Tom is going to help others, Rose of Sharron has helped a dying man, and the fact that the younger children have made it thus far in the journey is a victory in itself. Ma knows that the expedition is far from over and it will take a great amount of hard work to reach the families goals but with the strength she has shown throughout the novel as an indication, the family should be able to push through the depression and into improved times ahead.