What Happened to People During Hardship in The Grapes of Wrath Essay Example

The Great Depression was an extremely bleak time in american history, millions of people lost their jobs and the majority of the population could barely make enough money to feed their families. This was made even worse by the Dust Bowl in the Great Plains, which caused the crops to not grow, leading to the farmers not being able to pay off their debts. This helped to cause a massive migration to California which was seen as a sort of promised land. The Grapes of Wrath is a book written by John Steinbeck about the Joads, a family who is forced to leave their home in Oklahoma because the bank repossessed their farm. So after being forced to leave they decide to make the long journey to California, where they encounter both hardship and hostility.  In The Grapes of Wrath John Steinbeck chooses to focus very heavily on what causes people to break down and what happens after they finally snap. This can be seen prevalent in people like Tom Rose of Sharon and Ma. Everyone handles  stress very differently, some people are very resilient to the stress and only specific things cause them to snap and then some people are just not up to the task and break down easily.

In The Grapes of Wrath,  Tom Joad is a young man who has just been released from Jail after killing a man in self defence. When he returns home to find his family leaving he decides to join them on their journey to california. Tom's role in the family because he is the only person besides Al who knows how to drive a car. Tom is extremely hardened by his life experiences and very rarely does he break down. The only thing that seems to get Tom angry is when he sees people who are being mistreated by people who have power or money. This can be seen in the first camp that they enter, when the cops come to break the camp up.  “ Tom picked up his automatic, pulled out the magazine and threw it into the bush, and he ejected the live shell from the chamber. Fella like that ain’t got no right to a gun” (Steinbeck 265). This section helps to reinforce the fact that Tom has no respect for people who use their power for personal gain at the expense of others. After they are forced to leave the camp, when asked where they are going, Tom responds saying “‘ Goin south, ‘ he said. `We can’t let them bastards push us around.’” ( Steinbeck 280). This quote further helps to reinforce how Tom hates to be pushed around and how he dislikes the government and people who are in authority.  The next instance where Tom displays this dislike and distrust for people who abuse power is in chapter 26 when he kills the man who was sent to break up the strike organized by Jim Casey. This quote is from when Tom tells his family what happened and I think that it demonstrates how he responds to this kind of pressure pretty well:

“Same kinda guys that turned us back on the road that night. Had pick handles.” He Paused. “They killed ‘im. Busted his head. I was standin’ there. I went nuts. Grabbed the pick handle.” He looked bleakly back at the night, the darkness, the flashlights, as he spoke. “ I-I clubbed a guy.” (Steinbeck 390)

This quote demonstrates how Tom responded with violence when a person that he cared for was harmed. We can assume that this kind of pressure was what caused Tom to kill the man that attacked him in the bar. It is pretty understandable how a person could get caught up in the moment and kill somebody, especially when then they are threatening you or somebody else. This biggest thing that you need to understand about Tom is that he has an extreme dedication to doing what he believes is right.

In The Grapes of Wrath Rose of Sharon is the oldest of the Joads daughters, when the story begins she and her husband Connie are traveling with the Joads to California. Midway through their journey Connie decides to abandon the family, after this Rose enters a downward spiral of depression. This is where we see one of the biggest comparisons in the book, this is the comparison between the adult children of the Joad household. Both Tom and Al are portrayed as strong confident young men while Rose is portrayed as this weak young woman who falls apart at the slightest challenge. This difference is further compounded by Rose’s extreme concern for her baby and in how she is extremely gullible and will believe anything that is said about her or the child that she is about to have.  This can be seen in chapter 27 after Tom kills the man that attacked him, 

“That lady tol’ me, She says whats sin’s gonna do. She tol’ me. What chance I got to have a nice baby? Connie’s gone, ‘An I ain’t gettin good food. I ain’t gettin Milk.’ Her voice rose hysterically.’ An’ now you kill a fella. What chance that baby got to get bore right? I know-gonna be a freak- a freak! I never done no dancin.’ (Steinbeck 393)

During these panic attacks Rose becomes hysterical and loses all rationality, and it seems that the only person that has any control over her is Ma. During these rants she brings up several good points about how she does not have good food, but then she goes and tries to blame the fact that Tom killed a man as the reason why her baby is not going to turn out right. Rose is also very sensitive towards what other people say about her, like when the religious woman comes to their tent and goes on a rant about how Rose was a sinner and that her baby was going to be a devil. This time Ma was able to get involved and stand up for Rose, this just shows how Rose is portrayed as being weak because John Steinbeck makes it seem like she is not even able to stand up for herself.  It is only towards the end of the book that we see Rose starting to get a better control over herself. 

Finally we come to the Character of Ma, she is probably the character that undergoes the most change throughout the book in the beginning of the book she seems to be content with letting the men make all of the decisions for the family. As shown in the book women were seen as inferior in farm society  “ They took their places behind the squatting men” (Steinbeck 100). Even young Al who is barely more than a boy, has a more important role in making decisions than Ma. This perception slowly starts to change as the book progresses with Ma taking more and more control over the family. This can first be seen when Tom decides that it would be best if he stayed behind to fix the car with the  rest of the group moved on. Then Ma snapped in response to this 

 I tell you, you got to go. We made up our mind.’ And now Ma’s mouth set hard. She said softly, “on’y way you gonna get me to go is whup me.’ She moved the jack handle gently again. ‘An’ I’ll shame you, Pa. I won’t take no whupin’, cryin an a-beggin’. I light into you. An’ you ain’t so sure you can whup me anyways. An’ if you do get me, I swear to god I’ll wait till you got your back turned, or you’re settin down, an I’ll knock you belly-up with a bucket.

As we can see, Ma has finally had enough of going along with the mens decisions that she thinks are not right.  This starts a trend where we see her taking more and more responsibility and towards the end of the book she is starting to lead the family. This quote shows how Ma is starting to lead the family better 

She got to her feet. “You ain’t goin’. We’re a-takin’ you. Al, you back the truck against the door. Now, I got it figgerd out. We’ll put one mattress on the bottom, an’ then Tom gets quick there, an’ we take another mattress an’ sort of fold it so it makes a cave, an’ he’s in the cave; and the we sort of wall it in. He can breathe out the end, ya see. Don’t argue. That's what we’ll do.” (Steinbeck 400)

This quote tells us that Ma is feeling more confident in herself and in her decision making abilities. This leads to her taking more of a leading role in the family and from what is said in the following pages we can tell that the family ultimately respects her decisions. When the book ends she had become the leader that their family needed especially after Tom was forced to leave, because he would be instantly arrested if he was ever found.

In The Grapes of Wrath John Steinbeck shows us that everyone reacts to hardship differently, this is done by showing what it takes to break individuals down and in showing what happens when they finally do snap. Some people like Tom and Ma adapt and change to the benefit of everyone around them and other people like Rose of Sharon break down very easily and are not very resilient to hardship. The biggest thing to take away from The Grapes of Wrath is that everyone handles stress differently and that can often influence how well they do in life. Take people like the Joads who were able to push through the barriers and had at least some success in California and then compare them to the millions of people who ended up in hoovervilles slowly dying of hunger. What the reader can best take away from this text and what it tells us about people is that it is important to keep moving forward no matter what happens and that it is important to look out for yourself and your family. This is ultimately why the joads were more successful than other families, this is because they stuck together and did what they thought was right.

Works cited

Steinbeck, John. The Grapes of Wrath. Penguin Classics: Reissue Edition, 2006.