Ma Joad Character analysis

"I know" Ma chucked "maybe that makes us tough. Rich fellas come up an' their kids ain't no good, an' they die out. But, Tom, we keep a-commin'. Don' you fret none, Tom.  A different time's commin'." page 280

Note: In this quote we can appreciate the hope Ma still had over time, specially when she started thinking of the good things in her family, like her kids. she has faith that good times will come and all their problems will be solved with time. 

----DA

Character Analysis: From Migrant to Human

When they arrive at Weedpatch (the government camp), Ma becomes sad and Pa notices it. She explains to him how on the road she had no time to think, to analyze. She became one with the movement; but now that she was here and the people had been nice to her and she had been nice to them, she started thinking again. She went over Grandpa and Granma’s death, Noah’s separation, and Connie; she went over all the things she could not explain and brought sorrow in her. She gave herself a space to be human again and let her emotions carry her through tragedy. (Steinbeck, pg. 323)

----Alejandra Lopez

Character Analysis: Generosity

It is clear that Ma Joad’s priorities lay on her family; but the example with the children at Hooverville shows how her love, help and understanding, overcome these limits. As starving children surround her, she feels compassion for them. She dwells with egoism and her family’s basic necessities: as she finally gives in to the children. She leaves the rest of the soup for them. This passage demonstrates Ma’s constant selflessness and generous actions, not only for the well-being of her family, but for the entire people in need. (Steinbeck, pg. 257).

---Alejandra Lopez

Character Analysis: Okies face Rejection

There is one time that Ma find herself alone with Granma and Rose of Sharon, in the tent, waiting for the men to come back, and suddenly a police man arrives. He threatens and insults Ma trying to force her to leave. In her anger, she takes a skillet and warns the man that he must leave ashamed for in her country they were free and no one had the right to speak to them like that. He leaves, with first diminishing Ma by calling her an unwanted Okie in the state of California, not “her country”. (Steinbeck, pgs. 213-214)

---Alejandra Lopez

Character Analysis: Ma’s Position as a Leader and Support

“Pa was the head of the family now. Ma stood behind him.” (Steinbeck, pg. 139).

NOTE: This quote clearly explains the importance of Ma Joad in the family. The sitting positions in the family meetings represented the power and authority of each character. Given the fact that Ma Joad was besides Pa; it meant she was very important and she was his support. Also, the fact that she stands behind him represents her respect for tradition, for she knows she is stronger than Pa, but she also knows that in their society she must help from behind because Pa as a head is a necessary image.

---Alejandra Lopez

Our Grade

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Grapes of Warth: Historical Background

The 1920’s was a decade often referred to ‘the roaring twenties’: a time when successful businessmen were national heroes, when land values were increasing and social traditions were being broken: such as women skirts. Suddenly, the 29 of October of 1929 also referred to as the Black Tuesday: the stock market crashed, triggering the Great Depression, the worst economic collapse in the history of the modern industrial world. It spread from the United States to the rest of the world, lasting from the end of 1929 until the early 1940s. The country fell into a depression (economically and psychologically), peaking in the winter of 1932, with citizens living on the streets in camps and surviving off government rations. Yet the depression was not the only disaster to arise; the Dust Bowl one of the most devastating weather events in American history happened. The drought hit first in the eastern part of the country in 1930, moving toward the west and affected most the farmlands of United States. Banks failed, businesses closed, and more than 15 million Americans (one-quarter of the workforce) became unemployed. In all, one-quarter of the population left, packing everything they owned into their cars, and headed west, which has been the largest migration in American history. By 1940, 2.5 million people had moved out of the plains states; and of those, 200 000 moved to California. (http://www.usq.edu.au/performancecentre/education/thegrapesofwrath/historical.htm)

Monologue: "Y'all's Situation"

"'ello again folks. I wanna talk to ya to try ta hel' ya, 'cause you listenin' to me an' we all deserve a shoulder and a reassuring voice. They a-say that you a-goin' through a diffucul' situation now. That my country is a again with many people with no work. They say it ain't that bad yet, but it is sompin to get worried 'bout. Well, let me tell you that I was in the worst situation of the country, or that's what I think. 'Cause I don't know much, but I know what I seen: an' I seen losts of homeless folks righ' along side with me, that had no house an' no job. I am a voice of experience an' let me tell ya it is possible. If ya have been affected by the situation currently, do not panic. Git ahol' of you an' ya famblies 'cause they what give ya strength. One person can survive, but a fambly can live. Also I'd like to tell ya what my dad onece tol' me: " Any man can fall, it takes a real man not to give in". You just hang in there. It ain't impossible to git back on track, just don;t give in to the desesperation, hold in there. Best of wishes"
----Ma Joad

Monologue: My self

"Well, 'ello folks. My name is Ma Joad an' I'm purty excited 'bout bein' able to share some time with ya. Well, the've asked me to tell ya who I am 'fore I start tellin' ya my story so... I'll do just that. I'm a simple mother. That should explain it all. I'm an aged woman already... no need to tell my age just yet,... but I tell ya this for ya to git the idea of my experience. I have always lived my life in the country side, and the sudden change has shocked me, but nothin' will devastate me. Why? I'll go back again to the fact that I'm a mother. There, there is my reason: I live to sustain my fambly. I know I ain't no woman of educaiton but I do want a bette' future for my kids, an' I know that comes from education. I know I need to feed my fambly, and I know the depen' on me to do so. I know the depen' on me to be strong an' I am strong for 'em, I will never let anything happen to 'em; I'll never stop working for them. They is my life an' we must always stay together. That is me... that's what I can say, at least."
--Ma Joad