Blog #13-Theme:Power of Family (The Grapes of Wrath)

I think one of the main themes in the story is the power of family. Towards the beginning of the story, the family is not very close. The women are very conservative. They do not like to speak unless they are spoken to or asked to speak. They are very quiet, like they know their place in the family. The men all like power. They are constantly trying to prove themselves to each other just to gain some recognition in the family, even though they know that Pa Joad is the head of the family and will make all the decisions. The grandparents are their own couple. They are not afraid to speak what is on their mind and do what they please. Tom is sort of an outcast in the beginning. The family had that awkward moment of not seeing their son in four years and suddenly he showed up at their doorstep just days before they are about to make a long journey. At first all conversation is just small talk, trying to recollect some of the memories from the past four years. As the story progresses, and the journey because harder and longer that point is really when the family starts to become one. The children become more independent and explore more. The women start to have a voice and realize they are part of the family and can also help in the decision making process. The boys back off a little bit in a sense. They realize the girls, especially Ma Joad is serious about helping out and they start to have more respect for her opinions. The boys stick to the mechanical aspect of the trip, making sure the car is running and they have enough money to make it to California. Each struggle along the way makes the family so much closer together simply because in each situation they all had to work together to overcome it. Their unity as a family was portrayed in the book. When the Joad family met the Wilson family, they welcomed them easily. The families blended together instantly and the children became the children of the other family, in a sense that their unity as a family helped them to reunite with other families along the journey. I think Ma was the center of the family in the story. She really brought the family closer together and made them realize the bigger picture when things became difficult. It was easily show that as the story progresses, the family progressed also, showing how their unity could help them accomplish anything.

Steinbeck, John. The Grapes of Wrath. New York. Viking Penguin Inc. 1939