Grapes of Wrath 2

The book Grapes of Wrath tells about the dust Bowl people's troubles they had coming to California.  It tell about the Joad's trip from Oklahoma to California.  There are twelve people in the Joad family.  The one person that stood out the most between thee family was Ma.  Ma's great strength, and smart thinking is what keeps the Joad family together and going.  Ma's strong suites are shown through out the book.  Nancy Reagan once said, "A women is like a tea bag-only in hot water do you realize how strong she is."  I don't know how Nancy Reagan did this but she described Ma Joad to you exactly.

The first time that Ma's strength was showed was when grandma died.  She lied to an inspector telling him, "We got a sick ol' lady.  We got to get her to a doctor.  We can't wait."  The inspector bought the story and let them pass on their way to California.  Even then Ma didn't tell the family that grandma was dead, instead she laid there next grandma's dead carpus until they got to California.  "She looked over the valley and said , Grandma's dead." 

She keeps the family together when they want to split up.  The first time that this was showed in the book when they pulled over to help the Wilsons with the car.  Tom suggested that him and Casey stay and fix the car while the rest of the family go's on to Bakersfield and that they would meet them there.  Ma then let out her fury, she held up a tire iron and demanded that they all stick together and that they will go to Bakersfield together.

Ma is also very smart.  Her common sense is a higher then the rest of the family's.  When Tom gets hit under the eye by a officer Ma devises a plan to get Tom out of that government camp.  She says, "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 make a cave."  She really puts her foot down with what she wants to do and it works to perfection.

In this story there was one person who had a job the whole time.  That person was Ma.  She had to keep the family together and going.  She did get paid for this, not with money but with the love that she receives from her family.  W. Somerset Maugham once wrote, "A women will always sacrifice herself if you give her the opportunity.  It is her favorite form of self-indulgence."  This was from The Circle.  This quote describes Ma to the fullest.