Ma Joad Character Analysis

Rachel Aouli Kalama Utagawa was six when the book Moloka’i by Alan Brennert began. She wanted to travel the world like her father did. Every time he went to a new place he brought Rachel a cultural doll. The most recent addition to her collection was a Russian nesting doll. Like her newest doll, Rachel was still showing her outermost shell. She was an innocent girl who saw the good in the entire world around her. As she explored and discovered the layers of herself, the world around her unfolded. This sweet doll had layers of innocence, sorrow, hate, joy, and fulfillment.

Through the roughest times in life, we come across crises that reveal the true character in those around us. Those who are strong are divided from the weak and the followers divide from the leaders. In the novel, The Grapes of Wrath, author John Steinbeck presents the character Ma Joad who serves an important role as the rock that keeps the family together. The Joad family, apart from many families in Oklahoma, is forced to leave their homes in search of work and better opportunities; California not only leaves them in poverty but despair. But through it all Ma Joad is the leader of the family that exhibits selflessness in order to protect and secure her family.

    Throughout the book, the Joads must rely on people to help them, and in return help others on the journey to California. The first major example of this is when the Joads encounter

Jimmy knows too well the agonies of abandonment. First, when his mother, Cecilia, ran away with Richard to pursue a better lifestyle. Then, due to his father’s, Damacio Baca, alcoholisms and violent behavior; he also had to leave Jimmy behind. In spite of the drawbacks from abandonment to being a maximum security prisoner in Arizona State Prison, Jimmy preserver’s the darkness of prison by overcoming his illiteracy. However Cecilia and Damacio is not as fortunate as their child; Cecilia is shot by Richard after confronting him for a divorce and Damacio chokes to death after he is released from the detox center(Baca 263). Therefore the most significant event in this section of the memoir, A Place to Stand by Jimmy Santiago Baca is the death of Jimmy’s parents.

In the novel, The Grapes of Wrath, John Steinbeck depicts the stories of migrant families during the Dust Bowl, where dust covered plantations, resulting in barren fields with incapabilities to grow crops. Due to barren lands, landowners forced the farmers off the fields, which causes the farmers to lose all of the reasons to stay. Therefore, the farmers set out onto a new journey that will hopefully lead them to a place where life can restart. However, this journey is not a perfectly smooth path; on the journey, the farmers face various adversities. Out of the countless families, John Steinbeck highlights the Joad family, who suffers through numerous misfortunes on the way West, toward California. Through the Joad family, Steinbeck portrays the novel as a form of social protest by emphasizing the unjust treatments the families receive , the deterioration of the false allusions the families hold of the American Dream, and by suggesting a future revolt of the working class.

However, as time develops and the migration continues her exterior begins to slightly crack as she realizes she cannot fully keep her sorrows to herself. As she is not a full advocate of solitude, the unity of her family is important and keeps her moving forward. The father of the family, Pa Joad, is a character that is naturally god and thoughtful. The hardship of the trip as a whole and attempting to remain the head of the family affects him, and causes him to become emotionally drained. However, he began as the strong leader collaborating the big move for the entire family, upon leaving several shelters Mama Joad informed him that he is beginning to loose his responsibility to support the family. For the reason that Pa Joad gradually breaksdown continues to remind the family that hardships are not the only way to build character. Tom Joad, becomes friends with a very important person throughout the uprooting process and learns that a human being can have a little effect on the world if they do not bond together as a whole. The hardships faced with, cause Tom to follow this teaching and come to the realization that he cannot continue to be a silent witness to the injustices in the world. This experience, and from meeting friends who share the same beliefs ultimately caused him to become an advocate and join union organizers. The strength that is portrayed from the individuals who choose to remain together showed Tom another side of life, and that he will

The Joads were going down "something of a tricky intense street a way of escape from misery to an uncertain Californian deliverance" (Spangler). It can be reasoned that "when the one and only option is putting the family on the road to a foreign place, problems arise" (Spangler) and the Joads faced many problems. Connie, among his relatives, chose to accept reality rather than to live in a fantasy – pursuing the American Dream. For instance, “Connie strikes out all alone… he then forsakes the Joads' adamant quest for ranch work for the open doors in the city" (Bloom, p. 18). Connie understood that pursuing the American Dream was an exercise in vainness and although he ran far from the matters of money related uncertainty by leaving his significant other and child, he was essentially doing what was reasonable and rather taken after a future that would best suit him. While the Joads were on an endless excursion in search of the American Dream, they didn't discover any jobs that suited their trust of a money related way of

The journey of the Joad family takes course during the period of the Great Depression in United States. This century brings extreme hardship upon families across America. Especially for the Joad family as they are also affected by the Dust Bowl in Oklahoma. The economic decline and natural disaster cause the family to relocate and abandon their home, and their past. In times of crisis, the Joads must endure the loss of family, property, and a home. The Joads travel west to California in hopes of finding new jobs and a new home. On their 2,000 mile journey a leader arises among the family. Ma Joad becomes the leader of the family, she learns to control her emotions and act for the greater cause of her family’s survival. Ma Joad possesses the

At this point, we begin to see Ma Joad shift from being a common housewife, to being a strong mother and leader. We start seeing her take charge occasionally - for instance when she told Jim Casy he could join them despite It not being her place to decide. “Ma looked to Tom to speak,

Steinbeck portrays that women get stronger while moving, but men start a process of weakness. This is because the land is where the men get their strength, Ma Joad gets this from the union of the family. Ma has the skills that Pa, Uncle John, and Grampa does not, she is able to adapt to the new alien environment and persist. Steinbeck utilizes this juxtaposition of Pa, Uncle John, and Grampa against Ma, in order to prove the equality of both sexes. Both male and females are needed to overcome obstacles and maintain balance in life.

As each character involved in the situation reacts, we are able to see Steinbeck's respect for the poor shining through. The 'never say die' efforts of Uncle John to stop the rising flood water is one example of Steinbeck's unremitting struggle theme. The constant effort of the entire Joad family to find work, even though they are poor, oppressed and hungry, show us that Steinbeck wants to show their tremendous courage and dignity. In this way, Steinbeck is able to use the journey structure to describe these fine qualities he sees and respects in the poor.

“I'll be all around in the dark. I'll be everywhere. Wherever you can look—wherever there's a fight so hungry people can eat, I'll be there,” a quote said by Tom Joad from John Steinbeck’s novel Grapes of Wrath. Written during the great depression, John Steinbeck depicts a Oklahoma family traveling to California for work after losing their farm. The main character Tom Joad is first seen as caring only for himself and his family. By the ending the novel Tom has grown from caring about himself to caring and seeing the whole world as his family.

In the novel Catch Me If You Can by Frank William Abagnale, Frank is a well defined static character. Even though he faces different challenges throughout the novel, he remains the same a the end of the story as he was in the beginning. Being said this, he still continued to run away from his problems and did cons. He is a confident individual who ran away from home at a young age to find a life for himself. Frank is a smart, young and charismatic boy. During his early teen years, his parents started to go through a divorce, which left him torn between whom to choose to stay with. After learning about the divorce that was about to take place, Frank decides to runaway. Frank states, “One June morning of 1964, I woke up and knew it was time to go.

Mr. Davit Shanto and I have worked closely together for the past year and a half. During that timespan, Davit has been a self-starter and an industrious contributor to the team endeavors. In addition to having an extraordinary degree of integrity and that type of person that brings out the best in those around him; he is one of those unique character who can both follow directions and take the leadership role, as appropriate. He is one of those individuals where I depended on him if I asked him or put him on projects, that either the task or project will be done by a certain deadline. He is strong in time management and his competence extends above and beyond the skills for which he was initially hired.

Ma Joad is a strong character that will not back down without a fight when she knows there is a reason to not give up. As the Joads and Wilsons travel from Oklahoma to Texas through highway 66, the Wilsons car starts to fail and they soon have to pull over. Not knowing what to do, Tom suggests that the rest of the Joads and Wilsons should keep should keep driving with the other car and Al, Casey, and him should stay behind to fix the Wilsons car. Uncle John and Pa Joad do not find a problem in this solution, but soon enough, Ma Joad starts to voice her concern about the family getting separated and not seeing each other. Pa gets exasperated with Ma but she does not back down from him and she starts threatening him that nothing will change her mind but, “Pa’s anger did not rise, and his hands hung limply at his sides, and in a moment the group knew that ma had won” (169). In the end, everybody except Al, Tom, and Casey decide to wait in a campsite that is in Bakersfield while they fix the car. Clearly seen, Ma won the argument and this is the first of many where the family did as she said. Once the car is repaired, the three