Questions

__**Why does Ma feel so strongly that the family must stay together? Give examples.**__ Ma is extremely rooted in family values. On the road to California, Ma knows that the family has very scarce physical possessions and that she must provide food for everyone. The amount of money coming in may change, the car problems may change, but the family will always stay the same. In this way, Ma knows that without the family staying together, they will have nothing.

//"From her position as a healer, her hands had grown sure and cool and quiet; from her position as arbiter she had become as remote and faultless in judgment as a goddess. She seemed to know that if she swayed the family shook, and if she ever really deeply wavered or despaired the family would fall, the family will to function would be gone." (ch. VIII)//

This quote really shows Ma's important role in the family. She is not only a "healer" and an "arbiter", but she also is looked upon as a leader of emotion of the family. The disposition of the family will take on the characteristics of whatever Ma is feeling at the moment. This is the reason why Ma feels so strongly that the family must stay together. If she does not have confidence that her family can work everything out, then nobody else will believe it is possible either.

code Tom chuckled. "Well, this fella don' want no hanging 'cause he'd do it again. An' same time, he don't aim to bring trouble down on his folks. Ma I got to go." Ma covered her mouth with her fingers and coughed to clear her throat. "You can't," she said. "They wouldn' be no way to hide out. You couldn' trus' nobody. But you can trus' us. We can hide you, an' we can see you get to eat while your face gets well." "-But, Ma" She got to her feet. "You ain't goin'. We're a-takin' you.

code --Ch. XXVI

This scene takes place right after Tom killed the policeman. Ma is convinced that if Tom goes into hiding then he will be found out for sure. Additionally, if Tom goes away and he is found, then there is no way for the Joads to know what has become of him. Ma pleas with Tom to stay with the family, even though his presence with them will surely get everyone in trouble if the policemen ever catch him. In this way, Ma risks personal safety to be physically closer with her child and to know that he is safe rather than just hoping blindly that it would be true.  __**Who leaves and why? Noah:**__ Noah leaves because he is “strange” and wants to follow the river. He believes that he can fish in the river to sustain himself. He likely left because he was an outsider because the family doesn’t really want him around, and he feels like he is more of a burden than a contributing member of the family. He gives up on the journey.


 * __Connie:__** Connie left because he could not handle the pressures of being a father. He basically got cold feet, and left his pregnant girlfriend Rose of Sharon in a Hooverville. He does not believe that the family will find a better life in California, and decides that he has a better chance of making it on his own since a wife and children need more food and money.


 * __Uncle John:__** Attempts to leave because he believes that he stole the family’s money when he went to get drunk. He also believes that if he did not drink his wife would still be alive, because he would have had the money to pay for a doctor to treat her. He has a lifelong sense of guilt because of the death of his wife, and this leads to great inner conflict.


 * __Tom:__** Tom leaves because he kills a man. His friend Jim Casy was murdered by two men, and Tom responds by killing one of the murderers with a shovel. Because he was already violating parole because he left Oklahoma, Tom lays low for a few days. Ma gives Tom some money, and he decides to move to Los Angeles, where it will be easier for him to support himself and find work, since he is single.

The breakup did not completely destroy the family; in fact, it made it a matriarchal family structure because Ma became the new leader due to Grampa’s death. Since Pa and Uncle John were too weak and indecisive to lead, Ma filled the void as leader. This eventually leads to the unraveling of the family, due to Granma’s death and Noah and Connie leaving.
 * __What does this break-up do to the family unit?__**


 * __Give examples of how Ma manages to carry on despite this break-up.__**

Ma manages to carry on because she is the strongest one in the family, and is the foundation supporting the family. She seemed to know, to accept, to welcome her position, the citadel of the family, the strong place that could not be taken” (40) She effectively becomes the head of the family due to Pa’s weakness as a leader, and often gives words of encouragement to the other members of the family. “Why Tom, us people will go on livin' when all them people is gone. Why Tom, we're the people that live. They ain't gonna wipe us out. Why, we're the people, we go on." ( 359 ). She is the embodiment of the American Okie; someone who is extremely resilient and manages to endure the suffering and mistreatment by the Bank and Californians. Her resilience manages to keep the family going for most of the novel, until the end where they go into the barn. Rose of Sharon decides to feed the sick man at Ma’s suggestion. "She looked up and across the barn, and her lips came together and smiled mysteriously." (578). Here, the torch is passed to Rose of Sharon and she becomes the protector of the family, whereas Ma becomes just another family member.

"I was afraid we wouldn' get acrost," she said. "I tol' Granma we couldn' he'p her. The fambly had ta get acrost. I tol' her, tol' her when she was a-dyin'. We couldn' stop in the desert. There was the young ones--an' Rosasharn's baby. I tol' her." She put up her hands and covered her face for a moment. "She can get buried in a nice green place," Ma said softly. "Trees aroun' an' a nice place. She got to lay her head down in California." The family looked at Ma with a little terror at her strength. Tom said, "Jesus Christ! You layin' there with her all night long!" "The fambly hadda get acrost," Ma said miserably." (ch. XVIII)

Rose of Sharon represents hope for the future, because she feeds an old man with her breast milk in a wet nurse fashion. This symbolizes the nursing back to health of the immigrants. She represents mothering and caring. Before, Ma symbolized holding the family together and was the main force driving the family. But after the flood, Rose of Sharon takes her mother’s advice and becomes a protector and helper of others. Whereas before she was selfish and only cared for herself, now she has become a selfless protector of others, like the old man she nursed.
 * __Who represents hope for the future?__**