GOW+Ch16+Passages


 * 1.** "The eyes of the whole family shifted back to Ma. She was the power. She had taken control "The money we'd make wouldn't do no good," she said. "All we got is the family unbroke. Like a bunch a cows, when the lobos are ranging, stick all together. I ain't scared while we're all here, all that's alive, but I ain't gonna see us bust up. THe WIlsons here is with us, and the preacher is with us. I can't say nithn' if they want to go, but I'm a goin' cat-wild with this here piece a bar-arn if my own folks bust up." Her tone was cold and final." (p. 231)


 * Analysis:**

Throughout the novel, family roles are examined, specifically the role of women, men and children in the household. As the journey progresses for the Joad family, Ma becomes more and more expressive of her opinions regarding their condition and the way that her family is acting. During this passage, Ma is very stubborn and asserts her rights as a family leader and shocks her family with her strength. The way that her family reacts to her outburst is very important because it shows the reader how women were thought of and treated during the era of the depression. Since Ma finally expresses her opinion, it shows how women were beginning to assert their rights as Americans and decided that if they were expected to migrate across the country in extreme heat and still act as a supporting wife and mother, then they should be consulted on family decisions. The shock that the men in the Joad family feel after her outburst shows that the mentality during the depression was still that women had their places in the home, and that they were not as powerful as the men in the family. Ma's outburst shows how women were beginning to assert their rights and how the rest of the world was still not quite ready to accept it.


 * 2.** "A jackrabbit got caught in the lights and he bounced along ahead, cruising easily, his great ears flopping with every jump. Now and then he tried to break off the road, but the wall of darkness thrust him back. Far ahead bright headlights appeared and bore down on them. The rabbit hesitated, faltered, then turned and bolted toward the lesser lights of the Dodge. There was a small soft jolt as he went under the wheels. The oncoming car swished by. "We sure squashed him," said Casy. Tom said, "Some fellas like to hit 'em. Fives me a little skaes ever' time." p. (252-253)


 * - What do you think the rabbit, the "wall of darkness" and the headlights/cars represent? What is the signifigance of them when relating these symbols to the Joad family.


 * Analysis:**

The jackrabbit represents the Oakies traveling along the rough roads across the United States. Like the rabbit, the families do their best to "hop along" keeping their hope and doing their best to avoid the tougher obstacles along the way. Most families tried to avoid the obstacles on the main road along the way by trying to find camps along the way or taking side routes, but they somehow are always forced back onto the main road, just as the rabbit is forced to stay on the risky highway by the "wall of darkness". While he knows that it is extremely dangerous to continue along the main road with the cars, that road is the only one that has light and so the rabbit is drawn to it. In the end, the rabbit is confronted with two cars coming in opposite directions, and so he chooses the car with the dimmer headlights, the Joad's car, but still end us being run over. This shows how the machinery of the time that was supposed to be helping the American people progress, was ironically causing more grief for most families such as the old jalopies breaking down along their journeys, or the tractors that ran them off of their farms.