Family Flashcards
The Joad family seems at times to be able to communicate without words. They work as a team
“And then all of a sudden, the family began to function”
We feel like the Joads are very detail-oriented people, people who keep their nose to the grindstone and who very rarely have time to consider the bigger picture. Why is it significant that they see the “whole land” at this moment?
They always see the bigger picture and don’t dwell on one mistake.
“their eyes focused panoramically, seeing no detail, but the whole dawn, the whole land”
Ma Joad is pretty much the pillar of the Joad family, no doubt about it. Without her, we don’t know how far the Joads would get in their quest for a new life. She supports the family in a way that no one else, not even Pa Joad, can.
She leads the family
“She walked for the family and held her head straight for the family.”
Pa may be the head of the family, but it sure seems to us like Ma Joad is the one who calls the shots, the one who makes reasoned and sound decisions. We rarely see Pa Joad act like “the head of the family.”
“The family became a unit […] Pa was the head of the family now.”
The country has allowed these families to lose their lands and has done little to help them rebuild their lives. As a result, these families must create their own miniature countries in which to function and think. These families are in need of structure, of a society that cares about them.
“The families moved westward, and the technique of building the worlds improved”
They reach out to and connect with one another. No one family wants to go in alone. No one family wants to be independent or self-centered. The families seem to need one another to make it. They need each other’s support. They are not trying to outdo one another.
“the twenty families became one family, the children were the children of all. The loss of home became one loss, and the golden time in the West was one dream.”
** IMPORTANT ***
The families are progressing
“Each member of the family grew into his proper place, grew into his duties”
In this last scene, we see an example of a family who still knows what it means to be a family, even in dire circumstances. The starving father is a reminder of the selflessness, of the sense of community that once was associated with the idea of family, and his son has not left his side.
“Give me the food. Now he’s too weak. Can’t hardly move.” [the little boy in the barn]
Ma Joad articulates a huge shift in the way the Joad family functions. At the beginning of their journey, when they had just been kicked off of their land and when everyone was still alive and still part of the family, every Joad seemed to know that the family unit was more important than their own wants and needs. That’s why they were so appalled by people like Will Feeley who drives a tractor for the landowners – he was thinking about himself and not the larger community.
“Use’ ta be the family was fust. It ain’t so now. It’s anybody.”
