The Joads: The Universal Family The Joads are a specific family. They are also every family. Tom Joad is the protagonist. He has been in prison for homicide. He is paroled. He returns home. His family is gone. He finds them. He leads them to California. He becomes a labor organizer. He leaves to protect his family. He says, “Wherever there’s a fight so hungry people can eat, I’ll be there.” Ma Joad is the novel’s moral center. She holds the family together. She says, “We’re the people that live. They ain’t gonna wipe us out.” The Joads suffer. They endure. They survive.
The Dust Bowl: The Land Dies The Dust Bowl was an ecological disaster. Farmers had plowed the Great Plains. They had destroyed the grass that held the soil. A drought came. The soil turned to dust. The wind blew. The dust covered everything. People died of “dust pneumonia.” The land died. Steinbeck describes the dust with horror. He also describes the tractors that replaced the farmers. The tractors are machines. They have no conscience. They evict families. They destroy communities.
The Journey: Route 66 The Joads travel Route 66 to California. The road is long. The car breaks down. They run out of money. They bury Grandma. They bury Grandpa. They see other families. They share. They help. The journey is a pilgrimage. They are seeking a promised land. They find a nightmare.
California: The Promised Land That Is Not California is supposed to be rich. There are peaches, grapes, and cotton. There is work. The Joads find exploitation. The growers pay starvation wages. They house workers in filthy camps. They use local police to break strikes. They call the migrants “Okies.” They hate them. Steinbeck shows that the system is rigged. The workers cannot win. They are too hungry to organize. They are too desperate to leave.
The Ending: The Flood and the Breast The novel ends with a flood. The Joads take shelter in a barn. A man is starving. His children are starving. Rose of Sharon, Tom’s sister, has just given birth to a stillborn child. She is lactating. Ma looks at her. Ma looks at the starving man. Rose of Sharon nods. She feeds him. The ending is shocking. It is also beautiful. Steinbeck is saying that the only answer to suffering is compassion.
Conclusion: “The Grapes of Wrath” is a novel about the Great Depression. It is also a novel about now. Workers are still exploited. Migrants are still hated. The rich still control the poor. Steinbeck wrote a protest. It is still relevant.
