Family in GOW

Family is an important theme of Grapes of Wrath. Steinbeck uses the Joads as a perfect example of how important family is and how significant it is to tell his story. One example that shows how the family runs is when Tom returns back from jail and meets his family at Uncle John's house. The second Tom sees his mom he explains how she is the head of the family. Ma is the center of the family and the person that makes everything run in the family. She keeps to her beliefs and always does what she feels is best for the family. The Joads are a strong supportive family that has each other's backs which is apparent after Grandpa dies and the family has to come together and moves on with their journey to find a new life. Ma also is firm in believing that the family must stick together after they get to California. She tries to tell Rosasharn that it isn't a good idea to split and go live in the city because she knows that the best thing for everyone is if they stick together and get through their new lives in California.