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Improvised Leadership Structures
When the novel begins, the Joad family relies on a traditional family structure in which the men make the decisions and the women obediently do as they are told. So invested are they in these roles that they continue to honor Grampa as the head of the family, even though he has outlived his ability to act as a sound leader. As the Joads journey west and try to make a living in California, however, the family dynamic changes drastically. Discouraged and defeated by his mounting failures, Pa withdraws from his role as leader and spends his days tangled in thought. In his stead, Ma assumes the responsibility of making decisions for the family. At first, this shocks Pa, who, at one point, lamely threatens to beat her into her so-called proper place. The threat is empty, however, and the entire family knows it. By the end of the novel, the family structure has undergone a revolution, in which the woman figure, traditionally powerless, has taken control, while the male figure, traditionally in the leadership role, has retreated. This revolution parallels a similar upheaval in the larger economic hierarchies in the outside world. Thus, the workers at the Weedpatch camp govern themselves according to their own rules and share tasks in accordance with notions of fairness and equality rather than power-hungry ambition or love of authority.
Fruit
As befitting a story about agricultural labor, The Grapes of Wrath makes use of fruit imagery. Early in the story, the bountiful fruit the Joad family believes they’ll find in California contrasts with the dry, barren land in Dust Bowl-besieged Oklahoma. These fantasies represent the idea of fruitful labor, work that is satisfying mentally and physically. They constantly talk about the joy of picking fruit in the shade, work that has purpose, protection from the elements, and even pleasure. Grampa Joad imagines picking grapes and letting the juice run down his face, a hedonistic image. Ma Joad envisions having a white house surrounded by orange trees, signifying a stable and beautiful life. However, once they get to California, Steinbeck’s fruit imagery turns sour. Chapter 25 describes fruit growing in useless abundance, left to rot because of cost-cutting measures from landowners. Unused, the fruit ferments into bitterness, echoing the bitterness of how the migrant laborers are allowed neither productive labor nor the ability to enjoy their fruits. This souring fruit sets the tone for when the Joad family finds work picking peaches. Winfield’s sickness from eating wormy peaches emphasizes how the system has made farm labor that should be nourishing to the body and spirit enfeebling and dangerous.
Biblical References and Christian Imagery
Steinbeck makes use of biblical references and Christian imagery to bestow the Joad family’s journey with spiritual importance. Rose of Sharon, for example, is named explicitly after a passage in Song of Solomon. The name “Joad” sounds like the biblical Job, whose faith was tested again and again by misfortune. Jim Casy has the same initials as Jesus Christ, and like Christ, he is killed for having a message of love that challenges authority. His final words (You fellas don’ know what you’re doin’) echoes Christ’s final statement that His torturers “know not what they do.” Twelve members of the Joad family set out for California, like the 12 apostles or the 12 tribes of the Israelites who journeyed out of Egypt into the Promised Land. Uncle John setting Rose of Sharon’s stillborn child in the river echoes baby Moses being placed in a basket on the Nile. The flood that forces the Joads out of the boxcar has the apocalyptic effect of Noah’s flood. Finally, Rose of Sharon feeding the dying man reflects two common depictions of the Virgin Mary, that of Mary holding the Christ child and that of the Pietà sculpture of Mary cradling the crucified Christ.
