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Well, Pa wasn’t no hand to write for pretty, or to write for writin’. He’d sign up his name as nice as anybody, an’ lick his pencil. But Pa never did write no letters. He always says what he couldn’ tell a fella with his mouth wasn’t worth leanin’ on no pencil about.
Tom says this quotation in Chapter 4 when Jim Casy asks why Pa never wrote Tom while he was in prison. This quotation illuminates Pa’s straightforward character, at odds with much of the changes coming into his life. Pa’s belief that writing letters is largely unnecessary demonstrates that he has lived a life bound to a small area and that he’s used to a life without complicated contracts and other legal documents. This trait makes him fundamentally unready to deal with the money-minded state of the world, where many rules are unspoken, and people are duplicitous.
“These men I know told about that,” said Pa. “Said the buyer fellas always done that. Scairt folks that way. We jus’ don’t know how to go about stuff like that. Ma’s gonna be disappointed. She’ll be mad an’ disappointed.”
This quotation comes from Chapter 10, when Pa describes how the salesman he pawned the family’s excess belongings to was able to fleece them. Pa is straightforward and honest, used to farmwork instead of the slippery and manipulative world of sales. This moment highlights how unprepared Pa is to deal with the way agriculture is starting to be run throughout the United States, focused on profit instead of the actual crops themselves. His understanding that he will disappoint Ma with his profits foreshadows her later disappointment with his ability to lead the family through the difficulties they face.
“What you mean, you ain’t gonna go? You got to go. You got to look after the family.” Pa was amazed at the revolt.
This quotation comes from Chapter 16, during the first time Ma challenges Pa’s authority by refusing to leave Tom and Jim Casy behind with the broken-down car. Pa is used to being the head of the family and having his decisions respected. He responds to Ma’s refusal with almost childish disbelief, even calling her “sassy,” a word that doesn’t fully appreciate the seriousness of the situation. This moment prefigures Pa’s later inability to hold the family together, eventually ceding power to Ma.
Well, we ain’t doin’ nothin’, might’s well be workin’. We ain’t gonna find us no nice place to live like this. Come on, now. Le’s go talk to the other fellas. We can do her if ever’body helps.
In this quotation from Chapter 30, Pa resolves to raise a riverbank, creating a dam to prevent the rising river from flooding their boxcar camp and car. Although Pa’s strength and leadership have faltered during the family’s hardships in California, this moment affirms his commitment to his family. Unlike many of the other situations that the Joad family has faced, which involve dealing with landowners who are constantly making calculations, the rising flood is a straightforward foe that Pa knows exactly how to handle.
“We’re a-gettin’ outa here,” she said savagely, “gettin’ to higher groun’. An’ you’re comin’ or you ain’t comin’, but I’m takin’ Rosasharn an’ the little fellas outa here.”
“We can’t!” Pa said weakly.
“Awright, then. Maybe you’ll pack Rosasharn to the highway, anyways, an’ then come back. It ain’t rainin’ now, an’ we’re a-goin’.”
“Awright, we’ll go,” Pa said.
This exchange between Ma and Pa Joad comes from Chapter 30, after the failure of Pa’s attempts to dam the flood. The failure of the dam appears to break Pa’s strength and leadership for good. Whereas previously he’d remark on Ma’s disagreements with him or attempt to reassert his place as head of the family, here his only protest is weak and extremely short. Afterward, he allows Ma to take over planning the family’s escape, ceding leadership to her entirely.
