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Rose of Sharon’s Pregnancy
Rose of Sharon’s pregnancy holds the promise of a new beginning. When she delivers a stillborn baby, that promise seems broken. But rather than slipping into despair, the family moves boldly and gracefully forward, and the novel ends on a surprising (albeit unsettling) note of hope. In the last few pages of his book, Steinbeck employs many symbols, a number of which refer directly to episodes in the Bible. The way in which Uncle John disposes of the child’s corpse recalls Moses being sent down the Nile. The image suggests that the family, like the Hebrews in Egypt, will be delivered from the slavery of its present circumstances.
Read more about the biblical allusion to Moses in the Old Testament.
The Death of the Joads’ Dog
When the Joads stop for gas not long after they begin their trip west, they are met by a hostile station attendant, who accuses them of being beggars and vagrants. While there, a fancy roadster runs down their dog and leaves it for dead in the middle of the road. The gruesome death constitutes the first of many symbols foreshadowing the tragedies that await the family.
The Land Turtle
The land turtle of Chapter 3 is a symbol of the resilience that the Joads and the other migrant laborers must have to survive the conditions they face both on the road and in California. The turtle goes along the highway “turning aside for nothing,” that is, focused on its goal of getting where it’s going and not being distracted by the obstacles it faces. Similarly, the Joads must journey with purpose, not allowing either logistical or emotional issues to faze them. Additionally, the land turtle must also cope with cars on the road—larger, faster, more powerful objects. If we read the land turtle as the Joad family slowly trying to build a life for themselves with only the resources they have, the cars are the wealthy landowners. Like the woman who swerves to avoid hitting the turtle, some of the landowners the Joads encounter do their best to minimize damage to their laborers. Others, like the truck driver who actively tries to hit the turtle, act as cruelly as possible. However, even the vicious truck driver cannot destroy the turtle, for the turtle, with its hard shell, is resilient, as is the Joad family.
