As opposed to The Old Man and the Sea, picking a "hero" to write about from Grapes of Wrath was hard. Tom was the main protagonist, but Ma held the family together and was my hero in the book. Also Rose of Sharon did save a man by nursing him back to life, and if that isn't something that doesn't make her a hero, then I don't know what does. I will write about Ma Joad because I think of her as the main hero in this book (Tom is a hero in his own right, so I will have a post for him at a later date).
Ma is strong, proud, and brave. She is strong because she holds the family together. She is the one who doesn't break and makes sure that everyone is taken care of. Ma is the rock that everyone leans against in hard times. She is proud of her family that is still together and of the fact that they are surviving (Steinbeck 304). Ma is one of the bravest people that I have read about (she is beat out by Captain Kathryn Janeway, Bilbo Baggins, and Gregor from Gregor the Overlander). She laid next to a dead body for a whole night in order to help her family cross the border in to California (Steinbeck 228).
Ma represents the idea of strength and of hope. She represents strength because she had to take over as head of the family in all but title because Pa couldn't hold up under the stressful conditions that he was thrust into. Ma made sure everyone knew that they could succeed and that if they stayed together as a family everything would be alright. She kept repeating that and it reassured the other family members to carry on. Ma is a symbol of hope because she never broke down the whole entire journey. She came close the night Granma died (Steinbeck 229), but she pulled herself together and returned to the position of strength in the family.
Steinbeck, John. The Grapes of Wrath. New York: Penguin, 2006. Print.
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