Grapes of Wrath Chs 10-11

1. Discussion notes: chapters 10-11
Transitions and transformations
• When the Joads change from farm people to road people,
they have to cast off not only many of their belongings but
their habits and customs as well:
– Casy salts the pork even though it’s “women’s work,” according to Ma.
“It’s all work,” Casy replies.
– The leadership of the Joads must pass to Ma before the family can
assume its new identity.
– Grandpa refuses to go: To be torn away from his land is too shattering
for him.

2. Discussion notes: chapters 10-11
The Joad family
• Each person is a separate
individual with distinct
qualities. Yet, the family
often acts as if it were one
person. It makes decisions
as a group, travels as a
single unit, and reacts
uniformly to events.

3. Discussion notes: chapters 10-11
Experience changes the family’s
personality:
– Before the Joads leave home, Grandpa and
Granma rule the roost, at least in name.
When the family breaks ties to the land
and joins the migrant exodus, the old
generation gives way to the new.
– Pa’s authority is fleeting: Ma gradually
takes over, and her powerful personality
and steady hand are what holds the family
together at this point.
– When Tom plans to remain with another
family’s disabled car until it is fixed, Ma
vows to smash him with a jack handle if he
insists the family go on without him. She is
then seen as the undisputed leader of the
Joads.

4. Discussion notes: chapters 10-11
• Yet, Ma is already (subconsciously) beginning to
subscribe to a new notion of family. “I” is becoming
“We.” When isolated families fuse with one another,
a larger family, a Human Family, develops.
• This is also seen when Muley knows he must share
his rabbit with Tom and Casy. They are hungry: He
has food. He must share.