Tom said, "I don't know what's got into Ma. She's flighty as a dog with a flea in his ear" (308). I think this contains the most important idea in the chapter, as it eludes to the resolve Ma Joad has to get her family across the desert and to their destination. The fact she layed with a corpse all night in order not to disrupt their journey is downright terrifying, and the family felt it. See was so set on making sure her family got to where they were going, she lied to the officers at the check point, lied to her family, and forced herself to be company to the dead. That is pure resolve in my opinion.
The second main idea in the chapter I feel is the discrimination towards the "Okies". It was thick throughout the chapter. It started right at the beginning, where it seemed like the border gaurd in Arizona was getting a little mean with them by saying "O.K. Go ahead, but you better keep moving" (274). That automatically makes me think that they just wanted the "Okies" to pass through and not to stop, that if they stopped there was going to be problems. Next when they stopped at the river, the man in the water told them straight up about the discrimination in California. He told the Joads that "Okie" meant you were scum, just by the way the people said it. He tells them he'd rather starve to death with people he knows (279). It continues on a little later in the chapter when the cop went to Ma Joad and gave her a rough time about camping out.
I have a simple view on wisdom. Knowledge is something learned from a book or something a person is taught but not lived, where as wisdom is gained through experiences. For example, someone could have read how to perform a surgery so you have knowledge on the subject, but to actually be able to do it requires wisdom, gained from previous experiences.
Your title for this chapter, really says it all. Ma's strength to sit through the night with Grandma's corpse is something that takes a lot. I could not imagine being in her shoes that night. Ma knew that she had to do what was good for her family and they needed to get to California. My hope for Ma is that now they are in California she will be able to relax a little and get her family settled down and keep the rest of her loved ones together in this new country.
ReplyDeleteI like the title, it makes it memorable. I think Ma is a major part of this chapter too. She is really trying her hardest to get her family there in one piece and is losing it a little as it is proving to be a difficult task.
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