Part 1 of Essay
Ma's eyes passed Rose of Sharon's eyes, and then came back to them. And the two women looked deep into each other. The girl's breath came short of gasping. Ma smiled. "I knowed you would. I knowed!" (Chapter 30) Nothing in The Grapes of Wrath outraged readers as did the scene in Chapter 30 where Rose of Sharon offers ....

Part 2 of Essay
.... itself as an isolated and self-important clan to its envisioning itself as part of one vast family." Most begin like Tom, "jus' puttin' one foot in front of the other" (Chapter 16). Uncle John lives in the past, harboring guilt over his wife's death. Al lives for girls and cars. Pa is so broken at the loss of his farm that for much of the novel he allows all decisions to be made by Ma. Ma, at the novel's beginning, has only one passion: to keep the "fambly" together. Ruthie torments her brother and e ....