Ma Joad Quotes

Ma put the clean dripping tin dish out on a box. She smiled down at her work. "You get your stick, Pa," she said. "Times when they’s food an’ a place to set, then maybe you can use your stick an’ keep your skin whole. But you ain’t a-doin’ your job, either a-thinkin’ or a-workin’. If you was, why, you could use your stick, an’ women folks’d sniffle their nose an’ creep-mouse aroun’. But you jus’ get you a stick now an’ you ain’t lickin’ no woman; you’re a-fightin’, ’cause I got a stick all laid out too."

– John Steinbeck

The Grapes of Wrath, Chapter 26. This is an important moment when we see how Ma Joad’s role has changed completely from a motherly to a leadership one in the family. Here she stands up to Pa’s threat to take a stick to her, by equally threatening him with a stick. Magnificently indominable as a wife, mother and woman, Ma reminds her husband that he has no right to control of the family since he has neither a job nor money. Pa’s loss of human dignity is evident in this chapter. Unable to find work in the new land of California, he is also losing his place as head of the family.

"Take a man, he can get worried an’ worried, an’ it eats out his liver, an’ purty soon he’ll jus’ lay down and die with his heart et out. But if you can take an’ make ‘im mad, why, he’ll be awright."

– John Steinbeck

The Grapes of Wrath, Chapter 26. After riling up Pa Joad by criticizing him out for having no job and threatening him with a stick, Ma Joad admits that there is method in her madness. She tells her son Tom that if a man gives in to worry he is defeated, but rouse him to anger and he’ll be fine.

She got up and went inside the tent. She came out and stood in front of Rose of Sharon, and she held out her hand. "Look!" The small gold earrings were in her hand. "These is for you."
The girl’s eyes brightened for a moment, and then she looked aside. "I ain’t pierced."
"Well, I’m a-gonna pierce ya."
…"You oughta been pierced long ago," said Ma. She looked at the girl’s face, and she smiled in triumph. "Now get them dishes all done up. Your baby gonna be a good baby. Very near let you have a baby without your ears was pierced. But you’re safe now."
"Does it mean somepin?"
"Why, ‘course it does," said Ma. "’Course it does."

– John Steinbeck

The Grapes of Wrath, Chapter 26. This passage marks an important symbolic transition for the pregnant Rose of Sharon from girl to woman. Ma offers pierces her daughter’s ears and give her treasured gold earrings to her. When Rose of Sharon asks if it means something and Ma repeats "’course it does," it signifies the importance of the act beyond Ma’s kindness. Ma is acknowledging her daughter as her eventual successor who will take over her role one day. By the end of the novel we witness Rose of Sharon’s growth from an immature and self-absorbed girl to a mature and selfless woman.

"I know what they cost in town."
The little man clamped his mouth tight. "Then go git ’em in town."
…"Any reason you got to make fun? That help you any?…Doin’ a dirty thing like this. Shames ya, don’t it? Got to act flip, huh?"

– John Steinbeck

The Grapes of Wrath, Chapter 26. Ma Joad queries food costs at the Hooper Ranch store, where the owners have raised their prices. The store worker responds in a demeaning and sarcastic manner. Ma shames and reprimands him for making fun of migrant workers, who cannot afford to travel into town where food is cheaper. Ma’s shopping experience exposes the inhumanity of the big farm owners. Not only do they pay poor wages, but they doubly exploit workers by charging higher prices for food than nearby town stores.

"If you’re in trouble or hurt or need – go to poor people. They’re the only ones that’ll help – the only ones."

– John Steinbeck

The Grapes of Wrath, Chapter 26. Ma Joad says this to the store worker who lends her ten cents to buy sugar, when he learns that she hasn’t enough money. Her comment touches on the theme of kindness. According to Ma, the poor community will help you quicker when in trouble or need, not the rich with their greater resources. The reason she didn’t have money left for sugar is that the store owners raised their food prices.

"Goin’ away ain’t gona ease us. It’s gonna bear us down…They was the time when we was on the lan’. They was a boundary to us then. Ol’ folks dies off, an’ little fellas come, an’ we was one thing – we was the fambly – kinda whole and clear. An’ we ain’t clear no more."

– John Steinbeck

The Grapes of Wrath, Chapter 26. Ma Joad pleads with her son Tom to stay in order to keep the family together. This is after Tom, who earlier killed Casy’s murderer, says that he must go away because he doesn’t want to put his family at risk. While Tom’s concern is for the safety of the family, Ma is all about keeping the family intact.

"You ain’t goin’. We’re a-takin’ you. Al, you back the truck against the door. Now, I got it figgered out. We’ll put one mattress on the bottom, an’ then Tom gets quick there, an’ we take another mattress an’ sort of fold it so it makes a cave, an’ he’s in the cave; and then we sort of wall it in. He can breathe out the end, ya see. Don’t argue. That’s what we’ll do."

– John Steinbeck

The Grapes of Wrath, Chapter 26. Ma Joad takes command of the family, coming up with a plan to keep everyone together, despite Tom being hunted for killing a policeman. That night Tom goes into isolation, hiding between two matresses in the truck as they drive north from the Hooper Ranch. Ma is adament that the family stays as one unit, because there is strength in unity.

Ma swung around. "Why, evenin’, Mis’ Wainwright. We done good. Three an’ a half. Three fifty-seven, exact."
"We done four dollars."
"Well," said Ma. "’Course they’s more of you."

– John Steinbeck

The Grapes of Wrath, Chapter 28. With the Joads enjoying improved fortunes, there is a lowering of their moral standards, compared to when they were less well off in the government camp. In this exchange Ma Joad gets into a competition with Mrs. Wainwright about who earned the most money picking cotton that day. There is a noticeable growth in selfishness with increased wealth. The Joads and Wainwrights are sharing a boxcar on the cotton plantation.

"I wanta touch ya again, Tom. It’s like I’m blin’, it’s so dark. I wanta remember, even if it’s on’y my fingers that remember. You got to go away, Tom."

– John Steinbeck

The Grapes of Wrath, Chapter 28. Ma Joad visits her Tom in his lightless cave hideout in the boxcar camp. Her great love for her son and family is shown as she touches his face all over with her hand. This is so that her fingers will remember Tom when he leaves the family to go on the run from the law. This is one of the novel’s most moving moments between mother and son.

"Man, he lives in jerks – baby born an’ a man dies, an’ that’s a jerk – gets a farm and looses his farm, an’ that’s a jerk. Woman, its all one flow, like a stream, little eddies, little waterfalls, but the river, it goes right on. Woman looks at it like that. We ain’t gonna die out. People is goin’ on-changin’ a little, maybe, but goin’ right on."

– John Steinbeck

The Grapes of Wrath, Chapter 28. Themes of survival, gender roles and hope are addressed in this rousing speech of Ma Joad to Pa. When a despondent Pa says that their life is over and done, she declares that it isn’t. With unswerving optimism, she says that their kind of people will never die out, but will go on. She tells Pa how men live their lives in episodes, but for a woman life is all one flow, like a river. The point she is making is that women are more adaptable, they bend and flow over and around obstacles, but don’t break. They have a tenacity and perseverance that men don’t.

"Ever’thing we do – seems to me is aimed right at goin’ on. Seems that way to me. Even gettin’ hungry – even bein’ sick; some die, but the rest is tougher. Jus’ try to live the day, jus’ the day."

– John Steinbeck

The Grapes of Wrath, Chapter 28. Ma Joad explains her philosophy of life and the key to survival to a pessimistic Uncle John. John wonders, "What’s to keep ever’thing from stoppin’; all the folks from jus’ gettin’ tired an’ layin’ down?" But Ma’s simple message of hope is to just live the day. She believes that everything is aimed at going on – hunger, sickness, and even death only serve to make those who survive stronger.

"S’pose we was down. You’d a give us a han’."
"Yes," Ma said, "we would."
"Or anybody."
"Or anybody. Use’ ta be the fambly was fust. It ain’t so now. It’s anybody. Worse off we get, the more we got to do."

– John Steinbeck

The Grapes of Wrath, Chapter 30. Ma Joad is talking to Mrs. Wainwright about people’s responsibility to help each other. For Ma, the needs of immediate family members were her first and only care. But she has learned from experience on the road that her duty is now to the greater community of disadvantaged people. This speaks to the novel’s theme of the individual versus the community. It also reflects the idea of Ralph Waldo Emerson’s "Over-Soul."

"It’s time for it." And then she turned to the car door, where the men lay. "We’re a-gettin’ outa here," she said savagely, "gettin’ to higher groun’. An’ you’re comin’ or you ain’t comin’, but I’m takin’ Rosasharn an’ the little fellas outa here."

– John Steinbeck

The Grapes of Wrath, Chapter 30. Ma Joad demonstrates her resiliance after the camp flood and asserts her authority over the men, Pa and Al. She delares that she is taking Rose of Sharon and the younger children to higher ground and the men can follow or not. Despite her family taking hit after hit, Ma with her indomitable nature still perseveres.

"He’s dyin’, I tell you! He’s starvin’ to death, I tell you."
"Hush," said Ma. She looked at Pa and Uncle John standing helplessly gazing at the sick man. She looked at Rose of Sharon huddled in the comfort. 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 and gasping.
She said "Yes."
Ma smiled. "I knowed you would. I knowed!"

– John Steinbeck

The Grapes of Wrath, Chapter 30. While walking the highway the Joads shelter in a barn from a downpour and encounter a starving man and his son. The boy cries out for help for his dying father. In this scene we see in action Ma Joad’s earlier comment that the poor are the ones who help if you are in need. Ma realizes that her family can save the man from starving to death. Aware that Rose of Sharon’s breasts are still full of the milk meant to feed her stillborn baby, she glances at her daughter. Her unspoken request is understood by Rose of Sharon, who in a remarkable act of kindness, generosity and self-sacrifice immediately says yes. This powerful scene closes the novel and reflects the idea of Emerson’s "Over-Soul," the universal soul that connects everyone, a philosophy that finds expression through the character of Jim Casy. Rose of Sharon’s decision to nurse the stranger back to life is also a strong message of hope in the strength and resilience of the human spirit.
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