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.