"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.