whoa chapter 26
Chapter Twenty-Six: One evening, Ma Joad watches Winfield as he sleeps; he writhes as he sleeps, and he seems discolored. In the month that the Joads have been in Weedpatch, Tom has had only five days of work, and the rest of the men have had none. Ma worries because Rose of Sharon is close to delivering her baby. Ma reprimands them for becoming discouraged. She tells them that in such circumstances they don't have the right. Pa fears that they will have to leave Weedpatch. When Tom mentions work in Marysville, Ma decides that they will go there, for despite the accommodations at Weedpatch, they have no opportunity to make money. They plan to go north, where the cotton will soon be ready for harvest. Regarding Ma Joad's forceful control of the family, Pa remarks that women seem to be in control, and it may be time to get out a stick. Ma hears this, and tells him that she is doing her job as wife, but he certainly isn't doing his job as husband. Rose of Sharon complains that if Connie hadn't left they would have had a house by now. Ma pierces Rose of Sharon's ears so that she can wear small gold earrings. Al parts ways with a blonde girl that he has been seeing; she rejects his promises that they will eventually get married. He promises her that he'll return soon, but she does not believe him. Pa remarks that he only notices that he stinks now that he takes regular baths. Before they leave, Willie remarks that the deputies don't bother the residents of Weedpatch because they are united, and that their solution may be a union.
The car starts to break down as the Joads leave Al has let the battery run down but he fixes the problem and they continue on their way. Al is irritable as they leave. He says that he's going out on his own soon to start a family. On the road, they get a flat tire. While Tom fixes the tire, a businessman stops in his car and offers them a job picking peaches forty miles north. They reach the ranch at Pixley where they are to pick oranges for five cents a box. Even the women and children can do the job. Ruthie and Winfield worry about settling down in the area and going to school in California. They assume that everyone will call them Okies. At the nearby grocery store owned by Hooper Ranch, Ma finds that the prices are much higher than they would be at the store in town. The sales clerk lends Ma ten cents for sugar. She tells him that it is only poor people who will help out. That night, Tom goes for a walk, but a deputy tells him to walk back to the cabin at the ranch. The deputy claims that if Tom is alone, the reds will get to him. While continuing on his walk, Tom finds Casy, who has been released from jail. He is with a group of men that are on strike. Casy claims that people who strive for justice always face opposition, citing Lincoln and Washington, as well as the martyrs of the French Revolution. Casy, Tom and the rest of the strikers are confronted by the police. A short, heavy man with a white pick handle swings it at Casy, hitting him in the head. Tom fights with the man, and eventually wrenches the club from him and strikes him with it, killing him. Tom immediately fled the scene, crawling through a stream to get back to the cabin. He cannot sleep that night, and in the morning tells Ma that he has to hide. He tells her that he was spotted, and warns his family that they are breaking the strike they are getting five cents a box only because of this, and today may only get half that amount. When Tom tells Ma that he is going to leave that night, she tells him that they aren't a family anymore: Al cares about nothing more than girls, Uncle John is only dragging along, Pa has lost his place as the head of the family, and the children are becoming unruly. Rose of Sharon screams at Tom for murdering the man she thinks that his sin will doom her baby. After a day of work, Winfield becomes extremely sick from eating peaches. Uncle John tells Tom that when the police catch him, there will be a lynching. Tom insists that he must leave, but Ma insists that they leave as a family. They hide Tom as they leave, taking the back roads to avoid police.
Analysis:
The comfortable situation that the Joads find in Weedpatch must inevitably come to an end, as the Joads realize that they cannot find work in that area. The Joads must then settle for accommodations at the Hooper Ranch, where they no longer have the amenities of the government camp nor the sense of a strong community. The retreat from the strong society of the government camp is reflected in the breakdown of the Joad family. Even Ma Joad realizes that the family is breaking apart, despite her best efforts to keep everybody together. Al has little concern for anybody else, and indicates that he is ready to leave himself. Pa Joad has lost his status as head of the household; he cedes entire control to Ma, the only one strong enough to keep the family together. Pa Joad makes a significant comment about gender roles, lamenting the fact that he no longer runs the family, but Ma makes it clear that the roles have only changed because he no longer fulfills his duties as husband and father. Since Ma is the only Joad who fulfills her obligations to the rest of the family she is the caretaker and moral center she gains the right to make decisions for the rest of the family. This is the major loss that Pa suffers; he no longer has the right to make decisions for the family, and must subordinate himself to his wife.
Yet even Ma Joad is not strong enough to prevent the gradual disintegration of the Joad household. Al appears ready to abandon the Joads next; he is more concerned with finding a girl and a steady job working on cars than with helping his family support themselves. In his dreams of successful, steady employment he resembles the callous Connie. Rose of Sharon in turn descends into a paranoid religious hysteria. She fears for the safety of her child, and holds delusions that the murders her brother has committed will permanently scar the child with sin. This relates to the earlier influence of Lisbeth Sandry, the religious zealot who warned Rose of Sharon against sin. Even the two children begin to noticeably suffer: Winfield becomes sick from deprivation.
The conditions at the Hooper Ranch are worse than those at the government camp, but still more manageable than they could be. The Joads have a roof over their heads and are paid sufficient wages. However, the store owned by the ranch artificially raises prices for items, for it is the only nearby store where the workers can buy groceries, and the wages are high initially only because of a strike. Ma Joad makes the significant observation at the grocery store that it is only the poor who will help out other impoverished people; the clerk at the grocery store will help her, but the owners of the grocery store will exploit the workers through inflated prices.
The strike is the catalyst for another tragedy for the Joad family. When Tom finds the striking workers, he is reunited with Jim Casy, who has been released from jail and found a new purpose as a labor activist. His lost religious zeal has been transformed into working-class activism, charged by his experiences in jail and traveling to California. Casy is a crusader for the cause; the indecision over his role as a preacher earlier in the novel has been replaced by a fiery conviction concerning the justice of his cause. There is a strong political text to the final scenes with Casy, who compares their cause to that of Lincoln, Washington and the patriots of the French revolution. Steinbeck makes it clear that these activists are facing certain doom, but they will be vindicated eventually. Casy, who sacrificed his freedom for Tom earlier in the novel, makes a final sacrifice in this chapter, the victim of a brutal murder at the hands of the police. Casy has now been a martyr for the Joad family and now for the entire class that the Joads represent.
The effect of this martyrdom is that Tom must now leave Hooper ranch to escape capture from the police. Although he wishes to go alone, Ma Joad once again binds the family together. She chooses to risk the safety of the entire family to preserve whatever unity the family has left.
The car starts to break down as the Joads leave Al has let the battery run down but he fixes the problem and they continue on their way. Al is irritable as they leave. He says that he's going out on his own soon to start a family. On the road, they get a flat tire. While Tom fixes the tire, a businessman stops in his car and offers them a job picking peaches forty miles north. They reach the ranch at Pixley where they are to pick oranges for five cents a box. Even the women and children can do the job. Ruthie and Winfield worry about settling down in the area and going to school in California. They assume that everyone will call them Okies. At the nearby grocery store owned by Hooper Ranch, Ma finds that the prices are much higher than they would be at the store in town. The sales clerk lends Ma ten cents for sugar. She tells him that it is only poor people who will help out. That night, Tom goes for a walk, but a deputy tells him to walk back to the cabin at the ranch. The deputy claims that if Tom is alone, the reds will get to him. While continuing on his walk, Tom finds Casy, who has been released from jail. He is with a group of men that are on strike. Casy claims that people who strive for justice always face opposition, citing Lincoln and Washington, as well as the martyrs of the French Revolution. Casy, Tom and the rest of the strikers are confronted by the police. A short, heavy man with a white pick handle swings it at Casy, hitting him in the head. Tom fights with the man, and eventually wrenches the club from him and strikes him with it, killing him. Tom immediately fled the scene, crawling through a stream to get back to the cabin. He cannot sleep that night, and in the morning tells Ma that he has to hide. He tells her that he was spotted, and warns his family that they are breaking the strike they are getting five cents a box only because of this, and today may only get half that amount. When Tom tells Ma that he is going to leave that night, she tells him that they aren't a family anymore: Al cares about nothing more than girls, Uncle John is only dragging along, Pa has lost his place as the head of the family, and the children are becoming unruly. Rose of Sharon screams at Tom for murdering the man she thinks that his sin will doom her baby. After a day of work, Winfield becomes extremely sick from eating peaches. Uncle John tells Tom that when the police catch him, there will be a lynching. Tom insists that he must leave, but Ma insists that they leave as a family. They hide Tom as they leave, taking the back roads to avoid police.
Analysis:
The comfortable situation that the Joads find in Weedpatch must inevitably come to an end, as the Joads realize that they cannot find work in that area. The Joads must then settle for accommodations at the Hooper Ranch, where they no longer have the amenities of the government camp nor the sense of a strong community. The retreat from the strong society of the government camp is reflected in the breakdown of the Joad family. Even Ma Joad realizes that the family is breaking apart, despite her best efforts to keep everybody together. Al has little concern for anybody else, and indicates that he is ready to leave himself. Pa Joad has lost his status as head of the household; he cedes entire control to Ma, the only one strong enough to keep the family together. Pa Joad makes a significant comment about gender roles, lamenting the fact that he no longer runs the family, but Ma makes it clear that the roles have only changed because he no longer fulfills his duties as husband and father. Since Ma is the only Joad who fulfills her obligations to the rest of the family she is the caretaker and moral center she gains the right to make decisions for the rest of the family. This is the major loss that Pa suffers; he no longer has the right to make decisions for the family, and must subordinate himself to his wife.
Yet even Ma Joad is not strong enough to prevent the gradual disintegration of the Joad household. Al appears ready to abandon the Joads next; he is more concerned with finding a girl and a steady job working on cars than with helping his family support themselves. In his dreams of successful, steady employment he resembles the callous Connie. Rose of Sharon in turn descends into a paranoid religious hysteria. She fears for the safety of her child, and holds delusions that the murders her brother has committed will permanently scar the child with sin. This relates to the earlier influence of Lisbeth Sandry, the religious zealot who warned Rose of Sharon against sin. Even the two children begin to noticeably suffer: Winfield becomes sick from deprivation.
The conditions at the Hooper Ranch are worse than those at the government camp, but still more manageable than they could be. The Joads have a roof over their heads and are paid sufficient wages. However, the store owned by the ranch artificially raises prices for items, for it is the only nearby store where the workers can buy groceries, and the wages are high initially only because of a strike. Ma Joad makes the significant observation at the grocery store that it is only the poor who will help out other impoverished people; the clerk at the grocery store will help her, but the owners of the grocery store will exploit the workers through inflated prices.
The strike is the catalyst for another tragedy for the Joad family. When Tom finds the striking workers, he is reunited with Jim Casy, who has been released from jail and found a new purpose as a labor activist. His lost religious zeal has been transformed into working-class activism, charged by his experiences in jail and traveling to California. Casy is a crusader for the cause; the indecision over his role as a preacher earlier in the novel has been replaced by a fiery conviction concerning the justice of his cause. There is a strong political text to the final scenes with Casy, who compares their cause to that of Lincoln, Washington and the patriots of the French revolution. Steinbeck makes it clear that these activists are facing certain doom, but they will be vindicated eventually. Casy, who sacrificed his freedom for Tom earlier in the novel, makes a final sacrifice in this chapter, the victim of a brutal murder at the hands of the police. Casy has now been a martyr for the Joad family and now for the entire class that the Joads represent.
The effect of this martyrdom is that Tom must now leave Hooper ranch to escape capture from the police. Although he wishes to go alone, Ma Joad once again binds the family together. She chooses to risk the safety of the entire family to preserve whatever unity the family has left.