The family in the beginning of the book was quite separated. Tom was just got out of prison. He happens to reunite with Jim Casey, an former priest at his old church. Reuniting with Casey allows him to reunite with his family. The family was a bit scattered at first. The readers meet the kids later on when we meet Rose of Sharon and Connie . The characters travel together, and they begin to meet other people and the family builds. However, at this point in the novel we see the characters begin to split up. Connie leaves to the river, Grandma and Grandpa die, and the family is beginning to be separated.
It is also important to note that Ma is very protective over the family dynamics. When people ask to leave, Ma throws a tantrum, and often ruling against Pa. To Ma, family symbolizes the only hope they have left. However, Ma isn't the only family member concerned with the deranged dynamic of her household.
Rose of Sharon is also concerned with her future family. The quote I choose is when Rose of Sharon asks where Connie is. Pa replies saying that he was seen by the river. This shows that the family is drifting apart. I think this shows that macro features of the text to show how society began to divide when times get worse. This also relates to the them of the human help, and how they don't help others.
"In the vening a strange thing happened: the twenty families became on family..."
This quote shows the family relationship up to this point (Chp 20) After this, the family begins to split apart, as we find multiple characters face death.
Need to work with the quote that you chose. The background is interesting, but needs to come after the quote so that you can connect your observations to that quote.
ReplyDeleteYou say that in the beginning, the family was separated, but that at this point, they are splitting up. So there has been no change?
To clarify, Casy was not a part of the Joad's actual family. He was part of their "human" family, but they were not related.
Make sure to spell Casy correctly!