Analysis of Ma Joad

The character of Tom's mother, Ma Joad, is first introduced through a story that Tom tells Muley Graves and Jim Casy:

"I seen her beat the hell out of a tin peddler with a live chicken 'cause he gave her an argument. She had the chicken in one hand and the axe in the other, about to cut his head off. She aimed to go for the peddler with that ax, but she forgot which hand is which, and she takes after him with the chicken". (John Steinbeck).

It is very clear from the beginning of the novel that Ma Joad is a very strong, tough female character. She also has a strong intuition, which is exhibited the best when she starts to doubt the prospects that the family will find in California. But the family has to go anyway, if they want any chance of survival. Ma Joad is also the backbone of her family. She took care of them and made sure that they all knew their place in the family dynamic, and provided them with the strength and encouragement they needed to press on and survive..

Even though Ma Joad does not have an easy life, she remains cool, calm, and collected. She loses her house and her land, but manages to remain as solid and strong as a rock because the family cannot survive without her. Ma Joad's outlook on life and her strong personality is what makes the members of the Joad family the way that they are.

By the end of the novel, you would think that Ma Joad would be worn down and stretched thin and ready to give up, but this is not the case. She is a strong woman in the beginning of the novel, and she is the same strong woman at the end of the novel. All of the tragedy and change only made her fiercer and stronger and more determined to see her family survive.