Gender Relation, Matriarchy and Feminism in Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath

Abstract

Critics have argued that John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath is a novel about social and inner changes. As the Joad family starts its journey to California, there organization of the family becomes essential to their survival. In times of material loss, Ma Joad breaks with patriarchal rules, emerges as the new leader of her family, and plays more than the housewife role assigned to the women of her time. She becomes, then, an essential figure to the maintenance of the family’s integrity. The aim of this study is to analyze the way in which the determination of new social values, especially those regarding the role of women in the family, occur in the novel, taking into consideration the historical context of migration in which the narrative takes place. The main argument of my thesis will be the violation of traditional norms of Patriarchy and highly welcoming Matriarchy in Steinbeck’s work The Grapes of Wrath,though several critics have argued about this piece of art on the Marxist ground. The migratory movement to the west contributes to the ascertaining of new social values and to the establishment of new family roles. With Pa Joad’s loss of control over his family during the journey, Ma is capable of breaking with the patriarchal ideology to assume a more influential position in the family. This thesis endorses some previous studies on The Grapes of Wrath, and represents an opportunity for new studies on the novel.