The author of The Grapes of Wrath, John Steinbeck, does indeed think that certain responsibilities exist between males and females. The book incorporates many confrontations between men and women. Men and women are seen within the Joad family, in camps on the journey to California, and in California.
In the novel, while Granpa was still alive, he was given the head position of the family. Whenever the family had meetings or important things to discuss, Granpa always had the first say, even if he was not quite in the right state of mind to be having logical input. The family still regarded him as the head of the family, because they valued males as the rightful authority of the family. After granpa dies, Pa is to become the leader of the family because their culture views males as the head of the household, as does John Steinbeck.
While on the road to California, the family is overwhelmed by many tragic things, and because of this Pa spends most of his time in thought, rather than leading and guiding his family. Since Pa does not step up to the role of leadership in his family as he should, Ma steps in. She gets quite aggressive and lets her family know that they are not going to quit on each other and are going to keep pushing through. She eventually gets to the point where she tells her husband what to do, tells her kids what to do, and is the rock of the family whom everyone looks to for direction. I think Steinbeck believes it is right for a mother to intervene if a father is not being a leader, but I think he shows by the dysfunction of the family that it is ideal for the father to be the leader of the family. God designed men to have dominion over women, and that is how it is. I believe Steinbeck used the joads as an example family, with faults, to coax us to realize how the family dynamic should be between man and woman.
Steinbeck, John. The Grapes of Wrath. New York: Penguin, 2002. Print.
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