The Grapes of Wrath - 11

John Steinbeck is the author of the novel The Grapes of Wrath and he has shared his views in his book through the characters he created and how they interact with each other. Steinbeck values certain things more than others, and I think one thing that he sees as important is the relationship between children and their parents.

Ruthie and Winfield are the youngest children in the Joad family. They are expected to be responsible and have a sense of self control. Back at home they would play, but they were still to be polite and help out some. After the family started going through the hardships of traveling West, they were expected to step it up some, and become even more mature and be more responsible than before. Every camp they came to they were expected to fill up a bucket of water and collect kindling for a fire, without being asked. During the days of the long journey, they were not to complain, they needed to be mature just like everyone else because everyone else had to endure the hardship as well.

As the book went on, Ruthie and Winfield began receiving more responsibilities and were expected to be more mature and responsible. By the time they reached California, they each had to help pick peaches and the family counted on them to help make enough money to feed the family. They also had to help pick the cotton in the cotton fields, and their ma even made a bag for each of them to collect cotton in.

I believe after reading this book that Steinbeck believes children should obey their parents and always be respectful to their parents and of their parents. I also think he believes that children can handle responsibility and should be given responsibilities and should have a standard that they should meet and goals to try to attain. I also think that Steinbeck think that children need to help their parents. He knows that children will play and have fun, and he is OK with that as long as they contribute to the family and do their share of work.

On the flip side, parents need to set a good example for their children. They also need to be there to protect and comfort their children, just like Ma does with Ruthie after Ruthie told about Tom being in hiding. Steinbeck believes parents need to set their kids up to prosper, and not to fail by leading them down a good path and always do things with their child's best interest in mind.

Steinbeck, John. The Grapes of Wrath. New York: Penguin, 2002, Print.