The Grapes of Wrath
(John Steinbeck)

Tom Joad

Tom is the protagonist of the novel and the obviously favorite son of Ma and Pa Joad. At the start of the novel, he has just been released from prison for manslaughter and finds that his family has been kicked off their farm and forced to move west after a drought has destroyed their crops and their only source of income, causing the bank to repossess their homes.

Tom keeps the family lively and always tries to better their situation, even if it gets him into some trouble along the way. He is respected by nearly everyone he meets, especially his family, as he has a strength and will that not many people in their situation possess.

Ma Joad

Ma Joad is the matriarch of the Joad family. She enjoys her role as the caregiver for her family and does not besmirch the idea a woman’s role in the family. She serves as the glue that holds the family together, cares for them when they are sick, stops then from arguing amongst themselves and others, and has an ever-optimistic attitude about their situation.

Ma refuses to allow her family to fear the worst and instead keeps them hoping for the best and always moving forward. She makes the decisions about when the family should move, and everyone listens to her and respects her opinions.

Pa Joad

Pa Joad is the father of the Joad family. He was once a tenant farmer in Oklahoma though when the drought came, and he was unable to pay his dues he and his family were forced to leave the farm and head west where they hear there is work. Pa is a kind man who always says exactly what he means; never more, never less. When Pa has a hard time finding work in California he allows himself to look up to Ma for support, accepting that it is okay to let someone else be strong at times, despite the fact that he has moments where he feels ashamed.

Jim Casy

Jim Casy was once the preacher at the church that the Joad family attended, but has since put that life behind him. Tom Joad meets up with Jim when he first arrives on his parents’ farm which has recently been abandoned. Jim joins with the family on their journey to California and becomes an honorary member.

Jim is very moral and believes that human life itself is holy. He goes to jail for Tom because he knows Tom is on parole and will be in deep trouble if he is caught. Jim becomes an organizer of the migrant workers, a job Tom takes over after Jim is killed by a police officer.

Grampa Joad

Grampa is Tom’s grandfather and Pa’s father. Grampa ran the Joad farm before Pa did though he is not too old and worn down to do so. At one point in time, he had a very violent temper though in his old age his violence has become only verbal, as he has a very sharp tongue. He enjoys talking about sinful things to shock people and drive his religious wife crazy. He is the comedic element of the novel though they also is an example of how tied the farmers are to their land. He refuses to leave the land at first, and the family has to drug him with sleeping pills to get him on the truck. Soon after the journey begins, Grampa dies.

Granma Joad

Granma is Tom’s grandmother and Pa’s mother. She is piously religious, and most of her time is spent damning Grampa for his sinful words, convinced that he will end up in Hell for his non-Christian comments.

Granma falls ill right after Grampa dies and her health deteriorates quite rapidly. When the family is forced to retreat from the tent, they are staying in on the side of the road, Ma worries for Granma. As they pass a checkpoint in the road, Ma urges the police to let them pass so they can get medical help for her, though she soon shares with the family that Granma has been dead for quite some time.

Rose of Sharon

Rose of Sharon is Tom’s sister and the oldest of the Joad’s daughters. She is married to a boy named Connie and is pregnant with his child. Rose of Sharon is a bit of a dreamer and she, and Connie have the grand notions of someday living in a big city and raising their child together.

As the family succumbs to the migrant lifestyle Rose of Sharon realizes that the dreams she has will never come true; Connie leaves her when they reach California. A religious woman named Mrs. Sandry tells Rose of Sharon not to participate in any sinful activity or her child will be born dead and bloody so Rose of Sharon is careful of what she does but the baby is stillborn anyway.

Al Joad

Al is Tom’s younger brother, sixteen years old. He is in charge of driving the truck to California as he is the most mechanically inclined and he is also girl-crazy. Al is extremely cocky, especially when it comes to his mechanical skills, though his skills are vitally important to the family and those they befriend along their journey.

Al looks up to Tom at the beginning of the novel, but by the end he grows into a man and becomes his own person. Al falls in love with a girl named Agnes Wainwright and they decide they want to get married, so Al stays with her family rather than leave with his own when they move on.

The Wilsons

Ivy and Sairy Wilson are a couple that the Joads encounter on Route 66 while headed toward California, just before Grampa dies. The Wilsons are kind enough to allow the Joads to use their tent for Grampa to die in, so he can be as comfortable as possible. The Joads, grateful, fix the Wilsons’ car for them, and they decide to make the rest of the trip together, as a group. They travel together as far as they can but as they get further west Sairy’s health starts to fail and the Joads are forced to leave the Wilsons as Sairy can no longer travel.

Noah Joad

Noah is Tom’s older brother who has spent his whole life with his family because he was born deformed; Pa was forced to deliver Noah, and he panicked and pulled the baby out too quickly and a bit rough. Noah becomes his own person as the family journeys toward California, and he decides to leave them when they are near the California border. Noah tells Tom that it is time for him to go because although their parents have tolerated him his whole life he knows that they do not love him like they love the other children, especially Tom.

Uncle John

Uncle John is Tom’s uncle who spends his whole life trying to make up for the negligence he once showed his wife. His wife was pregnant with their child, and when she complained of stomach pains he thought it was probably not serious and he refused to get her a doctor. She ended up dying, and John felt responsible for her death. John shows great generosity and kindness to everyone he cares about in an effort to make up for the fact that he inadvertently caused his wife’s death.

Ruthie Joad

Ruthie is the youngest daughter of the Joad family. Ruthie spends all of her time with her brother, Winfield, as the two are the youngest of the family. They are very dependent upon one another and are very competitive. When another child tries to take some of Ruthie’s Cracker Jacks candy she warns him that her brother, Tom, has killed two men. Tom had been hiding from the authorities, knowing they would kill him as they did Jim, and when Ruthie revealed his secret Tom was forced to run again for fear he would be caught if he stayed.

Winfield Joad

Winfield is the youngest child in the Joad family, at ten years old, and spends all of his time with his sister, Ruthie. Winfield and Ruthie are very competitive with one another. Because Winfield is the youngest child in the family, Ma worries that living a life with no roots, as they are as migrant workers, will affect Winfield negatively. She believes that if he lives a life with no structure he will grow to be a wild-child and have a hard time adapting to a normal life if he ever gets the chance to live one again.

Muley Graves

Muley is a neighbor of the Joads back in Oklahoma. Despite the fact that everyone who has been evicted seems to be moving to California, Muley decides to stay and live off the land. Muley refuses to leave his property, though he sends his wife and children to California to search for a better life without him. Muley comes across Tom and Jim when they are searching for the Joads and tells them that they are at Uncle John’s house. When the family leaves Grampa wants to stay behind and live off the land like Muley does, but the family drugs him and makes him come with them.

Agnes Wainwright

The Wainwrights are a family that the Joads meet in California and must share their boxcar with when working in the cotton fields. Al grows very close to Agnes and her family, and the two decide they want to get married. When the Joads are forced to leave the boxcar due to flooding Al decides to stay behind with the Wainwrights, as he does not wish to leave Agnes.