Treatment of Family in The Grapes of Wrath

This paper analyzes John Ford's treatment of family in his 1940 film, The Grapes of Wrath. Made between two world wars, the film examines the changes and uncertainties in the traditional way of life as big business and greed threaten ties of blood and history. In many ways, Ford has created a socially subversive film that, for much of the time, argues for individual action over obedience to authority. Ultimately, however, he suggests that salvation can be found in the form of the larger family of a benevolent federal government. It is an interesting message for a country trying to stay out of world conflict while healing from a devastating economic disaster.

John Steinbeck's powerful novel chronicles the plight of the "Okies," the tenant farmers in the Oklahoma Dust Bowl who were forced out of their family farms by historic drought. Ford's film of the novel focuses on the odyssey of one family, the Joads, as they head for California and its golden promises of redemption.

The film begins with the return of the eldest son, Tom, who was sent to prison for killing a man in a bar fight and is returning home on parole. His family home, farmed by the Joads for 50 years, is being reclaimed by the bank. In a flashback, Tom learns the fate of his family and their neighbors, outraged at the well-dressed, well-fed men who arrive in cars to enforce decisions made by strangers in far away board rooms. He discovers his family at his uncle's home, ready to abandon the farm and head w

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le to reach out to another family in need in ways that are impossible for hired mercenaries to even understand. By the time the little band of Joads has crossed into California, they have lost members and much of their hope. Ma declares, "We was whole and clear . . . [but] there ain't no family now." Their numbers are dwindling and their prospects seem dismal. The preacher, who has already confessed to Tom's crime of beating a hired deputy, eventually takes a bullet for Tom. His sacrifices redeem the fallen minister, giving him a new purpose and a renewed peace, and they are in protection of his adopted family more than for any larger group of people. Just as the family does seem to be truly dissolved, however, the Joads find themselves welcomed into a new world. The government-run camp offers sanitary facilities more modern than the family has ever seen (the children are convinced they have broken the indoor plumbing the first time they discover a flushing toilet). Tom is especially suspicious when they first arrive and are greeted by the avuncular camp director. This representative of "Uncle Sam" seems too good to be true, in a world that has become increasingly hostile. Until this moment, Ford has presented a place in wh

Category: Film - T