Being Prohibited to Help Her Husband in Leading their Family
women‘s position under male supremacy, they are powerless. It means they do not deserve to be leaders. This becomes the gender role problem.
Through
The Grapes of Wrath
, this problem is clearly seen in the Joads family.
The first example is that when the Joads discuss to plan to the west. After the landowner asks them to go out from the farm, Pa leads his
family to prepare everything that the family needs. Pa asks Uncle John to give suggestions, but Uncle John does not give any opinion. Then, Ma
gives her opinion to help her husband. However, Pa wants his wife to be silence. This can be seen below.
The family became a unit. Pa squatted down on the ground, and Uncle John beside him. Pa was the head of the family now. Pa
said, ―John, what should we do?‖ ―we have to prepare all the stuff for movin‘ to west,‖ said Ma. ―Be a good girl, Ma. Don‘t make us
more c omplicated. Let we do what we must do‖ Pa said to Ma.
Steinbeck,1939:93
The J oads‘ men are in discussion and Ma who is prohibited to help her
husband shows that there is a distinction on their roles. This implies that men have more dominant role than women, so that it does not give
women an opportunity to participate in leading the family. The second example is when Ma asks to her husband about the plan
to face the drought in Oklahoma. When the drought hits Oklahoma, Pa has no idea to arrange the plan for the family. As the member of the
Joads family, Ma wants to know about the plan in order that the family
can earn money. However, Pa orders her to come back to the house and he does not want to hear Ma‘s question. This can be seen below.
The tenant men squatted down their hams against to mark the dust with a stick, to figure, to wonder. The women moved out of the
doorways toward their men, and the children crept behind the women, cautiously, ready to run. After a time the women asked,
―what did he want ? ― ― We got to get off,‖ Pa said.
― Where‘ll we go?‖, Ma asked ― We don‘t know. We don‘t know. Back to the house ‖
And the women back to the house quickly, and quietly. Steinbeck, 1939: 23
This shows that Ma is being discriminated by her husband. Ma‘s question
indicates that she wants to be a part of family‘s planning. She feels that she also has a responsibility to lead the family. However, Pa orders his
wife to go back to the house. In this case, he does not need her question because he feels comfortable to make a plan with the Joads‘ men. The
significance of his order to Ma is that Pa wants her to do her roles as a domestic care-taker because it is the values of the society. For that
reason, Ma has to go back to the house. This situation can be interpreted that Ma is regarded incapable to lead the family because her role is
domestic. Another example is when Pa discusses with the landowner. The
landowner gives him information about the drought in Oklahoma and job opportunity in California. However, Pa believes that the landowner lies
to him in order that the Joads move out to California. He decides to stay in Oklahoma for a while. However, Ma disagrees with his decision and
believes that the landowner gives true information. Pa does not respond her opinions because he wants to protect his decision from being wrongly
judged. This can be seen below. ― Your father got a hand‘bill on yella paper, tellin‘ how they need
folks to work. They wouldn‘t go to that trouble if they wasn‘t plenty work. Costs‘em good money to get them han‘bills out.
What they want ta lie for, an‘ costin‘em money to lie?‖ Pa Joad, ― I don‘t know, Ma. It‘s kinda hard to think why they
done it. Maybe –―
― Maybe what ?‖ ― maybe it‘s nice, like you says. Where‘d Grampa go ? Where‘d
the preacher go?‖ Ma was going out of the house. She walked to the line and began
to drape pale blue jeans and blue shirts and long gray underwear over the wire. Steinbeck, 1939:61
From the data, Ma is being discriminated to be a part of leading the family. She tries to help solving the family‘s problem, but Pa is too
confident to lead his family. He does not need any suggestion or interruption. He tries to maintain his superiority over Ma. In Ma‘s side,
she just obeys her husband. Although she has a good opinion to be considered, she has to accept for being silent woman.
In short, Ma Joad becomes the victim of unfair values. Pas role as a leader restricts his wife‘s rights. He often rejects Ma‘s opinions. She has
been assumed as the one who does not have a social function. She is just as a complement and a servant of men. It is in line with Walby‘s
statement 1990:21 ―housewives are the producing class, while the husband the expropriating class.‖ The producing class means women
should obey men‘s commands, while the expropriating class means men have a right to order women.