The Grapes of Wrath Main Characters – Introduction
The novel has third person omniscient narration and centers around the plight of the Joad family. The main protagonist is Tom Joad, as he is the character who is most centrally focused on. However, the rest of the family are also considered to be main characters as their problems and Tom’s problems are mostly the same. The antagonist can be considered to be the banks, the landowners, and any other forces that contribute to the systematic oppression of migrant workers who were forced off their land and away from the jobs they’d known for decades.
The Grapes of Wrath Character List
Here is an overview of the main characters of The Grapes of Wrath.
- Grapes of Wrath Protagonist – Tom Joad
- Grapes of Wrath Antagonist – The banks and the landowners
- Grapes of Wrath Narrator – Third person omniscient
Tom Joad Description
Tom Joad Character Traits – Tom is Ma and Pa’s favorite son. He is relatively easy-going and does whatever he can to support his family, despite the fact that he has a temper that led him to serving a prison sentence for manslaughter. Tom does not dwell on this much, though, as he finds it more prudent to live in the present. He is wise and even keeled most of the time and he is intensely dedicated to his family. He has a moral strength to his character that inspires many of the novel’s other characters, including the former preacher Jim Casy.
Jim Casy Description
Jim Casy Character Traits – A former preacher who has given up a life of faith in order to contemplate some of the deeper questions about what it means to be alive. He tends to believe that all of the human experience is holy, even that which is generally considered to be sinful. Casy tends to serve as a moral voice for the novel, reflecting the trials that the family go through and putting a more philosophical spin on them. Casy fiercely admires Tom and winds up dedicating his life to worker’s rights.
Ma Joad Description
Ma Joad Character Traits – The family’s matriarch and eventually its leader. Ma is wise and fiercely committed to protecting her family. She is not afraid to stand up for her family or her own needs. She is kind and always shares with others when she can, even if it will cause harm to herself.
Pa Joad Description
Pa Joad Character Traits – The father of the family and Ma’s husband. Pa is soft-spoken and not a naturally firm person. He is kind-hearted and wants the best for his family and others like his. Pa leads the effort to move to California eventually, before the travels wear him down to become more contemplative rather than action oriented. Pa doesn’t love letting Ma take the leadership role, but he seems to understand that it’s how it has to be.
Rose of Sharon Description
Rose of Sharon Character Traits – The eldest daughter of Ma and Pa, married to Connie and carrying his child. She is a romantic and impractical young woman, presumably because of her age. Rose of Sharon and Connie share ambitions beyond the scope of the Joad family and readers. understand from the start through foreshadowing that their blissful dreams will not come true, making Rose of Sharon a sympathetic and pitied character. This is enhanced as Rose of Sharon grows up considerably through the course of the novel, and she becomes more respected than pitied.
Connie Description
Connie Character Traits – Rose of Sharon’s husband. He succumbs to the pressures of life on the road and abandons the family.
Grampa Joad Description
Grampa Joad Character Traits – The patriarch of the family, until he dies on the road. He fiercely wished to stay home and was outraged at being forced away from it. He had a violent temper and was cruel towards his wife. Grampa dies shortly after being forced away from his home.
Granma Joad Description
Granma Joad Character Traits – Granma is a spirited old woman whose health deteriorates after her husband’s death. She dies just after the family reaches California.
Al Joad Description
Al Joad Character Traits – The sixteen-year-old brother of Tom who is obsessed with cars and girls. He is vain, but a talented mechanic who picks out a sturdy truck to transport the family and keeps it running throughout the trip. He also lends his mechanic skills to other families in need whose cars have not worked quite as well as the Joads’.
Noah Joad Description
Noah Joad Character Traits – Tom’s older brother. Noah feels rejected by his parents, perhaps in part due to his partial deformity. He quietly leaves the family as they near California, feeling that they would be better off without him.
Ruthie Joad Description
Ruthie Joad Character Traits – The youngest Joad daughter, Ruthie is a feisty young girl.
Winfield Joad Description
Winfield Joad Character Traits – The youngest Joad son, Winfield is spirited but has an overall soft character.
Uncle John Description
Uncle John Character Traits – The kind uncle of Tom and the rest of the Joad children. He is wracked with guilt over not calling for a doctor on his wife’s request many years ago. As a result, she died of some illness and he never forgave himself. This has led him to be extraordinarily kind to the children in his family, and fiercely loyal to all of the Joad family.
Ivy and Sairy Wilson Description
Ivy and Sairy Wilson Character Traits – The couple traveling to California who the Joads meet on the road. The Wilsons lend their tend to Grampa so that he can lay out and die comfortably. In return, the Joad family lets the Wilsons accompany them in their truck, as the Wilsons’ car has broken down. Ultimately, Sairy’s health becomes so bad that they have to stay behind as the Joads continue onward. The two families’ dedication to one another out of kindness and solidarity is a major example of how people can come together to help one another out in hard times, something that Steinbeck saw as a trait in many of the struggling migrant families of the time.
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