Gender Roles In The Grapes Of Wrath

Setting including time period and location can have a direct effect on how genders roles are perceived. I believe that this is true in both fiction and in real life when the times are good and the country is stable people will fall into the age old mindset that men are the rulers of the household, country and any establishment of power while women are the homemakers, the healers and the bearers of children. This is because people are afraid of changing anything lest their comfort and stability be taken away-why change what’s been tried and proven and risk upsetting the peace we have now?
When times are tough however, people will look towards those who can lead them back to comfort and stability-no matter their gender.
This is true of gender roles in “The Grapes of Wrath” as well. Towards the beginning of the book men are portrayed and think of themselves as the rulers of the household, as the ones responsible for making sure their wives and families ate and lived comfortably no matter what. The women are portrayed as the rocks who
Or at least advise the men. When the elderly become sick it’s the women who know what steps to take in order to nurse them back to health, when the money runs low it’s the women who come up with ways to stretch out the food supply and when they are met with some unforeseen accident it is the women who know that the family will never survive without each other.
The jack handle flickered hungrialy back and forth in Ma’s hand. “Come on,” said Ma. “You make up your mind. Come on and whup me. Jus’ try it. But I ain’t a-goin’; or if I do, you ain’t never gonna get no sleep,’cause I’ll wait an’ I’ll wait an’ jus the minute you take sleep in your eyes, I’ll slap ya with a stick a stove wood.” (Grapes of Wrath