Grief In John Steinbeck's The Grapes Of Wrath

The way that Ruth dealt with their grief over Hunter’s death is that she is depressed when Hunter suffered from a relapse, because Ruth’s husbands were good men, and they changed her for the better, and made her accept God to avoid anti-Semitism. However, since Andrew died due to a lung disease (p242), and Hunter also died due to a relapse (p128), Ruth cried and suffered over Hunter’s death, unable to maintain order into her house, got rid of Hunter’s stuff in her house, and left her past so behind that she forgot how to drive a car (p167). Hunter’s death resulted in Ruth having difficulty to maintain a house with her 12 children as a single parent, and it filled Ruth with negative feelings such as sadness and anger.
The way that James dealt
Ruth knew that interracial marriage was prohibited; however she married a black man, yet her husband wasn’t killed. She started a relationship with Peter, however he was unable to marry Ruth due to interracial marriage being prohibited, and if that happens, Peter will be killed either by Tateh (Fishel) or any other person, and Ruth will be kicked out (banned) from the Southern town (p107). Then, she started another relationship with Andrew, changed her by making her welcome to God, living together (p196) as spouses although not married, and considering her marriage. Both Peter and Andrew hesitated to marry Ruth due to the actions that will occur in the South. However, since Ruth and Andrew are moving to New York, Ruth told Andrew that “This isn’t the South. This is New York, and I’m a new Christian before God and I’m not living in sin anymore”. Finally, Ruth and Andrew got married (p236). James’ experiences with racism were that he is confused whatever he is white or black (p91). James was always sensing that her mother is different especially on her race, so he asked why don’t she look like the other mothers (p12), and also if she was white (p19). Ruth gave indirect answers, and changed the topic for all of James’ questions that he asked. Throughout Chapter 4, when James experiences black power, he was afraid that black students will kill James’ mother, because James’ mother was white