Accepting Death

In addition to being long, chapter thirteen in The Grapes of Wrath was somewhat sad as there were two deaths in the chapter. My personal favorite character because of his "live life to the fullest and I'm sticking to my roots and hometown" attitude and his disorderly array of how he lived his life was Grampa, a.k.a. William James Joad. He died of a stroke when the Joads stopped to rest for the night. Grampa had been feeling poorly ever since the Joads left their farm to head to California, but he slept most of the time while on the road in the truck. Then, Grampa fell asleep again at camp, suffered from a stroke in the Wilson's tent, and passed away. The Joad family argued a lot about what to do with Grampa's body, as they did not want to pay the 40 dollar fee to bury their dead. So, the Joads ended up burying Grampa and covered the dirt over his body with scrap so no one would know they had "illegally" buried someone.

After burying Grampa, I found it interesting the conversation that went on between the members of the Joad family. The preacher said that he knew Grampa was dead as soon as they left their farm in Oklahoma. But there was nothing anyone could have done, because either way would have resulted in Grampa's death. Then, as the Joads were preparing to sleep for the night, the mood in the atmosphere seemed as if Grampa had been gone a year instead of just a few hours. to me, it displayed how quickly the Joad family had to move on and not let death affect them. The Joad family buried Grampa and paid their respects, but they now had to focus once again on the task at hand: getting to California.

I mentioned early that there was another death. The other death was not as important as Grampa's, but I felt it needed recognition as it could be symbolism or foreshadowing. The Joad's family dog was hit and killed at a pit stop by a car driving on the highway. The Joad's reactions were mixed, but mostly just of relief. Pa said the dog's death was for the better, as they would not be able to care and feed the dog anyway. So once again, the family had to accept the dog's death and move on.