The Grapes of Wrath Dignity and Honor Quotes

After a while the faces of the watching men lost their bemused perplexity and became hard and angry and resistant. Then the women knew that they were safe and that there was no break.

– John Steinbeck

The Grapes of Wrath, Chapter 1. Initially the poor Oklahoma tenant farmers are confused and bewildered by the Dust Bowl’s destruction of their crops. But that reaction soon turns to anger and resistance, as they refuse to break and their instincts of survival and perseverance kick in. Despite the dying crops, the women believe that their men are not broken and their faces reflect hope. The desire of the fathers and husbands to be seen as men, breadwinners who can still provide for their family, is evident here. Instead of sinking into despair and hopelessness, the men maintain their dignity and react with anger.

Then the women knew that they were safe and that there was no break. Then they asked, What’ll we do? And the men replied, I don’t know. But it was all right. The women knew it was all right, and the watching children knew it was all right. Women and children knew deep in themselves that no misfortune was too great to bear if their men were whole.

– John Steinbeck

The Grapes of Wrath, Chapter 1. Themes of family, dignity, power of unity, survival and perseverance are addressed in this passage. It spells out how individuals in the family depend on each other when the sharecroppers are faced with a natural disaster. Relieved women and children get reassurance from the men that they will not be broken by the environmental destruction of the Dust Bowl. Instead of being beaten down, the men react with anger and resistance. Human dignity is maintained. The families believe that they will survive as long as the men can hold it together and not give up.

"If on’y they didn’t tell me I got to get off, why, I’d prob’y be in California right now a-eatin’ grapes an’ a-pickin’ an orange when I wanted. But them sons-a-bitches says I got to get off – an’, Jesus Christ, a man can’t, when he’s tol’ to!"

– John Steinbeck

The Grapes of Wrath, Chapter 6. An angry Muley Graves reveals that the only reason he is not in California with his family is because he won’t told what to do. The landowners told him to leave, so he showed his resistance by staying. Muley is the classic example of a stubborn person, choosing dignity and resistance over what others would see as pragmatism. He is the solitary one among all the evicted tenant farmers who remains behind.

And from her great and humble position in the family she had taken dignity and a clean calm beauty. From her position as healer, her hands had grown sure and cool and quiet; from her position as arbiter she had become as remote and faultless in judgment as a goddess. She seemed to know that if she swayed the family shook, and if she ever really deeply wavered or despaired the family would fall, the family will to function would be gone.

– John Steinbeck

The Grapes of Wrath, Chapter 8. Using a simile, Steinbeck compares Ma Joad to a goddess. Without doubt Steinbeck’s creation is one of the strongest female characters in literature, and at a time when women were generally not thought of as strong. She is portrayed as the Joads’ healer, their source of strength and calm and happiness, the glue that holds her family together. She is the to-go person, regardless of how good or bad the situation is.

You’re not buying only junk, you’re buying junked lives. And more – you’ll see – you’re buying bitterness. Buying a plow to plow your own children under, buying the arms and spirits that might have saved you. Five dollars, not four. I can’t haul them back – Well, take ’em for four. But I warn you, you’re buying what will plow your own children under…You’re buying a little girl plaiting the forelocks, taking off her hair ribbon to make bows, standing back, head cocked, rubbing the soft noses with her cheek. You’re buying years of work, toil in the sun; you’re buying a sorrow that can’t talk. But watch it, mister. There’s a premium goes with this pile of junk and the bay horses – so beautiful – a packet of bitterness to grow in your house and to flower, some day. We could have saved you, but you cut us down, and soon you will be cut down and there’ll be none of us to save you.

– John Steinbeck

The Grapes of Wrath, Chapter 9. This expresses the bitterness of tenant farmers forced to sell their farm tools and belongings, and what they believe will happen to the people who purchase them. They tell profiteering junk dealers who take advantage of their need by paying the least money possible, that they are buying the bitterness of people’s ruined lives. Bitterness is used here as a metaphor. Steinbeck also personifies the tools and belongings the dispossessed farmers are forced to sell. The loss of dignity they experience comes across strongly in this chapter and passage.

Now you know well what we can take and what we can’t take. We’ll be camping out – a few pots to cook and wash in, and mattresses and comforts, lantern and buckets, and a piece of canvas. Use that for a tent. This kerosene can. Know what that is? That’s the stove. And clothes – take all the clothes. And – the rifle? Wouldn’t go out naked of a rifle. When shoes and clothes and food, when even hope is gone, we’ll have the rifle. When grampa came – did I tell you? – he had pepper and salt and a rifle. Nothing else. That goes. And a bottle for water. That just about fills us. Right up the sides of the trailer, and the kids can set in the trailer, and granma on a mattress. Tools, a shovel and saw and wrench and pliers. An ax, too. We had that ax forty years. Look how she’s wore down. And ropes, of course. The rest? Leave it – or burn it up.

– John Steinbeck

The Grapes of Wrath, Chapter 9. Steinbeck makes effective use of pathos in Chapter 9 as he explores the emotional suffering tenant families must endure when they are uprooted from their homes and lives. The chapter captures the loss of dignity for migrants forced to divest themselves of personal belongings they are unable to bring with them on the journey. They take only the few things needed for survival. The rest have been sold, or are burned. What’s left of their lives and whatever dignity they can salvage, they bravely load onto the truck to head west.

And now they were weary and frightened because they had gone against a system they did not understand and it had beaten them. They knew the team and the wagon were worth much more. They knew the buyer man would get much more, but they didn’t know how to do it. Merchandizing was a secret to them.

– John Steinbeck

The Grapes of Wrath, Chapter 10. The Joad family have fallen victim to the capitalist system and been cheated by greedy dealers they went to to sell all their farm and household belongings. They only got eighteen dollars for "every movable thing from the farm: the horses, the wagon, the implements, and all the furniture from the house." They feel as if their dignity has been trampled upon.

She walked for the family and held her head straight for the family…And Granma looked straight ahead, proudly, for she was on show now.

– John Steinbeck

The Grapes of Wrath, Chapter 13. Family matriarch Granma Joad presents a composed and proud figure, as she walks out of the Wilsons’ tent with her head held high. This is moments after Grampa Joad dies from a stroke in the tent, while Jim Casy offers up a Christian prayer at Granma’s request. Themes of dignity and family are on display here.

Pa said, "We’re thankful to you folks."
"We’re proud to help," said Wilson.
"We’re beholden to you," said Pa.
"There’s no beholden in a time of dying," said Wilson, and Sairy echoed him, "Never no beholden."

– John Steinbeck

The Grapes of Wrath, Chapter 13. Ivy and Sairy Wilson offer dignity and a deathbed to the dying Grampa Joad. The Wilsons are selfless and kind people who believe in supporting other families in a time of need. They take Grampa into their tent and lay him on a mattress as he suffers a stroke.

Al said, "I’ll fix your car – me an’ Tom will." And Al looked proud that he could return the family’s obligation.

– John Steinbeck

The Grapes of Wrath, Chapter 13. Al Joad offers to repair the Wilsons’ car so that they can make it to California. This is in return for the Wilson family’s help in offering dignity and a deathbed to the dying Grampa Joad. One act of generosity inspires another in return, as two migrant families demonstrate the power of unity and community togetherness.

"We’re proud to help. I ain’t felt so – safe in a long time. People needs – to help."

– John Steinbeck

The Grapes of Wrath, Chapter 13. We see the power of the community at work in Sairy Wilson’s words, as migrant families help one another in death. Here Grampa Joad has just died. Sairy and Ivy Wilson have provided a mattress in their tent for the dying Grampa, and when he dies they help with the funeral by allowing their quilt to be used as a shroud. Ma Joad promises to replace this for them. Sairy Wilson shows her humanity in a novel that has its fair share of inhumanity.

Little worried men, reassure themselves that business is noble and not the curious ritualized thievery they know it is; that business men are intelligent in spite of the records of their stupidity; that they are kind and charitable in spite of the principles of sound business; that their lives are rich instead of the thin tiresome routines they know; and that a time is coming when they will not be afraid any more.

– John Steinbeck

The Grapes of Wrath, Chapter 15. Steinbeck denounces dishonorable businessmen who meet in clubs to lie to themselves that what they do is noble – that they are not corrupt, don’t steal and are kind and charitable. By contrast Steinbeck extols the virtues of the humble and dignified Okie migrants, their honorableness, morality and kindness.

The families learned what rights must be observed – the right of privacy in the tent; the right to keep the past black hidden in the heart; the right to talk and to listen; the right to refuse help or to accept, to offer help or to decline it; the right of son to court and daughter to be courted; the right of the hungry to be fed; the rights of the pregnant and the sick to transcend all other rights.
And the families learned, although no one told them, what rights are monstrous and must be destroyed: the right to intrude upon privacy, the right to be noisy while the camp slept, the right of seduction or rape, the right of adultery and theft and murder. These rights were crushed, because the little worlds could not exist for even a night with such rights alive.

– John Steinbeck

The Grapes of Wrath, Chapter 17. The migrants who meet together in the transient camps form communities and develop their own unwritten laws and observe certain rights. Steinbeck is talking about the construction of a new social order, a people’s government, outside of the world controlled by states and governments. In camps the individual’s honor and dignity is protected with a list of abuses outlawed by the migrants’ "constitution." Steinbeck is implying that the world outside of the camps, organised by states and governments, is the more chaotic one and does not protect all people equally.

And the great owners, who must lose their land in an upheaval, the great owners with access to history, with eyes to read history and to know the great fact: when property accumulates in too few hands it is taken away. And that companion fact: when a majority of the people are hungry and cold they will take by force what they need. And the little screaming fact that sounds through all history: repression works only to strengthen and knit the repressed.

– John Steinbeck

The Grapes of Wrath, Chapter 19. This is one of the great passages in the novel, where Steinbeck sounds a timeless warning about the destructiveness of complacent and unbridled capitalism. He suggests that the great landowners are blind to the lessons of history. With too much land owned by too few, the resulting dispossessions and inhumanity will inevitably lead to revolution. Cold and hungry people left without dignity and honor will take what they need by force and the owners will lose their land, he warns.

"Well, when the cops come in, an’ they come in all a time, that’s how you want ta be. Dumb – don’t know nothin’. Don’ understan’ nothin’. That’s how the cops like us. Don’t hit no cops. That’s jus’ suicide. Be bull-simple."

– John Steinbeck

The Grapes of Wrath, Chapter 20. Tom learns more about the prejudices migrant workers face in a system weighed against them. Floyd Knowles offers advice to him on how to deal with cops who come into the Hooverville camp. You have to sacrifice your dignity and act stupid and less than human because that’s how cops see migrants. Also don’t fight the cops, Floyd advises.

"If it was the law they was workin’ with, why, we could take it. But it ain’t the law. They’re a-workin’ away at our spirits. They’re a-tryin’ to make us cringe an’ crawl like a whipped bitch. They tryin’ to break us. Why, Jesus Christ, Ma, they comes a time when the on’y way a fella can keep his decency is by takin’ a sock at a cop. They’re workin’ on our decency."

– John Steinbeck

The Grapes of Wrath, Chapter 20. Tom Joad explains to his mother why he is so angry with the police deputies, as she attempts to restrain him. He is bitter about the way they mistreat and humiliate migrants, stamping on their dignity. He wants to fight back and take "a sock" at them.

"Those folks in the camp are getting used to being treated like humans. When they go back to the squatters’ camps they’ll be hard to handle…Go on out to work now. Jesus, I hope I haven’t talked myself out of my farm. But I like you people."

– John Steinbeck

The Grapes of Wrath, Chapter 22. Mr. Thomas is the small farmer with a big conscience. He reveals how the bigger farm owners are unhappy with the humane conditions migrant workers are used to in the government camps. Migrants are treated with dignity there. The farm bosses want to put an end to the camps becauses they fear rebellion by workers demanding a better deal. Thomas is a man of courage, who is risking his own livelihood by blowing the whistle on the Farmer’s Associaton.

"We’re Joads. We don’t look up to nobody. Grampa’s grampa, he fit in the Revolution. We was farm people till the debt. And then – them people. They done somepin to us. Ever’ time they come seemed like they was a-whippin’ me – all of us. An’ in Needles, that police. He done somepin to me, made me feel mean. Made me feel ashamed. An’ now I ain’t ashamed. These folks is our folks – is our folks. An’ that manager, he come an’ set an’ drank coffee, an’ he says, ‘Mrs. Joad’ this, an’ ‘Mrs. Joad’ that – an’ ‘How you getting’ on, Mrs. Joad?’" She stopped and sighed. "Why, I feel like people again."

– John Steinbeck

The Grapes of Wrath, Chapter 22. Three of the themes in this passage are family, humanity and dignity. Ma Joad has just met with manager of the Weedpatch government relief camp Jim Rawley. After the Joads’ bad experiences at the hands of hostile police and exploitative landowners, she is pleasantly surprised by him. Rawley treats her with kindness and respect, making her feel like a human being again. She speaks of the Joads as a proud family who worked the land until they were dispossessed. But the affects of life on the road turned her into someone mean and tough, she admits. Her encounter with Rawley she helped her feel part of the fellowship of humanity again and reconnect with her fellow migrants.

The huge Jessie spoke, and her manner was full of dignity and kindness, and her speech was rehearsed. "You shouldn’ think we’re a-buttin’ into your business, Mis’ Joad. This here camp got a lot of stuff ever’body uses. An’ we got rules we made ourself. Now we’re a-goin’ to the unit. That there, ever’body uses, an’ ever’body got to take care of it."

– John Steinbeck

The Grapes of Wrath, Chapter 22. Jessie Bullit is head of the Ladies Committee in Weedpath camp and gives Ma Joad a tour of the facilities. She is portrayed as a confident person who is also kind and dignified.

"Now you hol’ up your head," Jessie said. "That ain’t no crime. You jes’ waltz right over t’ the Weedpatch store an’ git you some groceries. The camp got twenty dollars’ credit there. You git yourself fi’ dollars’ worth. An’ you kin pay it back to the Central Committee when you git work. Mis’ Joyce, you knowed that," she said sternly. "How come you let your girls git hungry?"
"We ain’t never took no charity," Mrs. Joyce said.
"This ain’t charity, an’ you know it," Jessie raged. "We had all that out. They ain’t no charity in this here camp. We won’t have no charity.

– John Steinbeck

The Grapes of Wrath, Chapter 22. This is a conversation between the head of Weedpatch Ladies’ Committee and a mother of five children with the "howlin’ skitters." Mrs. Joyce is low on money because of no work but doesn’t want to accept charity. Jessie Bullit offers help from the committee to be repaid whenever Mrs. Joyce can, while assuring her that it is not charity. A number of themes are explored here, like the dignity of the individual and the strength of community also Emerson’s idea of "Over-Soul."

"We don’t allow nobody in this camp to build theirself up that-away. We don’t allow nobody to give nothing to another person. They can give it to the camp, an’ the camp can pass it out. We won’t have no charity!"

– John Steinbeck

The Grapes of Wrath, Chapter 22. Annie Littlefield, member of the Ladies’ Committee, is very conscious of preserving the dignity of migrants who need help at the government camp. The camp is organized so that people are helped without it being viewed as charity.

"I lived out at Sunlan’ Lan’ an’ Cattle Company’s place. Honest to God, they got a cop for ever’ ten people. Got one water faucet for ’bout two hundred people."
…They got a block of shacks – thirty-five of ’em in a row, an’ fifteen deep. An’ they got ten crappers for the whole shebang."

– John Steinbeck

The Grapes of Wrath, Chapter 24. Two characters discuss the terrible conditions for workers at a major farm, where control is valued above basic human needs. This is in contrast to the Weedpatch government camp, where there is warm water and flush toilets and human dignity is preserved.

"Puts a weight on ya. Goin’ out lookin’ for somepin you know you ain’t gonna find."
Ma said fiercely, "You ain’t got the right to get discouraged. This here fambly’s goin’ under. You jus’ ain’t got the right."

– John Steinbeck

The Grapes of Wrath, Chapter 26. In the Weedpatch camp we witness the desperation of migrant families trying to survive, as the Joads run out of food. Pa’s dignity and sense of self-worth suffer because he is unable to find work to support his family. But Ma is annoyed at his negativity and demands: "We got to do somepin."

Ma put the clean dripping tin dish out on a box. She smiled down at her work. "You get your stick, Pa," she said. "Times when they’s food an’ a place to set, then maybe you can use your stick an’ keep your skin whole. But you ain’t a-doin’ your job, either a-thinkin’ or a-workin’. If you was, why, you could use your stick, an’ women folks’d sniffle their nose an’ creep-mouse aroun’. But you jus’ get you a stick now an’ you ain’t lickin’ no woman; you’re a-fightin’, ’cause I got a stick all laid out too."

– John Steinbeck

The Grapes of Wrath, Chapter 26. This is an important moment when we see how Ma Joad’s role has changed completely from a motherly to a leadership one in the family. Here she stands up to Pa’s threat to take a stick to her, by equally threatening him with a stick. Magnificently indominable as a wife, mother and woman, Ma reminds her husband that he has no right to control of the family since he has neither a job nor money. Pa’s loss of human dignity is evident in this chapter. Unable to find work in the new land of California, he is also losing his place as head of the family.
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