"Man, he lives in jerks – baby born an’ a man dies, an’ that’s a jerk – gets a farm and looses his farm, an’ that’s a jerk. Woman, its all one flow, like a stream, little eddies, little waterfalls, but the river, it goes right on. Woman looks at it like that. We ain’t gonna die out. People is goin’ on-changin’ a little, maybe, but goin’ right on."
– John Steinbeck
The Grapes of Wrath, Chapter 28. Themes of survival, gender roles and hope are addressed in this rousing speech of Ma Joad to Pa. When a despondent Pa says that their life is over and done, she declares that it isn’t. With unswerving optimism, she says that their kind of people will never die out, but will go on. She tells Pa how men live their lives in episodes, but for a woman life is all one flow, like a river. The point she is making is that women are more adaptable, they bend and flow over and around obstacles, but don’t break. They have a tenacity and perseverance that men don’t.