The Fambly Hadda Get Acrost

"Ma looked down at her hands, lying together like tired lovers in her lap. ' I wisht I could wait an' not tell you. I wisht it could be all-- nice.'" (Steinbeck 311) Steinbeck really shows how Ma feels within this quote. She's tired and also tired of everything being so hard lately. Ma has been so worried and stressed about this whole trip and although they finally made it, it wasn't the kind of trip they hoped for. Their family is slowly falling apart and Ma feels as if she has to be the one to hold it all together. Ma was thinking only of the family when she told the agricultural inspection guy that they had to get to the doctor and that they couldn't wait. (Steinbeck 307) She also lied to the family and said that grandma was alright and to just keep going. Ma wanted to make sure they got across the desert and only lied for the family's sake.

The second main event that struck me was at the service station. The service-station boy's helper said, "Them goddamn Okies got no sense and no feeling. They ain't human. A human being wouldn't live like they do. A human being couldn't stand it to be so dirty and miserable. They ain't a hell of a lot better than gorillas." (Steinbeck 301) Here, Steinbeck shows how people in California feel about people traveling to their state. Although I don't understand it-- hopefully I will understand later in the book-- they act as if the people traveling to California are dumb. They don't realize why they have to leave their home and think they're just trash.

I don't think there is a huge difference between knowledge and wisdom. I think knowledge is things you learn either from school or experience but wisdom is also learning why. My idea of wisdom is that you get it from learning and experiencing. You learn wisdom from mistakes and learning from them then really understand it. I also think you can get wisdom from your elders and listening to them, for they have been through a lot already. I have learned a lot from my family, especially my parents and grandparents. Seeing what others have been through, or just being told, and then learning from them according to my family's morals has made me wiser.