"I was afraid we wouldn' get across," she said. I tol' Granma we couldn' he'p her. The family had ta get across. I tol' her, tol' her when she was a-dyin'. We couldn' stop in the desert. There was the young ones an' Rosasharn's baby." This quote shows the strength and importance that ma possesses. Even though her mom died right next to her, she was able to keep her composure until they got across the desert. Ma knew that announcing that Granma died before crossing the desert was just going to make everything worst. She was very wise and strong in keeping the secret until the desert was behind them.
"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." This quote struck me the most because of how harsh these people were. They were judging the people that were migrating without even knowing the situation that they were going through. It is not like they wanted to be all dirty and travelling on a truck that was falling apart to an unknown place. They had to go west. These people had two choices. Starve to death where they were at or go to another place to try to make a living.
In my opinion, the difference between knowledge and wisdom is that wisdom is knowledge that people acquire with age and experience. We can get wisdom just by living our lives and having a variety of experiences or by listening to those people that have lived through different situations. I think wisdom is acquire with age but you can be young and have a lot of wisdom if you have lived through a lot. For example, Ruthie and Winfield have more wisdom than most of the kids because of what they went through. We can find wisdom by listening to wise people, having different kinds of experiences, and even by reading different books and listening to stories. My parents have a friend that is around 95 years old and she has an amazing memory. This woman loves to talk and has some interesting stories about her past because of everything that she lived through. In my opinion, this is what wisdom is.
I think the Californians are jumping to conclusions about the Joads as well as the other Okies. I think the best course would be for the Californians to know about the predicament of the Okies before they jump to conclusions. Of course it's fear that is clouding their judgement, which is understandable. I agree with your view on what wisdom is.
ReplyDeleteI appreciate the credit you give to Ma because she really is a strong woman. When Granma dies she knows for a while and chooses to keep the news until they arrive to their next destination. This shows how she is still focused on the other family members and refuses to give up on their aspiration to make a life in California.
ReplyDeleteDeeper as we get into the book, the more we see Ma's strength to be the foundation of the family and to hold it all together. How she was able to say with Granma after her death is rough.
ReplyDeleteI used the same quote that you used about Ma and how she didn't share with her family about grandma passing. I believe that she didn't tell her family because she was trying to protect them and keep them safe. She just wanted her family to make it to California and not have any chance of not making it.
ReplyDeleteI think that the oakies had more sense and feelings than the people who were saying those bad things about them! The quote is almost hypocritical.
ReplyDeleteWe pretty much had the same idea of what wisdom is. I like how you gave an example of how younger people would be wise.
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