Honors Blog

The Grapes of Wrath; by John Steinbeck

Tom Joad.

What physical presence does the character have? Include height, weight, size, physical fitness, posture, etc. Tom Joad is of average height and average weight. He gained a more muscular build from working during his four years in prison. He stands tall and confidently. He may be intimidating to some, mostly people who know his past.

Describe the character's further visual details. Include hair, eyes, face, teeth, scars, tattoos, etc. Tom has shaggy, messy brown hair. He isn't clean shaven because of all the traveling he has been doing. His skin has been tanned to brown because he is constantly in the sun. He has no noticeable scars and no tattoos.

What distinguishing items does the character wear? Include clothes, jewelery, shoes, and any other physical item the character keeps with him/her. When Tom left prison, they gave him new clothes to wear. In the beginning of the book, when he reunited with his family, he was wearing a nice suit and brand new shoes. Later in the book, when they were traveling, his clothes were dirty and messy; for all the families traveling West, wearing dirty clothes was inevitable.

What distinguishing behavior does the character have? Include habits, preferences (music, food, literature, etc.), speech (sayings, stalling words, etc), and demeanor. The entire Joad family talked the same way. Their speech was a little difficult to understand and they had heavy southern accents.

What is the character's role in society? Include his/her job, hobbies, and uses of time. Tom, like many others, didn't have a job for the majority of the story. He was able to get some work when they got to the government camp. Just like everyone else, he tried his best to find work, that was the ultimate goal.

What is the character's religion or philosophy? What beliefs does he/she hold? How does this create or mitigate internal conflict within his/her psyche? Tom wasn't specifically religious throughout the book. His family was religious, especially his grandma. Tom did write the note for grandpa's grave, but I don't think that is specifically religious. I think he had a philosophy of doing what is best for his family. He made choices that he thought would help his whole family in the long run.

What do others in the book say about the character? Tom's family loves him and was ecstatic when he came home from prison. His whole family was shocked and happy, especially his mom and dad. Since he is the oldest Joad son, he is seen as the leader, after Pa. His younger brother Al obviously looks up to him and wants to impress him. People outside of his family often talk about Tom and how he killed a man. Sometimes, its indirectly, like to his brother, "That's Al Joad. His brother killed a man." People seem to be interested in him because they know what he did. When he meets new people, they usually take an immediate liking to him because of his kind personality to strangers.

What connections does this character have to history, established religion or the world beyond the book? Tom is connected to history, of course, because of his involvement in the story itself and traveling to California. He was one of the many, many people who made the journey and his character is a specific story that we can follow.

What does the character's name suggest? Authors rarely (if ever) name characters at random. What could the name symbolize? What evidence do you have for this? Tom has his father's name. I'm not sure it represents anything other than the fact that he is the oldest son. He does take a role of responsibility at certain times throughout the course of the story.

How does the character develop during the plot? How does he/she change? I see Tom as the character who developed and changed the most by the end of the story. The main thing that I noticed is that he went from caring mostly about himself and his well being, to caring more about his family and others. I saw him gain a larger sense of maturity and he started to worry about others more and do what was best for the other people in his life.

Rose of Sharon.

What physical presence does the character have? Include height, weight, size, physical fitness, posture, etc. Rose of Sharon was about six months pregnant in the beginning of the book. Other than that, she is average height and size.

Describe the character's further visual details. Include hair, eyes, face, teeth, scars, tattoos, etc. Rose of Sharon has long hair that is messy when not braided back. She has a round face and no scars or tattoos.


What distinguishing items does the character wear? Include clothes, jewelery, shoes, and any other physical item the character keeps with him/her. Rose of Sharon usually wears a dress. She has no specific jewelery that she wears, but may have had some packed away while they were traveling.

What distinguishing behavior does the character have? Include habits, preferences (music, food, literature, etc.), speech (sayings, stalling words, etc), and demeanor. The entire Joad family talked the same way. Their speech was a little difficult to understand and they had heavy southern accents. Rose of Sharon spent much of her time dreaming about her life with Connie. She also had a tendency to complain and cry when things weren't in her favor.

What is the character's role in society? Include his/her job, hobbies, and uses of time. She didn't have a job. On the trip, she spent most of her time with her husband Connie. After he left her, she spent her time in self-pity and trying to make her whole family feel sorry for her. She thought that every bad thing that happened during the trip would have an effect on her unborn baby. People quickly became annoyed with all of her complaining.

What is the character's religion or philosophy? What beliefs does he/she hold? How does this create or mitigate internal conflict within his/her psyche? Rose of Sharon was very superstitious about her baby. She was constantly worried and fearful that something would happen. When her grandma died, she thought it would have a negative effect on her baby. In the government camp, an extremely religious and strange woman told her that dancing and acting were sins and would send you to hell. Rose of Sharon was terrified and thought that she had hurt her unborn baby by dancing. All of this messed with her head and made her live in fear throughout the book, until the tragic birth of her baby.

What do others in the book say about the character? Her family loved her, but they were often annoyed of her constant whining and complaining. Ma was the one who would tell her she needed to stop having pity on herself and that she needed to help instead of crying and feeling sorry for herself.

What connections does this character have to history, established religion or the world beyond the book? Just like all the other characters, Rose of Sharon is connected to history because she traveled to California. She was one of the many people who made the journey. Rose of Sharon could also represent pregnant women going through difficult times or women who have had to deal with the pain of having a still born child.

What does the character's name suggest? Authors rarely (if ever) name characters at random. What could the name symbolize? What evidence do you have for this? Rose of Sharon is a really interesting name. Throughout the book, she was referred to as "Rosasharn". Ma loved her name, "'When you're young, Rosasharn, ever'thing that happens is a thing all by itself. It's a lonely thing. I know, I 'member, Rosasharn.' Her mouth loved the name of her daughter." (Page 209). I think her mom chose her name because she loved the way it sounded.

How does the character develop during the plot? How does he/she change? For most of the story, Rose of Sharon was only concerned with herself, Connie, and her unborn child. She was self-pitying and and had an overwhelming sense of self-importance. However, after the birth of her stillborn child, Rose of Sharon developed a sense of maturity and selflessness, even feeding a starving man.

Al Joad.

What physical presence does the character have? Include height, weight, size, physical fitness, posture, etc. Al is of average height and weight. He is physically fit, but not extremely muscular. His posture and walk is very confident.

Describe the character's further visual details. Include hair, eyes, face, teeth, scars, tattoos, etc. Like his brother Tom, Al has similar hair and eyes. His facial structure is defined and he is usually dirty with car oil. He does not have any scars or tattoos.

What distinguishing items does the character wear? Include clothes, jewelery, shoes, and any other physical item the character keeps with him/her. Al tries to dress really cool and fashionable. He rolls up his jeans and and his t-shirts walks confidently. His shirts tend to be dirty with dirt and car oil, since he is always under a hood fixing cars.

What distinguishing behavior does the character have? Include habits, preferences (music, food, literature, etc.), speech (sayings, stalling words, etc), and demeanor. Al's main interests in life are cars and girls. He loves cars and he wanted to work as a mechanic. He was also in love with any cute girl he saw. And like the rest of his family, his speech was the same rough, heavy speech.

What is the character's role in society? Include his/her job, hobbies, and uses of time. Al was responsible for the truck. He picked it out and kept it running. He helped out his family a lot by handling the mechanics of the trip.

What is the character's religion or philosophy? What beliefs does he/she hold? How does this create or mitigate internal conflict within his/her psyche? Al never really showed any sense of religion or philosophy.

What do others in the book say about the character? Tom seemed to be impressed with how quickly Al had grown up while he had been in prison. Everyone was thankful for Al, especially since without him, the truck wouldn't have run so well.

What connections does this character have to history, established religion or the world beyond the book? Just like every other character, Al is connected to history because of his involvement in the story itself and traveling to California. He was one of the many people who made the journey and his character is a specific story that we can follow.

What does the character's name suggest? Authors rarely (if ever) name characters at random. What could the name symbolize? What evidence do you have for this? I cannot think of anything that Al's name could suggest. Maybe Steinbeck just liked the name? ;)

How does the character develop during the plot? How does he/she change? Al matures throughout the story, but he still has his moments of immaturity, like when he could only think of finding girls when there were larger problems within the family. He still grew a lot throughout the course of the book.