When they started their trip to California, The Joads knew that it would be full of hardships and they felt uncertain about what the outcome would be. However, the day they got in the highway, they could have never imagined that Grampa, The person whom was the most excited and hopeful about their trip to "the promised land," would die so suddenly. His death came like the drought came to the plains, it caught them with their guard off.
"Pa asked softly, 'what was it?' 'stroke,' said Casey. ' a good quick stroke.' Life began to move again [...] And along the highway there came a long line of huge freight trucks with red sides." (138)
After Grampa's death the Joads are immediately forced to focus on their rough trip. This demonstrates the true and cruel nature of the their trip and the time that they were going trough, because even though Grampa, the most cheerful person in the trip had died; They were thinking once again,about the highway. About what could come next, and what their next challenge would be. The Joads did not have the time or resources to give Grampa a well deserved funeral. one of the things that impacted me the most about this quote was that Jim Casey, who was not part of the Joad family was the one of the few who saw Grampa died, and he also delivered the news to Pa. Furthermore, Casey who claimed he was not a preacher anymore, starts preaching. This and a few other things that happen right after the death of Grampa such as the Wilsons offering their help, show the unity that Grampa's death brought. I am certain that along with Grampa a big part of their hope died, but his death also brought them closer together. Steinbeck did this to demonstrate that even on the roughest times, humans can still have compassion for each other and unite.
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