The Joad family finally packs up everything they can to head to California. Choose one of the following characters and write a diary entry as if you were that character showing how they feel about leaving home. Be sure to use their tone, their diction, etc. Dig deep and use the context of Grapes of Wrath to include in your answer.
There are 12 characters to choose from and 28 AP students so only a few characters may be chosen by more than one student (be sure to see whom your classmates have already chosen before you write your own response):
Tom, Pa, Ma, Grandma, Grandpa, Al, Ruthie, Winfield, Rose of Sharon, Connie, Jim Casey, Uncle John, and Noah.
29 comments:
They think they're gonna show me how to act out there? I aint gonna listen to a thing they say. Bah, I don't have ta do anything them sons-a-$$$$$$$ want! Bah I don't wanna go anymore I gonna live like Muley. They aint taking me to no place where I can't do what I want. Bah, to **** with California.
Day before leaving.
Jim Casey- Today I went walking around the land and I visited some houses. The whole land is empty; it seems that everyone already headed west. I can’t stay here by myself, I don’t want a life like Muley’s. Besides, the people on the road need some kind of support because they have been exposed to too many negatives in this short period of time. I was embarrassed to ask the Joad family for a ride, but what were my other options? I do not want to be a preacher anymore but everyone expects me to be a preacher. If I get to California, I am going to work on the fields and try to live a normal life. During the night the family had a meeting and by the looks of it, I have been welcomed into the family and they have also accepted to give me a ride to California. Now that we have eaten and packed, we have started our search for a new and better life.
Pa- I dont know if i'm doing the right thing. I cant let my family see my weakness though, i need to lead them with strength. if Tom can't go with us Ma will be devastated, and maybe then she won't go and i have to hold the family together.
Grampa- "I am sick of my own dang son totin' me around like luggage. I wanted to stay with that there old smart boy Muley. He knows no dang govment gonna kick us off da land das been ours since my father's papa, and his pops. At first, I was all excited actin' about goin' to dat there California. Now, i relize i got to stay here. This is my home, not no banker's but mine. I aint wanted to leave. I wanted to stay with Muley and my dang ole rifle and shoot the SOB that try and mess with me. Dem old boys of mine got crazy actin' ideas, goin' to some 'sunshine state', that ain't gonna last, soon we be off of that land too. Nope, we just betta off stayin' put."
Granma - I don't know how much longer I can take this. I know that it is our only choice heading out to California, but i don't feel certain that life out there will be better than life here. We have been here so long..... losing the land and having to pick up and leave is taking a toll on me.
Uncle John - Well, tomorrow we're off to California. I don't really want to go and leave this history, but I need to be there for the rest of the family. Then again, maybe it will be good for me to go and get a new start in a new place, away from all of this desprair. Either way, I'm emotionally drained.
Ma:
Well, we began the movement to California today. Grampa put up quite the struggle, I speculate he will calm down once we get down the road some. I pray we are making the right choice, moving out west. I just can't imagine how we could make it out here any longer! It will be good for everyone, I'm sure. God Almighty I'm scared, though, but, I must stay calm for my family, because if I don't, who will?
Ruthie:
I couln't believe I got a brother that killd a guy! I got a cold blooded murder in the family! I bet nobodys gonna mess with me cause when they hear I got a brother that killed a guy, they gonna be scart. Then today we had to start goin to California. Shoot! We left so early in the mornin' the stars were still up in the sky! It was a sight to see that ol' truck piled high wit all the stuff we's gonna keep. I didn't think about what it ment to be goin' 'till we left the house. I looked at the house and felt like there was a big ol' hole inside of me. Then I looked over at Ma and she was just lookin' straight ahead, so after I watched the house get smaller, I watched with Ma for California. I can smell them oranges already.
We are leaving today. The meat is salted and barreled. It should last us a good while. Little Al seems to be alright with automobiles. we should be fine on the road. I packed the truck up mighty fine. I would be surprised if anything fell out.
Noah Joad
Leavin' for California here pretty soon. Al was talkin' about how if the car breaks down along the way it won't be hard to find parts. I hope we don't have to deal with none of that though, for the sake of Ma and Granpa and Granma. Speakin' a' Granpa, he got this idea in his head that he just plain wasn't gonna go out to California with us anymore. Ma, Pa and I knew though that we couldn't just let him stay here, he'd starve to death. We was gonna give him some whiskey, wise him up a bit. Instead we found some medicine, slipped it into Granpa's coffee. Worked like a charm. Muley came by Uncle John's , reminded me about breaking my parole if I go across the state line. Just kinda brushed it off, made me think though. Hopefully everything goes alright. We're leaving now.
Tom
We have started to pack up, but I am worried about the trip. I am so thankful Tom is back with us now, him in jail was not good for us. I hope California is worth the sacrifices we are now making, and have already made since the Dust Bowl. Please let it be everything it is made out to be.
Ma
Oh, California, here we come!! Im so excited, the handbill makes it look so beautiful and so green. The journey's sure gunna be hard, especially with me being pregnant and all, but it's worth it. Ma and Pa will want to stay and do what they've always done: farm. Not me, I'm stepping outside the circle. Me n Connie are gunna move to a city, and raise our baby there. I can NOT wait to get there!!
Rose of Sharon
I really hope we're makin' the right choice goin' to California. We're leavin' today, got all packed up and are settin' to go. It's all pretty excitin', but I can't help but worry 'bout what I heard of California. I heard there was too many folks movin' out there, and not 'nough work for 'em all. They said they's havin' to live in dirty ole' camps where everybody’s starvin' and can't find 'nough to eat. Things had better be better than tha’ when we get down there, or we’re gonna be worse off than we are here.
Tom Joad
Rose of Sharon-Whew! We just finished packin' the truck and we're 'bout to leave for California. Bein' pregnant for 2000 miles is gonna be quite a challenge, though. I don't know how I'm gonna last ridin' in the back of the truck. And I'm gonna start lookin' pregnat perty soon. That's when things are gonna get tough, bein' big. I'm excited to get there, though, so Connie can start over 'fore we have a family. I want my baby to have a good life, an' hopefully California can be that for us.
After all of these years they've finally gotten rid of us. My grandpa always use to tell me when I was a boy that the government would take everything over but I didn't believe him. "Guess you were right pa." Now I have to take my family thousands of miles away to somewhere we have never been before. We've sold everything and the only thing left is the family. Well, here we go.
Pa
What a week it has been. First i get outta jail three years early and now I'm packin' up my whole life and moving across the country with my family. It's exciting and frightening at the same time.
-Tom Joad
Ma:
Well, we are all packed up and ready to go. California, here we come! Tom is back with us now, and i hope he stays. Having him in jail sent chill in my heart. One of my own children in jail. well, i hope he's telling the truth. i hope he really did just get out, and didnt break out. Everyone is rearing and ready to go. This trip is sure going to prove to be an interesting one. Girl's gunna start getting big on me, she's pregnant and all...that shoudl prove to be interesting in the back of a truck! Imagine! Being pregnant in the back of a truck! I dont know if i would be able to last the whole trip.
Lord Almighty! I hope we make it to California safe.
Heya Diary,
My leetle broder came home and said he was wantin' to help Pa out with farming and all that. 'Cept, we all movin' to that orangey state, California. We done got everythin' packed up an' ready to head on out. Man, I just can't plum believe it - our family is movin' on up to that great state of Cal-ee-for-nea!! I'm ready to leave already, I'm just a waitin' on Pa. I guess that this is perty hard on him and all, but still. Cal-ee-for-nea. Ain't nobody gonna miss this ol' place once we've done reached that golden state.
Ruthie
Ma- I like to think forward to what will happen in California. I think it'll be nice out there. I'm not happy to leave, but I think it'll be nice out there. With the little white house and all the orange trees. I hear its a long ways away but we'll be fine. We can get jobs picking the fruits from trees, we can sneak some of the rougher ones to eat, and we can get some shade from the trees.We can get along fine.
I hope things is all right out in California. Tom says it will be. Theys always talkin' of all the work there is out in California. Work out there will be different than work here. Instead of wringin' out the clothes day in an' day out i'll be picking pretty oranges in a grove. The family's anxious t' git goin'. Tom's th' one the most ready, he tells me not to worry, but I can't help it. I gotta keep this family together, an' if that means leavin' this farm an' goin' to a whole new world then I'll do it.
-Ma Joad
Well, it's just about the time for leavin', and I just can't wait to see them fields of oranges and live in my own little white house. People been sayin' it's weak, what I be doin' for my family, but I know what's right for us. Well I don't much like to write, so I'll be done with it here. Took a little while before we got Grampa to git goin', but we'll be up and runnin' in no time.
-Pa
Leavin' today. Too bad that I got to go an' leave all that I got here, but California promises new adventures of many kinds and I'm sure many pretty girls.
I dunno what Tom's gunna do about his parol situation. I'm worried he ain't gunna get to come. Maybe he'll come anyway and just skip out on his parole. That'd be the best.
I got to sit with the men today which I guess means I'm a part of that group now. Maybe that's something California will also bring: a little respect. I get my respect anyway even if my family don't provide it. People will know me just like they do here.
Al Joad
Pa-I'm trying to do the best for my family, but I am unsure of some of my actions. I have made as much money as possible by selling some of the less valuable items, and i hope that this move to California will take a turn for the better.
Jim Casy-
Today my pilgrimage begins. I don't know why I keep using words like that. Those are preacher's words and I ain't no preacher anymore. I'm not exactly where I'll end up or why, but it feels like the right thing to do. Perhaps out there I can find the answers I've been looking for and finally make my peace with the Lord if there is one.
Finally we are makin our way to the wonderful life in California. Pa n Ma have been overly stressed with their unsure emotions about moving. I on the other hand am pregnant, n still find thrill in our adventure. Connie n I are ready to expierence life as the big city folks do. Hopefully our baby will see a better life then what we are being put through now.
-Rose of Sharon
I can't wait to go on this adventure. Ma and Pa seem worried, but not me. I'll miss playing tag in the cornfields with Ruthie, but in California were can run around and squish grapes between our toes and eat all the licorice whips we want. We leave tomorrow, i packed my favorite toy gun.
-Winfield
Dear Diary,
The folks gonna pack up and move out in tha mornin'. As soon as we get there Connies gonna start ta readin some books and we's gonna buy and nice white house and we's gonna go see tha pictas every night. The baby's gonna have a tona toys to play with and all tha milk it will want. I can't wait til we get there, im just worried bout drivin there on the back of the ole truck. It might bump the baby. Please god keep my baby safe on this long ride home.
Love always,
Rosasharn
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