Family Unity: Chapters 16-19 (D)

     Before the Joads began their journey to California, the Joad family was waiting for one of their sons, Tom, to get out of prison and come home. Although he killed a man, they did not care, they could not wait for their son to come home because no matter what he does, they always loved him. This can be seen through Ma's reaction upon seeing Tom for the first time since his arrest, "We come mighty near to goin' on without ya. An' we was wonderin' how in the worl' you could ever find us" (75). This shows that the members of the Joads were willing to delay their journey to the 'promised land', in order to make sure that all the member of the Joads moved as a whole, so they can experience the greatness of living in a state full of opportunity together.
     This way of thinking on family unity in Ma's mind strengthen, for she realized how easy it is for the family to want to break apart because of the poor conditions they were under while on their journey. Thus her role as the leader of the group took part, expressing, "All we got is the family unbroke. Like a bunch of cows, when the lobos are ranging, stick all together. I ain't scared while we're all here, all that's alive, but I ain't gonna see us bust up" (169-170).Yes the Joads lost their land and money, but they had each other and that seemed to be enough for Ma. Through this they became closer as a family unit, they slowly began learning more and more about one another and this helped them to become better and more sensitive to one another. Going through such hard times and seeing how hard it was on one another, they began to become more self-sacrificing for one another. The quote shows how family doesn't always have to be blood, sometimes the closest  family you have can be friends. It is the people who genuinely love you, care for you,and would make sacrifices for you, that is your real family. The quote provides an outlook on both of these concepts, showing how your blood family should be of the utmost importance, but even those who are not blood but still love you and care about you should also be considered to be the greatest importance. Tom did everything for his Ma, Pa, and brothers and sisters, but he also did practically everything for those who weren't his blood family, as did Casy. We can teach ourselves that self-sacrifices are always worth it for the ones you care about. We need to always remember that one thing no one can ever take away is our love for others, so we must use that as much as we can.