Rose of Sharon

Rose of Sharon is not a character that you would expect to save a man when he is under dire circumstances. Rose of Sharon is very close to the family but she is partial to the life that is in her womb. She is afraid of things that could hurt her baby and little does she know what the fate of that baby will be. In Chapter 13, when the truck has to stop for gas, they see the family's dog get hit by a new roadster and she is afraid that seeing something so gruesome and inhumane will somehow hurt her baby (Steinbeck, Chapter 13). I think that this is a ridiculous. I know that she is just worried about her child being healthy and strong but there is no way that something that the mother sees could affect the child's outcome. She is a nice enough woman and all but she is too protective and almost strange.

Even though her child is stillborn, she still keeps her motherly abilities when it matters most. She is crushed by the outcome of her child's birth, but when they have to flee to the barn and discover the starving man and his boy, she does what any mother would do for her child. She suckles him, allowing him to suck her nipple for milk, because he has not eaten for so long he cannot digest solid food. She saves this man and he is very grateful to her for it. This scene is a ray of sunshine in the world of darkness. This scene illustrates to us that there is still kindness and sacrifice left in a world of thieves and people doing anything to survive. I am very glad that she did this for the man and proved her worth to the world. Rose of Sharon went through a lot before her courageous act and she did not deserve what happened to her child, but when push came to shove she did the right thing for a person in need. She was quiet and mysterious when she was pregnant but now she can be her lively self again because she feels good about what she did, even though the book may not say this.

Steinbeck, John, and Robert J. DeMott. The Grapes of Wrath. New York: Penguin, 1992. Print.