Question 7 GOW re-write

Rose of Sharon’s final nursing and mysterious smile at the end of the book show the full development of her character throughout the book in a fulsome, life-altering way. As Rose of Sharon is first introduced, she is a selfish, newly married and pregnant adolescent, who is self-centered in the worst way. Seeing her start the journey, she is almost a detestable character because of her naivety and small-mindedness. This is clearly shown when the dog gets run over, and Rose of Sharon is afraid because the impact of the accident “Gave [her] a start.” She doesn’t care about the dog, or anyone else’s feelings. She is only concerned for the baby. This is warranted, but starts to seem simple-minded after her concerns are repeated time and again. Ma is always spurring Rose of Sharon on, reminding her to look after the needs of others, and Rose of Sharon starts to grow both in size and character as the Joads move further along the road.

Throughout their journey, Rose of Sharon is robbed, little by little, of what inkling of dignity she had had at the beginning. She sees the hardships of migration, but her concern is still mainly her own, only branching out to help when commanded to by her headstrong Ma. She faces tough times, but her naivety is clearly apparent when she asks, repeatedly, if the baby is going to be ok. She focuses on Connie’s future, and is obsessed with the life they plan to live away from the rest of the family. She suffers when her husband leaves her once the family reaches California, but is it just another step in the process of her maturing and learning about how the world really is. She is scared and mourning the loss of her husband, but is pressed by Ma to continue, to keep working. She learns that life cannot stop for loss or sadness when surviving day by day. In the government camp, Rose of Sharon learns to take more responsibility, and she helps out more and more with the family. She does a lot of her growing during this time, though tacit, as she reckons with the finality of Connie’s abandonment and the plight of the family in California. She is further challenged when a cruel religious lady pressures her with guilt about doing certain things. She is made to believe that it will harm the baby if she participates in the dance. Rose of Sharon has to rely on her Ma’s resilience, and grows through this increased pressure on her character, learning to cope with the threat of imposed guilt on her baby’s head.

Rose of Sharon has changed quite remarkably by the time the Joads leave the government camp. Her dynamic change is not complete, however. Once the family leaves the sanitary camp, Rose of Sharon has to deal with her huge belly, and the prospect of having her precious child out among the horrendous conditions of California migrant life. She is stretched more as she spends time with the injured Tom in the small cabin at the peach orchard. She goes ecstatic about his endangering her baby with his actions, although they were noble in reality. She calms down from her fit, and helps Tom even when she is still clearly distressed. She further learns to help even when she is almost nine months pregnant, insisting on helping the family pick cotton, and learning that being concerned about the baby though inaction at this point is worthless. She grows to know that this birth is bigger than her. Once she births the stillborn baby, she is wrenched back into the cold, flooded world as one complete person. She is a childless mother, and she has come full circle from her naïve character back in Oklahoma. She has lost a baby, and is completely destitute and without money in a winter flood. At the pinnacle of destitution, she learns the glorious give-and-take of life that is possible through the physiognomy of the human body. She nourishes another human, and her transformation through her whole migration experience explains her willingness to forgo shame to simply help others survive. This stretch of Rose of Sharon’s character, though a discreet process, warrants her eventual act of kindness at the end of the book.