Chapters 17-20: Life in Hooverville

When The Joad’s arrive in California it is not at all what they expected it to be, it is not a land of flowing jobs and endless ways of opportunity. Although they are all shocked, they quickly adapt and start trying to make an income and to take care of each other. Ma, who is the leader and glue who keeps the family together is trying her best to put food on the table for her family. When the whole families wages only add up to a small amount Ma still needs to feed the family. Although she does not just get as much food as she can and then just feed her family, she tries to give as much as she can to the starving children also in the Hooverville. That again shows the I to We, Ma could have just fed her family and not cared about anyone but them but she does not. Ma is a caretaker, she takes care of the random hungry children that she might not even know because she knows that it is possible for her to do so even though it might not seem easy. When Ma says “We're the people that live. They ain't gonna wipe us out. Why, we're the people - we go on.”, you see that she is determined to take care of her family and not let anyone get in her way whether it is the security guards, police men, or government. She is very selfless and tries her best to do the right thing and take care of people who are in need, even if it means sacrificing herself.