Grapes of Wrath: Summary The book Grapes of Wrath tells of the problems the people of the Dust Bowl had when they arrived in California. It tells of Joad's journey from Oklahoma to California. There are twelve people in the Joad family. The one person who stood out the most in your family was Mom. Mom's great strength and intelligent thinking are what keeps the Joad family together and alive. Ma's strong suites are displayed throughout the book. Nancy Reagan once said, "A woman is like a tea bag: Only in hot water do you realize how strong she is." I don't know how NancyReagan did this, but she described Ma Joad to you exactly. The first time Ma's strength was shown was when her grandmother died. He lied to an inspector by telling him: "We have a sick old lady. We need to take her to a doctor. We can't wait." The inspector bought the story and let them pass on their way to California. Even then, mother did not tell the family that grandmother had died, but placed grandmother's dead carpus there until they arrived in California. "He looked at the valley and said: Grandma is dead." It keeps the family together when they want to separate. The first time this was shown in the book when they stopped to help the Wilsons with the car. Tom suggested that he and Casey stay and fix the car while the rest of the family went to Bakersfield and that he would meet them there. But then he vented his fury, held up a tire iron and demanded that they all stick together and go to Bakersfield together. Ma is also very intelligent. His common sense is superior to that of the rest of the family. When Tom is shot in the eye by an agent, Ma devises a plan to get Tom out of the government camp. He says, "We'll put a mattress on the bottom, and then Tom hurry up there, and we'll take another mattress and fold it up to make a cave." She really puts a lot of emphasis on what she wants