Mercy & Media: The Grapes of Wrath

When I first learned that I wasn’t supposed to like John Steinbeck, I was twelve years old. It was one of my favorite people in the world (an older friend whom, to this day, I still admire for taking my preteen-self seriously) who told me that his characters were too saintly to be believed. “The way he writes women is ridiculous,” she said, exasperated. “I mean, who acts like that?” 

Though she didn’t name a character whose actions she found particularly inexplicable, in retrospect, I can only assume that she was referring to Rose of Sharon Joad. When it comes to criticizing Steinbeck’s portrayal of women, the eldest daughter from The Grapes of Wrath is one of the first examples that people raise. In all fairness, it’s no surprise why. Her act of mercy at the end of the novel—allowing a starving man to drink from her breasts—isn’t exactly subtle. The moment seems even more dramatic when it’s contrasted against everything she lost beforehand. During the course of her move from the Dust Bowl of Oklahoma to the groves of California (which is no easy feat in the 1930s), she loses her home (which is foreclosed upon), her husband (who abandons her just before they reach the labor camps), her older brother (who has to flee from authorities after a labor strike gone awry), and her baby (who is stillborn). If you’re the sort of person who doesn’t believe that any real-life woman would be capable of such an act, it’s easy to understand why you’d find Rose of Sharon implausible. Not only does she allow a stranger access to such an intimate part of her, but she does so after her entire life has been dismantled. 

I wasn’t Catholic when I first heard these criticisms of Steinbeck. If I had been, I might’ve pushed back against the notion that saintly behavior from someone as deprived as Rose of Sharon Joad is “unrealistic.” Today, I would say that it’s indicative of some awfully narrow-minded ideas about humanity. 

The beauty of mercy is that even a girl whose entire life has been defined by drought is capable of giving drink to the thirsty. No matter how helpless someone might seem, there’s always something they can give to others—a gesture they can perform that will bring comfort to their neighbors, and remind them of the inherent value of life. To call Rose of Sharon’s charity unrealistic is to miss the point that Steinbeck is trying to make. It’s through pushing past our ideas about ourselves that we make the world a better place, and move closer to the kingdom of heaven.

Teresa de Mallorca is the pseudonym of a neophyte who just completed the RCIA program at Holy Name