The Grapes of Wrath: Some More Joads, or Future Joads (Uncle John, Ruthie, Winfiled, and Agnes Wainwright)

Keeping along with the Joad family descriptions, I will detail Uncle John Joad, Ruthie Joad, Winfield Joad, and Agnes Wainwright who will soon be a Joad. To me, Uncle John is just sort of there. I mean he is kind of important because he is Tom’s uncle and all, but he does not really do much. However, his story does add to the depressing tone of the book. Many years ago, his wife was complaining of stomach pains, but he refused to take her to the doctor. It turns out that that was a dumb move considering she died while giving birth. Uncle John has and will regret this for his whole life. It is really a sad story. Ruthie is the second and younger of the Joad family daughters. She has and interesting relationship with her brother Winfield. They are extremely competitive with each other, and they always compete. They are also very heavily dependent on each other. I think that they have the relationship that a brother and sister should have. I wish I was that close with even one of my sisters. The bad thing about Ruthie though is that she accidentally puts Tom’s life in danger when she brags to another kid that her big brother has killed two people. Bragging comes with a large price sometimes, so Tom must flee. Winfield Joad is the youngest of the Joad children. He is quite the wild child. He is very dependent on his beloved sister Ruthie. I can relate to him not personally, but I know exactly the type of child he is, and I think Steinbeck did a great job with his character. Ma Joad is really worried about him throughout the whole novel because she thinks that he will grow up to be wild and reckless, and she is probably right. Finally, Agnes Wainwright is the daughter of this family that is in a boxcar with the Joads at one point. She falls in love with Al, and they become engaged.