Family unity explored in The Grapes of WrathYou could say that on a literal level, John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath is about the Joad family's journey to California during The Dust Bowl. However, it is also about the unity of a family and the concept of birth and death, both literal and abstract. Along with this, the idea of ​​a family unit is explored through these births and deaths. As can be seen in The Grapes of Wrath, the Joads are a very close-knit family. However, during their journey to California, they experience many losses and additions to their family. In general, Steinbeck's novel sticks to the circle of life. When a birth occurs, a death follows, and when a death occurs, a birth follows. However, in The Grapes of Wrath, the number of deaths exceeds the number of births so as to show the negative impacts of The Dust Bowl. The first birth in the novel occurs in chapter eight when Tom Joad returns from prison to his family. Before Tom's return home, Ma Joad had been deeply concerned about taking the trip to California without him, because she didn't want the family to be separated before the trip even began. The idea of ​​Tom Joad returning at this point is considered a birth because the Joad family is now complete. This begins the novel by giving the reader a better sense of the closeness of the Joad family. Furthermore, the first reference to death is found in chapter ten. Grandfather decides that he does not want to leave his land and go west. "'This here is my country. I'm here... I'm not going. This country is no good, but it's my country'" (152). Once again, in order not to divide the family, Ma Joad drugs the grandfather so that the family puts him in the true... center of the card... according to what Rose of Sharon delivers in chapter thirty. . One might believe that when Sharon's Rose gives birth to her stillborn baby, it is a sign that all hope is lost because the circle of life is broken. However, Steinbeck ends The Grapes of Wrath on a somewhat uplifting note by incorporating a final birth. At the end of the novel, Rose of Sharon brings a dying old man back to life by making him drink the breast milk he would use to breastfeed his own baby. “He looked up across the barn, and his lips came together and he smiled mysteriously” (619). In conclusion, The Grapes of Wrath may seem, on a superficial level, to be a novel about an Oklahoma family's journey to California during the Dust Bowl. Instead, when looked at more deeply, The Grapes of Wrath reveals itself to be a story about the cycle of life and how a family stays together during this cycle..