The Grapes of Wrath Summary: Plot, Characters and Ending
The Grapes of Wrath follows the Joad family, Oklahoma farmers driven off their land during the Dust Bowl and the Great Depression, as they travel to California hoping for work. They find only low wages, hunger and hostility, but also a growing sense that ordinary people must stand together.
Short chapters about the wider migration alternate with the Joads' own story.
| Character | Who they are |
|---|---|
| Tom Joad | Son just paroled from prison |
| Ma Joad | Strong heart of the family |
| Pa Joad | Farmer losing his place as head of the family |
| Jim Casy | Wandering friend who has given up his old calling |
| Rose of Sharon | Tom's pregnant sister |
| Connie | Rose of Sharon's young husband |
| Grampa and Granma | The oldest Joads |
| Uncle John, Al, Noah, Ruthie, Winfield | The rest of the family |
Why do the Joads leave?
Tom Joad, paroled after four years for killing a man in a fight, walks home and meets Jim Casy, a man who once led meetings for the community but has lost his certainty. They find the Joad farm empty. Dust storms have ruined the crops, and the banks are pushing tenant families off the land with tractors. The family is at Uncle John's, preparing to go to California, where handbills promise plenty of work.
↑ Back to the topWhat happens on the road?
The Joads sell what they can, pack everyone into an old truck and set off along Route 66 with Casy. Grampa, who did not want to leave, dies the first night. They travel with the Wilsons, another migrant couple, until Mrs. Wilson falls too ill to go on. The eldest son, Noah, wanders off along a river. Granma dies as they cross the desert at night; Ma lies beside her body in silence so that the family can get across.
↑ Back to the topWhat do they find in California?
California is full of migrants. Wages are kept low because thousands compete for each job. At a squalid camp, Casy takes the blame for a fight with a deputy so that Tom, who would break his parole, can stay free. Connie abandons the pregnant Rose of Sharon. The family then finds a government camp at Weedpatch, clean and run by its residents, the only place they are treated with dignity, but there is no work nearby.
↑ Back to the topWhat happens to Casy?
The Joads take jobs picking peaches, unaware they are breaking a strike. Tom finds Casy, released from jail, organizing the strikers. Guards attack, and one kills Casy with a club. Tom kills the man in return and is hurt in the face. The family hides him and moves on to pick cotton, living in a boxcar.
↑ Back to the topHow does The Grapes of Wrath end?
Tom leaves so that the family will not be caught sheltering him. He tells Ma he will follow Casy's path and fight for the workers wherever people are hungry or wronged. Heavy rains flood the camp. Rose of Sharon gives birth to a stillborn baby. The family takes shelter in a barn, where they find a boy and his father, who is starving to death. Ma and Rose of Sharon understand each other without words, and Rose of Sharon gently offers the stranger milk from her own breast.
↑ Back to the topMore about The Grapes of Wrath
This summary reveals the whole plot, including the ending.