7. Feminist [Rose of Sharon]

Throughout the novel “The Grapes of Wrath” by John Steinbeck, the character Rose of Sharon is continually a very almost obnoxious character. She seems to be very self-centered and always complaining of her own needs. This may be warranted to the fact that she is pregnant but her naivety stands out as she is continually beguiled into believing what others say about her and her baby. This is shown in chapter 22 when one of the religious fanatics says she’ll drop her baby dead because she had been dancing. Rose of Sharon is also very dependant. However, we see the change in Rose of Sharon as the novel progresses and the complete change after she gives birth to a dead child. Her final and ultimate act of kindness to a starving stranger shows her true character switch from a whiney, obnoxious girl to nurturing mother.

Rose of Sharon is seen as extremely dependant throughout most of the novel. When Connie leaves, she nearly breaks down and refuses to do anything because she “wants Connie”. After it is apparent that Connie is not returning, she clings to Ma and also her own self pity. This weighs the family down even though Ma insists it’s just because she’s pregnant. Ma is very nurturing and sensitive to her situation however, and this helps to bring about a change in her. Through Ma’s advice, Rose of Sharon begins to see the need to work and care for her family and get out of her own self-pity.

After the birth and death of her baby, Rose of Sharon makes an obvious change. She is mellowed and in need of something to care for and nurture. She is no longer focused on herself as she has the mothering instinct. When she offers her breast milk to a starving man, she is not ashamed but willing and caring. It isn’t an awkward scene because of the way she truly shows him love, not sexually but as a mother would show her child, caressing his hair and smiling at the thought of giving life.

Though this is a very sudden change of character, I do not find it as out of place. You see her becoming this woman, though slowly, throughout the book and the immediate change of her after the delivery. She has the mother instinct and now understands the way Ma feels the need to care and protect, to keep the family together and going. She has finally made the true and significant switch from a child to a woman, not in a physical sense, but psychologically and emotionally. It fits perfectly to the ending and makes the community in poverty seem so real in the fact that they give their all even when they have nothing. Rose of Sharon has finally realized this.