great journey, while symbolically already wandering from the favor of God by killing a man, though he did it in self-defense. Tom must find a way to forget about this event and continue to keep his goal of getting to California (and his Promised Land) in sight. He understands that he must stay determined and persevere because he is an example and a leader to his family and he cannot allow any internal event to slow him down. Henry Fonda's portrayal of Tom Joad in the film version of the novel is particularly compelling as he almost the narrative voice of the emotions that must have been felt by each family member. In his final scene, when he says good-bye to Ma Joad, he speaks of being part of the bigger Spirit. He says he'll always be there, standing up for the little man, in other words, he is there to speak for the "meek and lowly", a watermark of Christ-like behavior.Rose of Sharon, the elder daughter of the Joad family, also maintains religious connotations. While her religious meaning is not so much symbolic of a specific person or event from the Bible, she is herself an embodiment of Christian virtues. She is pregnant throughout the story and looks forward to the birth of a child. But the very thing that keeps her from contributing to the work necessary to the family's survival becomes her greatest hardship, as her baby is stillborn. After suffering all that she has during the family's travels, she has to face the reality of living without her anxiously awaited child. And she has to face the reality of her husband walking out on her. Yet when the Joads come upon the old man in the barn "the two women [Ma Joad and Rose of Sharon] looked deep into each other's eyes. Not my will, but Thine, be done" (Carlson, 96). Rose knows that even though she has lost her own child, she must now take another, and the fact that she says "Thy will be done" is evidence that she knows it is in fact God's will that she serves another, an...
