, wed be proud to have you. She follows this up with a disclaimer saying that the rest of the men can review the decision when they return home. As is obvious from the behavior described there, she initially had no intention of taking place as head decision-maker of the family. She is first shown to force her will onto the rest of the family on page 149 when the Wilsons car breaks and Tom voluteers to stay behind while the rest of the family heads to California. She shows this when she brandishes an iron bar and refuses to go on, saying to Pa, Ony way you gonna get me is to whup me. An Ill shame you, Pa. I wont take no whuppin, cryin an a-beggin. Ill light into you. An you aint so sure you can whup me anyways. After this act of forcefulness, and on the next page, when Tom and the rest of the family realize they cannot fight Mas will, where Ma looked in astonishment at the bar of iron. Her hand trembled. She dropped her weapon to the ground. This fact shows that she did not deliberately wish to initiate a physical conflict. In addition on page 313 the novel shows Ma, determined to keep the family going and not starving, demands to leave the Weedpatch camp, even though it is a nice camp. When Pa comments on his lost power by saying, Time was when a man said what wed do. Seems like women is tellin now. Seems like its purty near time to get out a stick. To which Ma replies, You get your stick, Pa, times when theys food an a place to set, then maybe you can use your stick an keep your skin whole. But you aint doin your job, either a-thinkin or a-workin. If you was, why, you could use your stick, an women folksd sniffle their nose an creep-mouse aroun. But you jus get your stick now an you aint lickin no woman; youre a-fightin, cause I got a stick all laid out too. Which is a blatant disregard for his now lost power and not to mention a harsh blow to the sensitive male ego. There are many things that could have happened to the Joads if Ma ha...
