Morals in Grapes of Wrath

The Joads prove time and time again in Grapes of Wrath that being kind to others will set off a chan reaction and make them treat you kindly as well.

In the hard times of the depression nobody felt that they could trust anybody else because everybody was paranoid and down on their luck and other people posed too much of a threat. So many people laid down their morals and just did whatever they wanted to do instead of what they had been raised to know was right that nobody really seemed to be trustworthy anymore. The Joads, though, always held onto their ho nor code and never gave up on being the upstanding people they were raised to be, and when people they met along the way realized this they were so refreshed that they immediately responded in kind.

When the Joads met the down on his luck man at the service station he was not very friendly to them at alll. Immediately Joad got defensive and angry and lashed out at the man. However, he soon corrected himself and treated the man with kindness and understanding beccause he knew they ewre in the same situation. Immediately the man started treating them nicer, and when their dog got run over by a car he offered to give it a proper burial for them. Their extension of kindness paid off for them in a great way.

Next they stoopped on the road for the night and found another family already there. The fmaily surveyed them warily and did not seem to be friendly. Then the Joads wer ekind enough to ask then permission to park next to theme ven though they did not own the land. Stunned at this display of consideration, the family welcomed them in and took care of them. When grampa was sick they took him in and did all they could. The Joads received all of this just because they stuck by their code of respect for other human beings in the face desperation.