300 words minimum - due by 11:59 pm, Sunday, 27 March 2011
Please respond to the following prompt:
What's the difference between the tractor driver in Chapter 5 and Mae in chapter 15. I'm not requiring you to analyze the two characters and make assumptions based on what little information you have on them; instead, I am asking that you assess the two situations that these characters are involved in.
What enables the tractor driver to knock down the Joads' house, while Mae lies and sells candy to the children at a very discounted rate? What is the difference in these two situations?
I'm looking forward to discussing this further during our Socratic Seminar on Monday.
The difference between the tractor driver and Mae (hey, my middle name!) is very simple. The tractor driver was willing to put his family’s needs and his greed before the needs of his neighbors, while Mae found that being kind to the strangers who stopped by would yield quite a large reward. What enabled the tractor driver to go destroy the homes of his neighbors was nothing more than the fear of being the next family to be in that situation. The power to save his home, his lifestyle and the life his family had always known was no longer in his hands. The only way he could control the situation would have been to remove himself and his family from it (perhaps move away), but since the people in the dust bowl were so tied to their land it wasn’t hard to believe that they decided to stay, even if it meant going against their morals and whatnot. As for Mae’s situation, I don’t think she was in such a situation as the tractor drivers were. I think times for her and the others at the coffee shop were hard, but I think that there was always at least a little business going through to keep them going. I think this changed the way in which she treated the man and his children. I believe the lesson to be learned here is that if you are in need of something, you are better off being generous than being selfish (what goes around comes around). However, I do not think this should be the reason why people give and are generous. Being generous means giving without any thought of reward, and if someone were to be doing good things with only the thought of the reward they were to receive then they are no better than the selfish people who are only concerned with themselves.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Sarah completely . I think that the main difference between Mae and the tractor driver is that the tractor driver is used to show the bad side of the dust bowl and Mae shows the good side. I think it is safe to say that the tractor driver was showing the greedy impersonal side of the dust bowl and depression. I think Steinbeck used the tractor driver and Mae to show the contrast of how people acted during these times. The tractor driver was making sure his family and their necessities came before anything else. I think that a lot of people that experienced the dust bowl had the biggest problem with having no control over anything. They couldn’t control the weather and how dry it was, they couldn’t control the economy, or what happened to their families. I think for the tractor driver this job gave him a sense of power and control. It made him feel important and needed. I think he did it for his family and to make himself feel better. I also think that the tractor driver was in a worse situation. He was desperate for anything and he had to do this or else his family would be punished. I think Mae did what she did for the same reason to make herself better but I think she did it to help someone else out. I think Steinbeck used Mae to show readers that not everyone was all about themselves. There were still people who cared and not everyone was so selfish. I agree with Sarah in that I don’t think her situation was as worse as the tractor drivers. I think she realized that people were in a worse situation than her and she tries to help them out. I do not know why she lied in the first place but I think she ended up doing the right thing. I think she shows that not everyone lost care of other people.
ReplyDeleteI think a huge difference between the two is that Mae is simply looking out for herself and her business, whereas the tractor driver is looking out for his family, which was all you could do at that time. Mae wasn't being generous to benefit those children, she was being generous because she knew it looked good and in the end she would reap the bigger benefit. I think the tractor driver was able to knock down the Joad's house because it meant that he could fulfill the needs of his family. Although knocking down someone's house is not something a person would do without a second thought, people just had to tough those things out if they wanted to continue to support their family. And then men worked and the women stayed at home. That's just how it was. Mae's situation isn't as difficult as that of the truck driver's though. I think the two are very different in that respect. She wants her business to keep coming in as steady as possible. She figures that she's making enough to allow the man and his two little boys a discount on their purchases. Not only that but it looks good in front of those truck drivers which ensures customers because they'll think she's a good woman. "Where the trucks stop, that's where the customers come. Can't fool truck drivers, they know. They bring the custom."(page 154). Although the logic in this isn't right, in times as poor as those of the Dust Bowl and Great Depression, people had to sacrifice to survive. The man with the tractor had to the do the same thing. Generosity was much appreciated because of the sacrifice it was often associated with. Overall, I think that Mae made the decision to be generous to benefit herself in the long run whereas the tractor driver wouldn't have torn down the Joad's house if he had any other options left.
ReplyDeleteThe main difference between the tractor driver and Mae is motivation and the situation that they were in. In reality I believe that Mae would have done what the tractor driver did in his situation and vice versa. Their actions were based mostly on where they were and not who they were. Mae lost little to nothing by giving the children the candy at a discounted price. She gave up about 9 cents, but got more than that in the truckers’ tips anyways. She had Al reassuring her that it was okay to help these people and her job would not be in jeopardy. Therefore she risked nothing when helping them so it would take a very cold person to refuse them any aid. The tractor driver on the other hand would have risked everything if he extended any kindness to the families who he was kicking out. He has a family dependent on the money that he will only receive if he mows down these people’s houses with his giant tractor. “I got a wife and kids. We got to eat…Can’t think of that [kicking out other families]. Got to think of my own kids.” With his own family held in the balance he must complete this unpleasant job. It could have been him getting kicked out of his house, but it just so happens that he’s the one riding the tractor and not watching it tear up his world. While Mae was at liberty to help the young children with a taste for candy, the tractor driver would have had to sacrifice his own family for the sake of strangers. Mae also had the satisfaction of being able to single-handedly change this family’s day, if the tractor driver decided to not kick a family out someone else would have done it the next day. Even if he had rebelled in the greatest fashion it would not have helped in the long run. Mae and the tractor driver aren’t different quality of people, they just were placed in different situations.
ReplyDeleteMae and the tractor driver are in two different situations. At first, Mae is extremely indifferent to the family that comes in. In order to protect her business, she resists selling them bread until Al forces her to. I think this is because she does not truly understand their situation. Although the Great Depression affected everyone, some were better off than others. Mae clearly has a steady job, while the family has likely been forced off their farm by the bank. However, I think seeing the children causes Mae to sympathize the family. On page 154 Steinbeck writes, “The boys edged in behind him and they went immediately to the candy case and stared in- not with craving or with hope or even with desire, but just with a kind of wonder that such things could be.” I think to see two little boys in such awe over mere candy truly demonstrated to Mae of how desperate their situation was. As a result, Mae sold the candy for only 1 cent instead of 10 cents. Later on, though, she grew very defensive when the truck drivers questioned her about the candy. Earlier in the chapter, it was clear the drivers disliked the Okies (even telling Mae to tie her stuff down when they came in). Mae probably felt she was risking her tip and future business by sympathizing with the family, but she did so anyway.
ReplyDeleteThe tractor driver presents a different internal conflict. Although he directly knows the consequences of his actions, he still chooses to destroy the tenant farmers’ homes. Like Mae, he is lucky- he has a job when many others do not. However, unlike Mae, the tractor driver has a family to take care of. While the one tenant tries to explain that a man is his property, the truck driver must disagree saying, “Thinking about that stuff don’t feed the kids…You get a reputation for talking like that, and you’ll never get your three dollars a day,” (Pg 37). While some may think this is a selfish response, it is actually quite realistic. When Mae gave the candy to the children, she only risked losing 9 cents, and perhaps the truck drivers’ tip. However, if the tractor driver chooses not tear down a house, he could lose his job and his family could starve. And in the end, the house would still be torn down by someone else. He simply had too much to lose.
Mae has Al to tell her to do the right thing in the end. Her little voice over her shoulder tells her to do the right thing. The tractor driver is told that he has to kick his friends off of their land, in order to feed his family. His little voice is pretty much nonexistent, because choosing between your friends and your family is just not an easy decision, let alone without some assistance. He is the man in the family, so these choices rely solely on what he does. Mae, as sexist as this is, is the woman that is more responsible for serving the customers, rather than making the deals or decisions. Influences in these two peoples' lives defiantly affect the way they act towards the suffering travelers.
ReplyDeleteThey also were protecting two different things. Mae has to protect possible a little money from the discount she gives, whereas the tractor driver could lose everything. Realizing the differences in costs for the two individuals makes it apparent that one has a little more pressure on them than the other. “Wonder where they are all going, said Mae. Come here for gas sometimes, but they don’t hardly buy nothin’ else. People says they steal. We ain’t got nothing layin around. They never stole nothin’ from us,” (pg. 158). Mae shows that she has little to lose here, so why not give anything else she can. Family is a very valuable thing, even more valuable than money in this case. Mae is benefiting more from giving to others than keeping to herself, because of the truck drivers’ kindness to her. It’s a chain reaction. The tractor driver benefits more from taking from other in this case, which is a complete contradiction. The way in which they are rewarded offers an explanation for their actions.
The difference between the tractor driver and Mae is pretty easy to see. The tractor driver was obviously okay with putting the needs of himself and his own family before the needs of another family just like his. He was okay with putting a family out of their home to keep his family in his home, which to me and most other people isn’t okay, but to him, it was. It takes kind of a selfish person and maybe even a heartless person to be able to do this. Mae on the other hand ended up doing the right thing in the end. I think the children that came in to look at the candy really pushed her to do what she did. For children to just come in and look at the candy knowing they couldn’t afford it really stuck in Mae’s mind. Mae obviously had a job that didn’t rely on the land to make money, so we assume that she’s doing okay in life. For whatever reason, it’s generally these people who don’t give, because they don’t know what situation the poor people are in. However, Mae gave deals to this family anyway. Whether it was because she listened to Al, or because she just felt that it was the right thing to do, Mae gave to the poor family, and ended up getting rewarded for it in the end. The tractor driver was given no real reward for kicking these people off their land except for staying in his own home, which isn’t really a reward. Mae was given a bigger tip by the truck drivers in the restaurant at the time because they saw how compassionate she was toward the family who didn’t have so much. However, I think the difference between these two is that Mae didn’t have very much to lose in her situation, and the tractor driver had his home and his family to lose if he didn’t knock the house down. In this situation, where is the line between what’s right and wrong?
ReplyDeleteThere is defiantly a huge difference between Mae and the tractor driver. At the beginning of chapter 15 Mae is reluctant to give the family a loaf of bread at a discounted price, “You can’t get no loaf of bread for a dime. We only got fifteen cent loafs” (pg 159). Yet in the end she not only gives the loaf away for a dime but also lies about the price of candy and cells it at a much lower price. The tractor driver does nothing nice such as Mae does but I can’t blame him, the two characters are in different situations. At that time it’s all about whether you can live with yourself if your family starves to death or if you let other families starve to death. I can’t call the tractor driver greedy or selfish because he was just looking out for his family, I’m sure most people would do the same in that instance. Even if he wouldn’t have done his job they would have brought someone else in to do the job. Now Mae is being genuinely nice to this family because she can afford to do so. Selling the candy and bread at a cheaper price will hurt her a little bit but not as much if the tractor driver didn’t do his job. Like I said in the beginning Mae did not want to sell the bread, she was looking out for herself just like the tractor driver. It was extremely nice what Mae did in the end and I’m happy she did so but I also don’t look down on the tractor driver for not helping the families. Both of them had difficult decisions to make and both of them made different choices, but I cannot say whether either of their decisions are right or wrong.
ReplyDeleteI think the main differences between the tractor driver and Mae are definitely the situations that they are in as well as their mind frames caused by these situations. The tractor driver is stuck in the mind frame of everything being for himself and that he needs to do as much as possible to support his family. Although this mind set isn’t completely wrong and he definitely can’t be blamed for it, it still wasn’t right. He hurt the lives of so many families solely to protect his own; can we say that this can be an excusable behavior given the situation? Yet I think the driver has guilt in his decision as he states, “Can’t think of that. Got to think of my own kids…You try to get your three dollars a day someplace. That’s the only way.” (page 37). As told to think of others he simply states he can’t and he has to help his own family but something wants me to believe he isn’t completely evil and that he would do good if he truly could but given the situation he just can’t. In contrast Mae is willing to help the families when she doesn’t necessarily have to. As stated we assume that she is doing well, at least better than the Okies, making money off of the truck driver’s that come in so we would expect her to have less sympathy than the tractor driver yet it seems that he was more cold-hearted than she was. She was willing to give a discount to a family she didn’t even know because she felt sympathy towards them and in turn she was rewarded with larger tips and more than likely people who are more willing to return as they have seen how nice of a woman she is. As Sarah said, it isn’t right for people to solely do things for the thought of being rewarded but I don’t necessarily think that that is the case here and that this woman actually does care.
ReplyDeleteOne thing that I took away from comparing the characterization of the tractor driver and Mae is that not much separates them. Basically they are both just people who do what they need to do to get by. They aren’t portrayed as malicious or cruel, rather as just normal Americans of the time, simple and hard working. The main difference seems to be what they are being asked to do in order to get by. Where as Mae’s job is to serve customers, the tractor driver is being paid to destroy the small farms. Obviously one job has much more serious implications, which could lead one to believe that the tractor driver is morally corrupt. I think the characterization found in the novel would dispute this point. An example of the characterization is found on page 37. “Thinking about stuff like that don’t feed your kids. Get your three dollars a day, feed your kids.” This line of thought is easy to sympathize with, even when considering the result of the tractor driver’s labor. This kind of thought is echoed in chapter 15 by Mae when she remarks to travelling Oakies this statement, “This ain’t a grocery store. We got bread to make san’widges.” Both quotes show how both characters express the basic belief that to survive in a time like the Depression one has to look after oneself and your family first. The difference is that Mae relents and gives the travellers candy for basically free, while the tractor driver continues his work of destroying homes. The difference here seems to be who is in charge of each character. While Mae is in no real danger of losing her job if she gives away candy and bread once, the tractor driver would almost undoubtedly be in trouble if he “forgot” to plow over a farm. The message seems to be that of all the forces at work in The Grapes of Wrath, there are some that are inherently less likely to allow any mercy towards people like the Joads. So while Mae and the tractor driver share the same basic sense of morality, it is a lot easier for one to be compassionate than it is for the other.
ReplyDeleteIf I was the tractor driver in his situation, I would have done what he had to do. He doesn’t mean to intentionally hurt his neighbors but he really has no choice. I think, in the end, it all comes down to what you can live with as a result of your choices. The man who had to crush his friend’s houses probably hated his job; but he only did it because he knew that was the only thing that he could do to support his family. At least he could rely on having meals together with his family day after day where the other families couldn’t. He could probably sleep at night knowing he was able to provide for the people he loves most. “Times are changed, don’t you know? Thinking about stuff like that don’t feed the kids. Get three dollars a day, feed the kids. You got no call to worry about anybody’s kids but your own.” (pg. 37) The tractor driver is right. Because of the situation he’s in, he only can worry about himself and his children. I’m sure he wishes it was different but he is being realistic. The stronger people are usually the realistic people; I’m sure this man made it out alright in the end.
ReplyDeleteMae’s situation is however different from the tractor drivers. Unfortunately, the author does not give much detail about Mae and about her situation. If we knew more about where she came from and who she had to provide for I would be able to make a better judgment of her generous deed. When she practically gives the candy away, she gives the readers a sense of hope. She acknowledges that there are still people out there who care about the wants and needs of other people. What she did, really didn’t hurt her, she just wasn’t making a profit on the candy. Who knows if the candy was even hers to give away? What she did was truly sincere. Maybe if more people were able to help each other out during the depression, like Mae, it wouldn’t have been so bad for everyone.
There may not be as much of a difference between the actual characters of the tractor driver and Mae than what it seems. I think the way they acted were due to the situation that they were in rather than the type of people they are. The tractor driver in chapter 5 was carrying out a job that required him to push the people off their land and knock down there houses. He was confronted with a conflict of choosing between doing what he knew was right (not knocking down all his neighbors houses) or being able to feed and take care of his family. Clearly, his family was more important to him than all the other lives he was ruining. If the tractor driver didn’t do his job, his family would starve. Was there a better way to go about getting food without harming his neighbors? Probably, but it was there and probably the most convenient choice at the time. In Mae’s situation, she was very resistant to sell the bread to the family at the price they could afford until Al told her to do so. After she gave them the bread, I think she felt good about being generous which is why she lied about the price of the candy and sold it to the kids at a much cheaper rate. She realized that the bread was necessary just so the family could get by and it struck her that they were in a very difficult situation. Plus, the children must have had an impact on her as they stood at the candy counter just admiring the candy but not even showing any desire. Steinbeck writes, “...they went immediately to the candy case and stared in--not with craving or with hope or even with desire, but just with a kind of wonder that such things could be” (pg 160). The father was very kind-hearted and made it clear that he wasn’t trying to rob them of their money, he was just trying to feed his family. Mae really had nothing to lose by helping them out and giving them the candy and bread. Little did she know, it paid off to be generous because she was rewarded for it by the extra tip that the truck drivers gave her. All in all, the tractor driver and Mae were in different situations and had different motivations.
ReplyDeleteThe differences between Mae and the tractor driver are rather vast in my opinion. I truly believe that these two characters represent the two types of people during this era. The tractor driver represents those kind of people who do what they have to do to keep themselves and their family alive. In comparison to Nazi Germany, these type of people would be like those who took orders from Hitler to kill others for the fear that if they didn't, Hitler would kill them too. The statement we made the other day in class pertains to this as well; "If the tractor driver was shot, there's always someone to replace him"...or something along those lines. I think that the tractor driver rips down their home simply because he is ordered to do so. If he doesn't, then he will be fired and will have no possible way to place food on the table for him and his family. It's sad to watch these characters struggle between what is right for them and what is right for others. Mae on the other hand, represents those very caring type of people who live a very stressful life. These type of people would give the clothes off of their back to you, simply because they were kind and genuine people and they barely had anything other than a few items here and there. Mae also seems to be a character who cares for others, without regret and that the only thing holding her back from giving so much is simply the law. For example, when she was in the diner she wanted to give the farmer the loaf of bread but she wasn't sure if she was allowed to do so but in the end, it turned out that she gave him the loaf and 2 pieces of candy for less than what it should have cost him.
ReplyDeleteI believe the difference between the tractor driver and Mae lies in their sense of obligation. In both situations, each individual is forced to make a similar decision; it is the external factors that can account for the difference in their reactions.
ReplyDeleteIn the tractor driver’s situation, he is not entirely acting out of his own will. While he does make the conscious decision to confiscate the farmer’s land and plow over their houses, it is not without regret or remorse. They refused to take responsibility for their actions because “all of them were caught in something larger than themselves…The Bank - or the Company – needs – wants – insists - must have - as though the Bank or the Company were a monster, with thought and feeling, which had ensnared them”(pages 31-32). Each came up with a different way of coping with the reality of what they were doing to the sharecroppers. Some were cruel, others focused only on the mathematics, but none attempted to lessen the suffering of their fellow men.
Mae, on the other hand, demonstrates the good that comes to those that help others. While she is reluctant at first to sell the travelers bread, she eventually ends up giving in and even reducing the price of the candy so the father could afford a few pieces. Although she was in the same predicament as the truck drivers, forced to scratch together a meager living for her and her family, she felt less outside pressure and therefore had the freedom to act with mercy. Her kindness represents the only way human beings are able to overcome disaster. If a few men are greedy, and force those under them to act the same way, then very few are able to survive. On the other hand, if everyone makes a small sacrifice and acts with compassion, then the majority is able to benefit and later repay the favor.