Friday, August 6, 2010

Characters in "The Grapes of Wrath": Ruthie and Winfield

Ruthie and Winfield are very similar in The Grapes of Wrath. They are the starving children. They have a hard time helping with the work, because they are not accustomed to doing anything except for school and play. Sometimes it is necessary for the children to work because that is the only way that the family can get enough money to survive. They are good children, but enjoy tattling on each other. They want to do everything right and have their whole family approve of them and be proud of them. They do not think much about the circumstances which brought them to California, they just go along with anything their family decided to do. They were not necessarily happy about having to move halfway across the country, but they had no choice in the matter. They complained quite a bit because it was something that they did not want to do, but they quickly learned that complaints got nowhere with their family and it was pointless to whine. Ruthie and Winfield want the all of the children, everywhere that they go, to accept them. They are willing to do just about anything. They will play games, tell stories, or even try to scare the other children just so they will be accepted. They are not always the best at keeping thier mouths shut, but since they are children, they are quickly excused for their absence of thought. Ruthie let slip the fact that Tom had killed the man that killed Casy, which made the whole family have to move to a new place, so Tom would not get caught and have to go all the way back to Oklahoma. Winfield was the one that told Ma, because he wanted to see Ruthie get in trouble. Ruthie felt awful, so she was not punished for it. Ma was too concentrated on getting everyone out of that place to punish Ruthie, but Ruthie had punished herself enough. The children complained a lot, and talked more than they should have, but they were still pretty innocent and did not always know what they were doing.

No comments:

Post a Comment