In John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath, the character Ma Joad was the courage, wisdom, and matriarch of the family.

Whenever the Joads were ready to give up, Ma Joad would reinforce them with enough courage to go on. At one point Pa Joad was weak and losing place as head of the family. She told him on page 193, "besides, us folks takes a pride in holdin' in. My pa used to say, `anybody can break down, it takes a man not to.'" Her advice kept Pa going for at least a little longer. She was the strongest person in the whole family. When they were weak she would be strong and keep them going. She always had something reassuring to say such as "why Tom, us people will go on livin' when all them people is gone. Why Tom, we're the people that live. They ain't...