How does Steinbeck use literary elements in the given passage from The Grapes of Wrath to reveal Ma Joad's complexity and her contribution to the overall meaning of the work?

The passage from The Grapes of Wrath that begins with "Tom stood looking in" and ends with "She seemed to know that if she swayed the family shook, and if she ever really deeply wavered or despaired the family would fall, the family will to function would be gone."

With the use of literary devices, Steinbeck actually presents the essence of all of the characters of The Grapes of Wrath, as well as the themes and motives. In this specific passage, for example, Steinbeck uses imagery, simile, metaphor, and polysyndeton to reveal the depth of Ma Joad's character.

Steinbeck describes Ma Joad's clothes, then her face and body, in a way that helps readers understand not just Ma Joad's physical appearance, but also her soul and personality.

She wore a loose Mother Hubbard of gray cloth in which there had once been colored flowers, but the color was washed out now, so that the small flowered pattern was only a little lighter gray than the background.

With the presented imagery, the readers get the feeling that Ma is a kind, dignified, and caring woman whose life experiences have made her wiser and more sagacious, as well as both strong and delicate.

She looked out into the sunshine. Her full face was not soft; it was controlled, kindly. Her hazel eyes seemed to have experienced all possible tragedy and to have mounted pain and suffering like steps into a high calm and a superhuman understanding.

Steinbeck also calls Ma Joad "the citadel of the family," and through that metaphor he presents her as the matriarch of the family.

She seemed to know, to accept, to welcome her position, the citadel of the family, the strong place that could not be taken

Using a simile, he compares her to a goddess.

From her position as healer, her hands had grown sure and cool and quiet; from her position as arbiter she had become as remote and faultless in judgment as a goddess.

In the same sentence, he uses polysyndeton as well, which only solidifies the point that Ma Joad is basically the one that holds the family together. She is their healer, their source of joy, calm, strength and happiness—the one they go to, no matter how good or bad things are.

What literary devices does Steinbeck use in this passage from The Grapes of Wrath to reveal Ma Joad's complexity?

The passage from chapter 8 starts with "Tom stood looking in" and ends with "She seemed to know that if she swayed the family shook, and if she ever really deeply wavered or despaired the family would fall, the family will to function would be gone."

In this passage from The Grapes of Wrath, John Steinbeck uses literary devices and techniques including simile, metaphor, anaphora, and alliteration to reveal the complexity of Ma Joad.

The following section of the passage contains a simile, a metaphor, and anaphora:

Her hazel eyes seemed to have experienced all possible tragedy and to have mounted pain and suffering like steps into a high calm and a superhuman understanding. She seemed to know, to accept, to welcome her position, the citadel of the family, the strong place that could not be taken.

These devices all have a similar effect, to elevate Ma Joad into a figure of tragic grandeur and power. She has overcome pain and suffering, which were merely steps that had the effect of elevating her above them. She is a citadel, the strongest, safest place in the city. The rhetorical flourish in the ascending tricolon, "to know, to accept, to welcome," emphasizes her calmness and power.

The passage concludes with the sentences:

From her position as healer, her hands had grown sure and cool and quiet; from her position as arbiter she had become as remote and faultless in judgment as a goddess. She seemed to know that if she swayed the family shook, and if she ever really deeply wavered or despaired the family would fall, the family will to function would be gone.

The repeated "from her," picked up from the previous sentence, gives a measured, stately quality to the lines, which is increased by the comparison with a goddess, at odds with the earlier physical description. Ma's centrality to the Joad family is further emphasized in the alliteration of the final two phrases.