Family ties and the Joad family's connection to the land, that is their livelihood, are two of the most prevalent elements in John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath. .
The Joad Family has to stay together through the times of hardship in the 30's for support and strength. In Steinbeck's description of Ma Joad, he says, "She seemed to know, to accept, to welcome her position, the citadel of the family, the strong place that could not be taken" (Steinbeck 79). Ma holds the family together, and this concept is exemplified when Steinbeck says, "She seemed to know that if she swayed the family shook the family will to function would be gone" (80).
As the "citadel of the family", Ma remained emotionally strong through all the hard.
Ma Joad was an emotionally strong woman who kept the family united (her primary concern), through the difficulties they faced. Ma Joad never showed pain, nor fear, and greatly suppressed her emotions for the sake of the family. Ma Joad was a giving person who would do anything for someone in need as demonstrated in her giving up the soup to some of the starving children of the camp they were residing in, even though her family was in great need of the food.
Some emotional evolution of the family is shown best by the character Ma. Ma experienced the greatest change from thinking only of keeping her immediate family together, accepting that a broken-family will not be able to accomplish anything, to believing in a social extended family.
Steinbeck focuses on the relationship with the land and the connection within the family, because all life in the late 1930's revolved around these aspects. It is quite possible that some semblance of these ideals is still visible in modern-day life.