Throughout history, humans have achieved amazing things when they work together. However, humanities history is also plagued with dark and dubious times filled with conflict. T.H White once said, "The destiny of man is to unite, not to divide. If you keep on dividing you end up as a collection of monkeys throwing nuts at each other out of separate trees." In this book, The Grapes of Wrath, there are many examples of people uniting, dividing and engaging in conflict.
In the novel, The Grapes of Wrath, one can observe that the Joad family begins to divide and unravel as a family upon their epic journey. One of the first signs of this family separation becomes apparent after the death of Grandpa Joad. Near the beginning of the family's journey to California, after they meet Ivy and Sairy Wilson and shortly after Grandpa Joad dies, Ruthie solemnly says, "Grandpa's down under there" (Page 185). In this quote, Ruthie is looking down at a heap of dirt where Tom and Al just buried Grandpa Joad. Not too long after Ruthie said this, she ran off and quietly cried to herself. This shows just how much it affected Ruthie, who is only just a child. However, it wasn't just Ruthie who was affected. Grandpa Joads death affected the entire family in one way or another. Granma Joad was really sad after he had died, and from that point on in the novel, Granma Joad was never really herself again. When Grandpa Joad died, a piece of Granma Joad died too and this was the beginning of the family starting to split apart. Because Granma was so deeply saddened by Grandpa's death, Ma' then had to support Granma through the rest of the journey which tired Ma' out. Also, many family members, such as Granma and Ruthie, wanted time to grieve alone, thus causing the family to begin to separate. Grandpa's death essentially created a cascading effect that contributed to the slow breakup of the family due to the emotional toll that it took on the family.