It is hard to ignore the fact that up until the beginning of the XX century, most of the deeds that the history ended up caring about were men. For quite long, the role of women was restricted to household and child upbringing; however, in the first decades of the twentieth century, the stereotypical image of a humble housewife seemed to have started wearing out, which a number of the writers like Steinbeck expressed at the time. Though the emphasis on the social, political and economical changes that gripped the South of the USA in 1930ies, John Ford in his adaptation of Steinbeck’s novel offered the audience completely new images of women and made it clear that women started gaining new social roles. The above-mentioned meant that female characters in literature were no longer the bland housewives or damsels in distress, but original characters with unique personalities. Ma Joad First and foremost, Ma Joad must be mentioned. Allowing a character like this on a screen truly heralded the beginning of the feminist era. Even though Ma Joad is portrayed as a typical housewife, she does as much as any male protagonists in the movie. On the one hand, she is a perfect supportive mother who takes care of her family: Sometimes they do somethin’ to you, Tommy. They hurt you – and you get mad–and then you get mean – and they hurt you again – and you get meaner, and meaner – till you ain’t no boy or no man any more, but just a walkin’ chunk a mean-mad. Did they hurt you like that, Tommy? ( The Grapes of Wrath ) On the other hand, she is into the social and political changes that happen to the state. As a matter of fact, at certain point, she summarizes the entire movie, if not the entire era, quite in a nutshell: Rich fellas come up an’ they die, an’ their kids ain’t no good an’ they die out. But we keep a’comin’. We’re the people that live. They can’t wipe us out; they can’t lick us. We’ll go on forever, Pa, ’cause we’re the people. ( The Grapes of Wrath ). Rosasharn Compared to the previous character, Rose of Sharon, or, as her friends and family call her, Rosasharn, is quite a downgrade. She does have a personality, too, but she comes nowhere near energetic Ma Joad. Instead of being protective like Ma Joad, she whimpers and moans: “Ma… all this, will it hurt the baby?”, while her mother reasons with her: “Now don’t you go gettin’ nimsy-mimsy” ( The Grapes of Wrath ). Grandma Joad Grandma Joad is not given much screen time, unlike Ma or Rosasharn. However, it would be wrong to leave Grandma Joad out of account. According to what the characters who used to know her as she was younger say, she deserves to be mentioned as a female character whose personality was groundbreaking for the American cinematography of the time: “Your granma was a great one, too. The third time she got religion she go it so powerful she knocked down a full-growed deacon with her fist” ( The Grapes of Wrath ). It is worth mentioning that, despite a new portrayal of women and establishing their new role in society, the movie still contains the clichés of the time. Even the leading female character, Ma Joad, is pretty much a staple of a typical housewife and the mother of the family. From the given perspective, she can be considered the typical caring mother of the family whose main concerns are her children and her household chores.