Steinbeck's GOW (family, women/men)

In the article, Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath by Rebecca Hinton, it talks about the concept of family and the roles in families. "The Joads are patriarchal.... Ma represents the old order of matriarchy," (Hinton). This article talks more about how Ma slowly becomes the leader that the others look up to. Ma takes care of all of the others. She let Casy join them on their journey to California and later agreed to the Wilsons going with them because their car broke down. Rose of Sharon is compared to Ma in the beginning as Rose follows in her mother's footsteps but then she starts to mature and become caring as well. The article talks mostly about the women but I think that it is still a good source that summarizes the differences between the roles of men and women well.  Link to article