Secret burial of Grampa Joad

The secret burial of Grampa Joad is a pivotal event in John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath that dramatizes the family's first confrontation with the law and their own poverty. After Grampa dies of a stroke in the Wilson family's tent, the Joads, unable to afford a legal funeral, bury him in an unmarked grave by the roadside, marking a decisive break from their past dignity and a submission to the brutal economics of their migration.

Causes and Background

Grampa Joad dies of a stroke on the first night of the family's journey west, shortly after they have camped with the Wilsons near the highway. The death occurs in the Wilson tent, and the family is immediately faced with a cruel choice. Pa Joad explains the legal reality: "You got to report a death, an' when you do that, they either take forty dollars for the undertaker or they take him for a pauper." The family has only about a hundred and fifty dollars left, barely enough to reach California. Uncle John objects, "We never did have no paupers," but the arithmetic is inescapable. Tom Joad adds the pressure of his own parole: if the authorities investigate, they might discover he has crossed the state line, a violation that would send him back to prison for three years.

What Happens

The burial is carried out with grim efficiency. Pa marks out a grave eight feet long and three feet wide. The men work in relays—Pa with the mattock, Uncle John with the shovel, then Tom, Al, Noah, and Connie—until the hole is shoulder-deep. Tom writes a note on the endpaper of Sairy Wilson's Bible, identifying the body: "This here is William James Joad, dyed of a stroke, old old man. His fokes bured him becaws they got no money to pay for funerls. Nobody kilt him. Jus a stroke an he dyed." Ma insists on adding a verse from Scripture, and Tom selects Psalm 32:1: "Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered." He seals the note in a fruit jar and slips it under Grampa's cold hands before the quilt is pinned shut. The men carry the bundled body to the grave, Pa climbs in to receive it, and each man takes a turn dropping a shovelful of dirt. Then, at Tom's insistence, they level the grave and strew dry grass over it to hide it from any passing authorities who might dig it up.

Consequences and Aftermath

The burial marks a profound loss of dignity for the Joads. Pa laments, "Grampa buried his pa with his own hand, done it in dignity, an' shaped the grave nice with his own shovel. That was a time when a man had the right to be buried by his own son an' a son had the right to bury his own father." The law, he concludes, "can't be foller'd no way" in decency. The event also forges a bond between the Joads and the Wilsons, who loaned their tent and quilt. Ivy Wilson says, "There's no beholden in a time of dying," and the two families agree to travel together, sharing resources and labor. Jim Casy, who has renounced his preaching, delivers a brief, unorthodox eulogy: "All that lives is holy. . . . Grampa here, he got the easy straight. An' now cover 'im up an' let 'im get to his work." The burial is a secret that binds the family together even as it marks the beginning of their disintegration—a pattern that will repeat with Granma's death, Noah's departure, and Tom's flight.