The Grapes of Wrath — PinkMonkeyNotes 1/40 About Steinbeck and The Grapes of Wrath John Steinbeck was born on February 27, 1902, in Salinas, California. He set many of his novels in and around his birthplace of Salinas, California, including Tortilla Flat, In Dubious Battle, Of Mice and Men, The Grapes of Wrath, and Cannery Row. After leaving Salinas High School in 1919, Steinbeck studied at Stanford University from 1920 to1925, but never completed a degree. The courses which attracted his attention most were zoology, English, and classical literature. After leaving the University, he worked at a variety of jobs. Between 1925 and 1927 he attempted to earn a living as a reporter and a free-lance writer, but was unsuccessful. Steinbeck's first novel, Cup of Gold (1929), is based on the life of Sir Henry Morgan, a famous English pirate of the sixteen hundreds. His next work, The Pastures of Heaven (1932), is a collection of stories about the people on a farm community near Salinas. In this work, Steinbeck focuses on the struggle between human beings and nature. These first two books received scant attention. Finally, in 1933, Steinbeck achieved success with his short story, The Red Pony. Steinbeck's next novel, Tortilla Flat (1935), dealt with the migrant workers and poor farmers. In Dubious Battle (1936) realistically portrays the labor strife in California during the nineteen thirties. This novel also sets forth Steinbeck's concept of "group humanity" through the character of Doc Burton. This concern reappears in The Grapes of Wrath (1939) and The Sea of Cortez (1941). Of Mice and Men (1937) became a best seller and was adapted for the stage and a movie. In it, Steinbeck tells the tragic story about a physically powerful but mentally retarded farm worker, Lennie, and his best friend and protector, George; their plans for owning a farm never materialize. Instead, Lennie kills a woman and George shoots him. In 1940, Steinbeck went on an expedition to the Gulf of California (also called The Sea of Cortez) with his friend Ed Ricketts, a marine biologist. Steinbeck shared with him a deep interest in biology. The result of this trip was a joint publication, The Sea of Cortez: A Leisurely Journal of Travel and Research. The book is in two parts. The first part narrates the voyage and records various conversations and speculations and the second part describes the marine organisms collected by the men. Other works include Cannery Row (1944), The Wayward Bus (1947), The Pearl (1947), Burning Bright (1950), East of Eden (1952), Sweet Thursday (1954), and The Winter of Our Discontent (1961). East of Eden is Steinbeck's longest and most ambitious work. It follows three generations of a Californian family from 1860 to the first World War. The title refers to the family strife, which parallels the conflict between the Biblical figures of Cain and Abel. Steinbeck received the Pulitzer Prize in 1940 and the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1962. He died on December 20, 1968. The Grapes of Wrath (1939) is Steinbeck's most famous novel and won the 1940 Pulitzer Prize. The novel tells the story of the Joads, who migrate to California in search of a better life during the Great Depression of the nineteen thirties. Steinbeck effectively portrays how the struggle of the Joads mirrors the hardships of the entire nation. The Joads learn, through the inspiration of Jim Casy, that the poor must work together in order to survive. Two great historical and social phenomena merged in the thirties to create The Grapes of Wrath. The first was a growing interest among the American intellectuals in the philosophy of Marxism, or Socialism as a means of helping the laboring classes. Casy's thinking in the novel is based upon these philosophies. The second phenomenon was the natural disaster of the Dust Bowl. In November of 1933, a huge dust cloud rose over an area of the U.S. stretching from Texas to South Dakota. The dust storm eroded the topsoil of the region and blew it away. Crops were destroyed, and many small farmers lost their lands to the banks that held mortgages on their farms. Corporations were forced to farm under intensive large-scale operations, using tractors to replace the horse- drawn plows of the small farmer. Thousands of sharecroppers were evicted from their lands which had been settled by their forefathers. About 4,000 people were, therefore, forced by circumstances to travel in unreliable cars to California in search of work. With deteriorating conditions for the farm workers in the West, there were innumerable strikes during the years of 1933 and 1934. Steinbeck, as a newspaper reporter, saw first-hand the difficult life of the migrants during his visits to the labor camps.

The Grapes of Wrath — PinkMonkeyNotes 2/40 He resolved to write a "big book" chronicling the suffering and oppression of the migrants. The outcome of his efforts was The Grapes of Wrath.

The Grapes of Wrath — PinkMonkeyNotes 3/40 Key Literary Elements Setting The territory of The Grapes of Wrath is of epic proportions and is described in great detail. The setting includes a large part of Oklahoma, portions of other states, and a large area of California. The early narrative chapters focus on land near Sallisaw, in the east-central part of Oklahoma. The westward journey of the Joad family covers some eighteen hundred miles through portions of seven states: Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Arkansas, New Mexico, and California. The huge territory covered in chapters twelve to eighteen is described in great detail. Steinbeck lists names of places, state roads, and highways, as well as describing the national Highway 66, "the path of a people in flight," and the main route westward. The poetic descriptions of the land through which Highway 66 passes create a sense of expansiveness and spaciousness. Conflict • Protagonist Tom Joad, as a representative of all migrant workers, is the protagonist of the novel. He is the rootless man, the individual who must learn responsibility for what capitalism has done to people and to the earth. Along with Tom, the Joads and the other migrants are sent on the road on a quest to rethink their relationship with both humanity and the land itself. This process has been called "education of the heart." By the end of the novel, Tom relinquishes his self-absorption and embraces Casy's mixture of Emersonian idealism and a particular form of American communalism. He plans to translate Casy's dream of organizing people to improve their living conditions into action. • Antagonist Poverty is the antagonist of Tom Joad and all migrant workers. Poverty throws people into an intense relationship with nature and its contingencies. Steinbeck, a naturalist, believed that people were the helpless victims of an indifferent environment. The Oklahoma land companies and the Californian landowners are the forces that inflict the poverty in the context of the novel. • Climax The climax occurs in Chapter 26 when Casy is murdered, and Tom avenges his death and goes into hiding. These events cause Tom to mature and accept the philosophies of Casy. He realizes that the only way to fight the poverty and poor treatment is to take unified action. • Outcome The novel outwardly ends in tragedy. The Joads, like all the migrant workers, are continually plagued and threatened from the start of their journey to California. Their lives progressively deteriorate until the novel's ending when the family is considerably reduced in number, and Rose of Sharon's stillborn child is seen floating downstream. They have no money or no food for the winter, and have no idea how they will make it. Tom Joad, the protagonist, fully shares in the family's suffering from intense poverty. In addition, Tom lives in fear of being discovered as a murderer. The only bright spot in a bleak ending to the novel is Tom Joad's new insight about life. He becomes aware that he has to be concerned not only for his own family's welfare, but also for the welfare of all families. It is only through a united effort that the migrant workers can rise above their extremely low level of poverty. Ma, the pillar of strength, who has cared mainly for her own family, also embraces this philosophy, and Rose of Sharon is seen nursing a dying man in the last scene of the novel. These are also small signs of hope.

The Grapes of Wrath — PinkMonkeyNotes 4/40 List of characters • Pa Joad A homesteader who, like hundreds of others, has lost his farm due to the dust storm in Oklahoma. He migrates with his family to California where he hopes to find work picking oranges. He loses his identity when his life as a farmer is disrupted, and he cannot adjust to the new circumstances which face him. Pa has a weaker personality than Ma Joad. He undergoes a loss of identity when his stable life as a farmer is destroyed; he does not adapt to the new migrant way of life. He continues to live in the past and cannot face the present circumstances. He is the helpless victim of an indifferent environment. He cannot understand the new forces of capitalism and market economy blowing across the country, which hold profit as the sole motive of business. His foolishness is shown when he sells the entire belongings of the Joads for a mere eighteen dollars. Despite his shortcomings, Pa is a good man who is not afraid of hard work. He is not lazy or predisposed to leisure. His concept of family is more constricted than that of Ma. Pa questions whether they can afford to take Casy along and wonders if they will be able to feed an extra mouth. His primary concern is only for the immediate family members. He is more self-absorbed than Ma, who shows no hesitation in taking the ex-preacher along. Pa cannot detach himself from the past and the land, which he has cultivated. He spends all his free time thinking about how it used to be. He relinquishes his nominal authority over the family and looks to Ma for direction in making decisions. He sadly remarks, "Funny! Woman takin' over the fambly. Woman sayin' we'll do this here, an' we'll go there. An' I don' even care." Ma consoles him by saying that women adapt themselves to changing circumstances more readily than men. Pa's sole effort of building a mud embankment proves futile, and he is unable to check the advancing flood waters in the box car camp. The Pa who was earlier offended by Ma's authority, at the end of the novel, meekly obeys her decision that they must move to a safer and drier shelter. Pa never shows any awareness of the implications of Casy's philosophy. He is merely concerned with himself and shows no desire to sacrifice for others. As Tom accurately observes, Pa is merely concerned with earning his own meal even if it is at the expense of others. Throughout the novel, he never acts for the good of humanity at large. • Ma Joad A strong, stern woman who is the binding force of the family. Her concern for the family prompts her not to reveal that Granma has died until they have safely crossed the desert. Ma represents the "citadel of the family, the strong place that could not be taken." Because she is stronger than Pa is, she becomes the guiding force behind the family. She is always calm and controlled in her emotional reactions. She is impenetrable and does not allow any event to upset her. She has long ago denied herself from acknowledging hurt and fear for the interest of the family in general. She has to build a strong outward demeanor so as to keep the family from losing heart. Her hazel eyes seem to have experienced all the possible tragedy and to have mounted pain and suffering like steps into a calm and superhuman understanding. During the novel, Ma becomes increasingly influential in the decision-making process and acts with authority. It is Ma who decides to take Casy along with them to California when Pa doubts whether they will be able to feed another person. Ma exhibits an ample amount of wisdom and tact in managing her family since she is thoroughly familiar with the nature of each member and treats them accordingly. She knows that if Pa breaks down, the family will be destroyed and, therefore, knowingly incites him into anger so that he will be more energetic. She understands that Rose of Sharon is worried about her pregnancy and the fact that Connie has deserted her. She recognizes that Al does not share Tom's sense of responsibility. She sees the quiet strength underlying Tom's demeanor of a drifter. She sympathizes with Uncle John's need to drown his sorrows in drink and does not criticize him for spending money at a time when the family needs it most. She cooperates with everybody and treats each family member according to his or her need. Ma devotes herself to protecting the unity of the family and retaining its spirit. She realizes that in their migrant way of life, the family is the only thing that is important and valuable: "All we got is the family unbroke." When the Wilsons' car breaks down and Tom suggests that they continue traveling on separately, Ma refuses to allow this. She threatens to fight Pa with a jack-handle until he sees her point of view. When they stop beside the Colorado River, Ma threatens to hit a deputy with a skillet. Her concern for the family to cross the desert safely prompts her not to tell anybody that Granma has died. Casy is filled with admiration at Ma's extraordinary strength: "All night long an' she was alone . . . there's

The Grapes of Wrath — PinkMonkeyNotes 5/40 a woman so great with love—she scares me. Makes me afraid an' mean." She faces all the pressures acting on the family with a quiet determination. Ma embraces the love of humankind in which Casy believes. Ma shows her awareness of the potentiality of organized action early in the novel when Tom returns from prison. She tells him that he cannot fight the system alone but thinks that something could be achieved if all the sharecroppers united together and protested against their eviction. Casy eventually helps to organize such united group action, and Tom leaves the family to translate Casy's ideas into action. Ma shows a readiness to help other people: she acts charitably when she leaves some food and money for the Wilsons; she leaves some stew out of her own meager individual share for the starving children at the Hooverville Camp; and she gives Tom her last dollars to help in the effort to unite the people. In the last chapter of the novel, Ma goes beyond her primary concern for her family to embrace humanity: "Use' ta be the fambly was fust. It ain't so now. It's anybody. Worse off we get, the more we got to do." Ma expresses the spirit of the novel. She says, "If you're in trouble or hurt or need—go to poor people. They're the only ones that'll help." The novel is filled with incidences of this helpfulness: the clerk at the Hooper ranch store helps Ma by lending her ten cents to buy sugar since he cannot allow her to take it on credit; Al, in the diner, sells the family bread and candy at reduced prices; and Tom is sold spare parts at a cheap price since the salesman believes the boss usually cheats the migrants. Ma also expresses a Whitmanian faith in the ability of the people to survive. Ma believes that "us people will go on livin' when all them people is gone . . . We're the people that live. They ain't gonna wipe us out. Why we're the people—we go on." Ma believes that they are the chosen ones who will endure every hardship and continue to people the world. • Grampa Joad The grandfather and original settler of the farm which has been lost due to the dust storm in Oklahoma. He is the titular head of the family but no longer rules. Although he talks about how he will sit in a wash-tub full of grapes in California, when the time to leave arrives, he refuses to go and has to be drugged with medicine to be taken along. He dies on the first evening of their journey and is buried in a field beside the road. • Granma Joad A firm believer in religion. She dies while the family cross the Californian desert. • Grampa and Granma Joad Grampa and Granma are vividly depicted. Grampa has a cantankerous, complaining, mischievous, laughing face. "He fought and argued, told dirty stories. He was as lecherous as always. Vicious and cruel and impatient, like a frantic child, and the whole structure overlaid with amusement." Grampa retains his position as the titular head of the family, but no longer makes any decisions. When the Joads gather around the truck in a family council to decide about when to leave for California, Grampa has the right to make the first comment. He has a strong affection for Granma, but he glories himself in provoking her. As Granma is fiercely religious, he derives immense pleasure in talking about his past escapades. Grampa refuses to leave the land, which he settled, and when the time to leave arrives, he has to be drugged and physically carried to the truck. But he belongs with the land and dies on the very first night of the journey. He is buried alongside the road in Oklahoma. Granma has survived "only because she was as mean as her husband. She has held her own with a shrill, ferocious religiosity that was as lecherous and as savage as anything Grampa could offer." Granma is fervent in her beliefs. She asks Casy to say grace before breakfast and orders him to pray when Grampa is dying. Her life loses meaning with the death of Grampa, and she dies soon after his death. Ma regrets that neither Grampa nor Granma survived to see the fertile Californian valleys. Tom rightly perceives that both of them were too advanced in age to confront any new experiences. • Noah Joad The eldest son who fulfills a minor role in the novel. He is unobtrusive and uncommunicative. Although not stupid, he is strange. Pa attributes Noah's strangeness to the night of his birth when Pa panicked and tried to pull and twist Noah during the delivery. Noah decides to stay by the Colorado River as he lacks the will power to continue the tiresome journey to California.

The Grapes of Wrath — PinkMonkeyNotes 6/40 • Tom Joad The chief protagonist of the novel. He is the second son and makes his appearance in the novel after spending four years in McAlester, an Oklahoma state prison, for killing a man in a drunken brawl. His character undergoes development in the novel when he decides to act upon Casy's ideas and take over his work. Tom Joad is the protagonist of the novel and the narrative action chronicles his development from a self-absorbed egoism to a concern about humanity at large. The novel opens with Tom as the representative walking man, who along with the Joads and the other migrants, will be sent on a quest to understand the implications of his relationship with the land. At the novel's opening, he hitch hikes his way home after serving four years in the prison for killing a man in a drunken brawl. At this stage he is only concerned with his own wants and desires. He tells Casy that "I'm just gonna lay one foot down before another." He feels no trace of shame for having killed a man and says he would do the same even now if similar circumstances presented themselves. In the beginning, Tom does not show any sympathy with Casy's ideas of One Big Soul. Beyond himself, he does show a genuine concern for his own family, and beneath his hard exterior lies a human heart that is capable of kindness. When Tom meets Casy during the strike at the Hooper ranch, the ex-preacher tells him of the importance of organizing workers in order to improve their living conditions. Tom does not say much but thinks about what Casy has said. When Casy is killed, he feels compelled to remember his teachings. Having to hide in a cave since he kills Casy's murderer, Tom has a lot of time to think. He reflects on Casy's ideas and decides to translate them into action. Ma warns him that Casy had to sacrifice his life; Tom says it does not matter. He now believes that his soul is a part of a big soul and that he will always be present everywhere. Tom has learned to love and work for humankind. • Rose of Sharon The daughter of the Joads who is married to Connie Rivers. When Tom returns from prison, he finds her pregnant. She has great hopes about her life in California and tells Ma that she wants to live in a town rather than in the country with the family. Her child is stillborn and in the final pages of the novel, she is seen breast-feeding a starving man. Rose of Sharon transforms from a petulant young girl who is obsessed with her pregnancy to a nurturing woman who shares her milk with a starving man. At the beginning, she is on quest of beauty and romance in life. She seems immature and shares constant secrets with her equally immature, nineteen-year-old husband Connie. Both of them have great (and unrealistic) plans for their future and for their baby. They plan to move away from the family, live in a California town, buy a house, and own a store. Sadly, Connie deserts her, for he lacks the physical and moral capacity to continue the difficulties endured by the Joad family. Throughout the novel, Rose of Sharon tends to think that every event will affect her baby in a negative way; in so doing, she foreshadows the actual events surrounding her infant at the end of book. She worries about seeing the dog run over, fearing it will harm the fetus. She complains about not getting to drink milk and fears that her baby will be born deformed. In the ending scenes of the novel, Rose of Sharon works with the family in the cotton fields. She goes into labor soon after this and gives birth to a stillborn child because of malnutrition and extreme exhaustion. Her final action of nourishing a starving man on the milk meant for her dead baby shows that she too shares Casy's love of the people; although she does not bring life into the world, there is rebirth when she brings life to a dying man. • Al Joad A sixteen year old boy. His only passion is girls and cars. Near the end of the novel Al announces his intention to marry Aggie Wainright. Al is the sixteen-year old brother of Tom. His chief interests seem to be girls and cars. He feels responsible for the Hudson that the Joads buy and tells Tom it is part of his soul. Al admires Tom and uses the notoriety of his elder brother to gain popularity. From the very beginning of the novel, he wants to leave the family and work in a garage. At the novel's end, he announces his decision to leave the family and stay back with Agnes Wainwright, the girl he proposes to marry. He fulfills a minor role in the novel. • Uncle John Pa's brother. He suffers from a guilt complex about his wife's death and feels compelled to acts of fornication and drunkenness occasionally. He lives in the shadow of his sin and continually wonders whether his sins bring misfortunes on the family.

The Grapes of Wrath — PinkMonkeyNotes 7/40 Uncle John is a man of few words and seldom speaks during the novel. He suffers from a guilt complex of having sinned and caused the death of his wife. When his wife was pregnant she developed stomach pains and asked for a doctor. Uncle John, however, told her that she had probably eaten too much and the pain was a result of indigestion. His wife died the next afternoon from a ruptured appendix. When his guilt become too great, he relieves himself through drinking and sex. His character is obviously not strong, but he does worry whether his sins have brought the manifold misfortunes upon the Joad family. In the novel's final chapter, he floats Rose of Sharon's still born baby downstream in an fit of anger; he hopes someone will find the lifeless form and realize the cruelty inflicted on the migrants. • Connie Rivers A sharp-faced, lean young man of nineteen. He is married to Rose of Sharon. He finds the journey to California very tough and abandons Rose of Sharon when they reach Hooverville. • Ruthie and Winfield Joad The two youngest children. Ruthie aged twelve and Winfield aged ten are excited by the prospect of the journey to California. Both behave mischievously and are lively children. • Jim Casy The preacher who baptized Tom Joad. He has given up his calling as a preacher because he felt hypocritical because of his promiscuity. Casy is viewed as a Christ figure. As an ex-revivalist preacher, he has rejected the formal Christianity, which he once preached. He, like Christ, goes into the wilderness to think things out. He realizes that there is no sin and no virtue—only action. Some actions are nice and some are not nice. He bases his philosophy on the love of people and remarks that "maybe it's all men an' all women we love; maybe that's the Holy spirit—the whole shebang. Maybe all people got one big soul ever'body's a part of." He thus arrives at the Emersonian philosophy of the Oversoul. In the early stage of the novel, Casy is still the contemplative person. He realizes that his calling lies with the people on the road and accompanies the Joads on their journey to California. Casy fulfills his commitment to help the Joads by surrendering himself for arrest in order to protect Tom. Casy then goes to jail and learns that the poor must unite together to bring about social change. This marks the beginning of the movement from "I" to "we." He tells Tom that when a single prisoner protested against the poor quality of food, nothing happened. But when all the prisoners unitedly complained, the quality of the food improved substantially. Casy then realizes that his mission in life is to organize the migrant farm workers into unions so as to improve their living conditions. He knows that by organizing a strike he is possibly endangering his own life. Like Christ, he will gladly sacrifice himself for the good of others. Casy preaches a religion of love. He realizes that humankind as a whole comprises an organism just like the other social units of family, corporation, union, and state. He feels a kinship with all people and sees all acts of living as holy. His belief that individual family interests should be subordinate to the common welfare of humanity and his belief that all individual souls are part of one big soul parallels Jesus' rejection of family bonding for the kingdom of Heaven's sake. Casy's initials, J.C., correspond to those of Jesus Christ. He dies in a Christ-like manner saying to his murderers that they do not know what they are doing. His message reaches the public only after his death. Tom, Casy's disciple, carries out the work outlined by him. Casy's religion bears a striking contrast to the fierce religiosity of Granma, the dogmatic hell and brimstone religion of the preachers who work on peoples' fear, and the fanaticism of Mrs. Sandry. His function in the novel is to act as the mouthpiece of the proletarian message and to provide a juxtaposition to the Joads. The development in Tom's character can only be seen by contrasting his former egocentric self with his later adoption of Casy's philosophy. Casy's philosophy also guides Ma's actions. • Muley Graves A lean, short man who lived near the Joads. When his family leaves for California, he refuses to go and stays behind, living an isolated existence. He shares his food with Tom and Casy.

The Grapes of Wrath — PinkMonkeyNotes 8/40 • Ivy and Sarah (Sairy) Wilson The first couple that the Joads meet on their journey towards California. They are from Kansas and like the others are migrating westwards. The Wilsons help the Joads when Grampa dies. The Joads in turn repair the Wilsons' car and suggest that the two families travel together. • Mr. and Mrs. Wainwright The family who share the opposite end of the boxcar with the Joads in the ending section of the novel. • Agnes Wainwright The young woman who becomes engaged to Al Joad. • Ezra Huston The Chairperson of the central committee in the government camp in California. • Willie Eaton The man in charge of the entertainment committee who directs the actions against the rioters. • Jule Vitela A half-Cherokee, mixed-blood Indian whom Tom meets at the labor camp. The guardians of the Weedpatch labor camp choose him when they need somebody with unusually keen senses to watch the gate during a dance. • The used-car salesman A man who skillfully manipulates his clients and shows no concern for the people to whom he sells cars. • The gas station owner A man who acts rudely to the Joads because he feels that they may not buy anything; when they make a purchase, he becomes friendlier. • The one-eyed wrecking-yard assistant A spiritless and sullen man. His pessimism contrasts with the vigor of the Joads.

The Grapes of Wrath — PinkMonkeyNotes 9/40 Synopsis The Grapes of Wrath is the story of the experiences of the Joad family from the time of their eviction from a farm near Sallisaw, Oklahoma to their first winter in California. The novel has little plot in the ordinary sense. It has thirty chapters, fourteen of which deal with the Joad story. The other sixteen chapters, called interchapters, are not part of the narrative about the Joads. They are, instead, essays dealing with the larger significance of the situation in which the Joads find themselves. These chapters utilize the material that Steinbeck had found in his visits to the migrant camps and his observations of the general situation of drought and depression. Section One: Chapters 1-11 — the drought in Oklahoma The opening chapter deals with the drought in Oklahoma and describes the dust storm and its effect on the people. In chapter 2, Tom Joad hitchhikes home with a talkative truck driver. He has just spent four years in McAlester, an Oklahoma state prison, for killing a man in a drunken brawl. Chapter 3 describes a box turtle crossing a highway with great difficulty. In the 4th chapter, Tom meets Jim Casy, an ex- preacher. They discuss his loss of faith and the problems that have reduced the homesteaders to sharecroppers. Chapter 5 describes the landowners and tractors forcing the sharecroppers off the land. Casy and Tom reach the Joad farm in chapter 6, but find it deserted and damaged. Muley Graves, a neighbor, explains that the Joad family was evicted by the landowners, and is now living at Uncle John's place as they prepare to move to California. Chapter 7 describes second-hand car dealers and reproduces the monologue of a dealer who sells second-hand cars to the migrant families. Tom is reunited with his family in chapter 8 and learns of the plans to leave for California. The 9th chapter describes the migrants, in general, selling everything that could be sold and burning the rest of their belongings in preparation for the journey to California. In chapter 10, the Joads make their own preparations for the journey to California. They slaughter and salt down pigs in order to have food along the way. They decide to take Casy along with them. They drug Grampa, who refuses to leave the farm. Finally, they depart for California. Chapter 11 describes the deserted houses of the sharecroppers. Section Two: Chapters 12-18 — the journey Chapter 12 depicts the movement of the migrants on Highway 66 as they travel westwards to California. In Chapter 13, the Joads are seen traveling on Route 66 and spending the first night of their journey. Along the way, Grampa dies of a stroke and is buried by the roadside. Tom and Al repair the Wilsons' car, and the two families agree to travel together. Chapter 14 outlines the potentiality for social change inherent in the migrants' poignant situation. Chapter 15 focuses on roadside cafes and truck drivers. In chapter 16 the Wilsons' car breaks down again, and Al and Tom repair it after buying the spare part cheaply from a one-eyed wrecking yard assistant who hates his boss. At the roadside camp, the Joads learn of the deplorable working conditions and the scarcity of work available in California from a man who is returning home after watching his wife and kids die from starvation. Chapter 17 describes the roadside camps established every night by the migrants and the development of communal rules. In chapter 18, the Joads cross Arizona and reach the Colorado River. Noah leaves the family after a baptismal bath in the river. The Wilsons also discontinue their journey because Sairy is too ill to travel any further. Thus, the Joads cross the dreaded Mojave Desert alone. During the crossing, Granma dies; but Ma does not reveal her death to anybody because she wants the family to get across safely.

The Grapes of Wrath — PinkMonkeyNotes 10/40 Section Three: Chapters 19-30 — California Chapter 19 deals with the pattern of land ownership in California and contains Steinbeck's views on the strife between the landowners and the migrants. In chapter 20, the Joads stop at Hooverville, a camp for migrants on the fringes of town, where hungry children surround Ma who is making a stew. The Joads are exposed to the reality of the pitiable conditions in California. A labor contractor and a Deputy Sheriff arrive and, when the deputy arrests Floyd Knowles on a false charge, Tom trips the deputy and Casy knocks him unconscious. Casy takes all the blame on himself, thus saving Tom. Uncle John is overwhelmed by Casy's sacrifice and gets drunk to drown his sorrows. Rose of Sharon is deserted by her husband. The Joads leave the camp on learning that angry mobs plan to burn it down during the night. Chapter 21 provides a generalizing comment on the resentment and repression of the migrants. In Chapter 22, the Joads arrive at Weedpatch Camp and are happy to learn that it is managed by the migrants themselves. Tom finds work, but it lasts only for a few days. Mr. Thomas, the small farmer who employs him, tells him about some troublemakers who will disrupt the Saturday night dance so as to enable the police to interfere on grounds of rioting. Chapter 23 describes the migrants' leisure activities. In chapter 24 the committee governing the camp is successful in frustrating the attempt of the troublemakers to disrupt the camp. In chapter 25 Steinbeck describes the scientific skill, which results in abundant crops, which are then wasted. In chapter 26 the Joads have to leave Weedpatch as they have run out of money, as well as food and are without any work. They find work picking peaches at the Hooper ranch. Here Tom meets Casy who tells him that the Joads are breaking the strike to demand higher wages. Deputies disrupt their meeting, and Casy is killed in a Christ-like manner. Tom kills Casy's murderer and is recognizably wounded. Ma hides him in a cave of mattresses, and the family leaves the camp to protect him. Chapter 27 describes the work of cotton picking. In chapter 28 the family finds work picking cotton, and Tom hides in a nearby cave. Ruthie reveals to a big girl that her brother, who has killed two men, is hiding nearby. Tom tells Ma about his plans to translate Casy's ideas into action. Chapter 29 depicts the migrants' despair during the long wet season when there is no work. In the final chapter the rains flood the boxcar camp where the Joads have been living while picking cotton. The Joads and the other families build an embankment out of mud to prevent the water from flooding them. A fallen tree breaks the embankment and water floods the camp. Rose of Sharon gives birth to a stillborn child. Ma insists that the family find a dry shelter. Al stays back with Agnes Wainwright. The Joads find a barn on high ground in which to shelter. They find a boy and a starving man whom Rose of Sharon nourishes with the milk intended for her baby.

The Grapes of Wrath — PinkMonkeyNotes 11/40 Plot Structure Analysis The Grapes of Wrath is the story of the Joad family's experiences from their eviction from a farm near Sallisaw, Oklahoma to their first dismal winter in California. The novel has little plot in the ordinary sense. Out of its 30 chapters, only 14 deal with the Joad story. The other 16 chapters are not part of the narrative. They are called intercalary chapters or interchapters. Steinbeck desired to make the reader participate in the narrative of the Joads; but he also wanted the reader to identify and feel the pathos and futility of their situation. At the same time, Steinbeck wanted the reader to see beyond the Joads and sense the larger suffering of the displaced migrants. Steinbeck wanted to write a tragedy on an epic scale. Steinbeck, thus, adopted the technique of interspersing the intimate individualized suffering of the Joads with the larger universal suffering of the migrants. He interweaves the narrative chapters of the Joads with the interchapters presenting the larger context of the Dust Bowl tragedy. The Joads do not appear in any of the interchapters. But there is a close relationship between the two types of chapters. The interchapters serve many artistic and symbolic functions. They are what Steinbeck called the "repositories of all the external information in the novel." They present the broad picture of the suffering of the migrants, and also provide the essential Background Information, such as the pattern of land ownership in California, which helps the reader to understand the novel better. This segregating of two distinct types of chapters could have resulted in an imbalance in the narrative structure, and the novel could have fallen into two distinct parts. But Steinbeck avoids this by skillfully linking narrative chapter and interchapter. The interchapters sometimes serve to comment on the main action and also foreshadow later events about to occur in the novel. Steinbeck was influenced in his narrative structure by the newsreel technique of John Dos Passos. The technique of interspersing interchapter with narrative chapters had also been used earlier by Fielding in Tom Jones and by Tolstoy in War and Peace. The novel is structured into three parts: - the time spent in the dust bowl region of Oklahoma - the journey on the road along Highway 66 - the time in California. Peter Lisca, a well-known critic, sees a relationship between this three-fold division and the three stages of the Biblical Exodus: - the Israelites' time in bondage when God sent plagues to free them (chapters 1-11) - the forty years of wandering in the desert (chapters 12-18) - the arrival in Canaan, the Promised Land (chapters 19-30). The plagues sent by God are paralleled by the drought in Oklahoma, the Egyptian oppressors by the bank officials, and the hostile Canaanites by the Californians.

The Grapes of Wrath — PinkMonkeyNotes 12/40 Themes Themes • The first theme is an outcry against the ill treatment of all migrant workers. Through the story of

the Joads, the novel vividly reveals the horror of their existence and the effects of poverty on them. Steinbeck is pleading, in general, for an end to man's inhumanity to his fellow man. Specifically, he calls for a more humane treatment of the migrant worker. The Grapes of Wrath is a protest against the ill-treatment of the migrants in California. It has often been considered as a political novel; it is not, however, proletarian in the ordinary sense of the term. Steinbeck makes no claims that the laborers are always good and always right. Even while he is condemning the exploitation of the laborers, he is also concerned with their moral improvement. He does not approve of any form of extreme radicalism that violates the dignity of human beings. Steinbeck's main point is that the workers must also reform their views if there is to be any real change.

• Steinbeck makes a serious inquiry into the eternal problems of humankind—the nature of the divine, the individual's relationship with that divinity, and the results that follow from them. He examines various concepts of God and finds them all wanting, in one respect or another, and finally decides that the most valid concept of the divine is one that closely approximates the Emersonian ideal of the Oversoul. This concept is not stated explicitly, because Steinbeck is writing a novel and not a metaphysical tract. Steinbeck finds religious institutions harmful, an anthropomorphic god unsatisfactory, evangelism evil, and pantheism leaving something to be desired.

• Tom Joad's growth in insight illustrates another of the main themes in the novel. Tom symbolizes the Biblical theme of growth, the assertion that the continuation of life requires rebirth and that all people have the potential of growth (rebirth). When Tom comes out of prison, he is selfish and individualistic, although he has a strong love for his family. His experiences in California, coupled with the influence of his mother and Casy, increase his wisdom and greatly change him from his selfish ways. He learns to embrace Casy's concept of the Oversoul and becomes aware that he has to be concerned not only with his own family's welfare but also with the welfare of all families. He hopes to translate Casy's philosophy into action and is quite willing to sacrifice his life for others families. By the end of the novel, he has truly gone through a "rebirth." His new knowledge offers a hope for the future, an end to the miserable level of existence that is portrayed throughout The Grapes of Wrath.

• The novel reveals Steinbeck's belief that humanity must adapt to the changing environment in order to survive. The landowners will have to adapt to new rules of humanity if they expect to peacefully retain and farm their land. Steinbeck stresses the evolutionary idea that humanity must adapt to the changing conditions, no matter what those conditions are. Those who cannot adapt, such as Grampa and Granma, cannot survive. Pa, who lives in the past, relinquishes his titular position in the family to Ma, who has the strength to adapt herself to the new circumstances.

• The novel is also preoccupied with the theme of love of the earth. The earth imagery performs a dual function of signifying love and of signifying endurance. Both these qualities are embodied in the character of Ma Joad.

• Steinbeck asks the meaning of ownership in the novel. The owners and the tenants reveal two conflicting views about the land. The tenants adopt the ideas of Jeffersonian agrarianism, which involves the belief that landed property held in freehold must be available to everyone. The Jeffersonians believed that a man could claim ownership of the land he occupied and cultivated by virtue of a natural right. The absentee landlords do not occupy the land and only have legal ownership of the land. For the tenants, land is a vital part of their existence. For the landlords, it is only an investment, which yields profits. In the later section of the novel, Steinbeck contrasts the Hoovervilles established on the outskirts of each town with the vast tracts of land that lie unused in the West. The owners of these estates are fearful that the migrants may encroach on their property. The theme of people's relationship to land is a crucial one. Tied to the theme of land ownership, Steinbeck depicts that the individual is increasingly at the mercy of the vast anonymous forces of capitalism and a market economy, which cannot be identified because they are faceless, mindless, and heartless. They are the faceless tractor drivers who do not "feel" the land. They are the banks that direct businesses because they possess the money. They are the large landowners who sometimes never see their farms.

The Grapes of Wrath — PinkMonkeyNotes 13/40 • The theme of familial survival also underlies the narrative action of the entire novel. During the

tough journey to California, Ma Joad acts as the cohesive force who keeps her family together. • The theme of human dignity is also significant in the novel. The hardships of the migrant way of life

thrust the problem of survival, at an animal level, on the Joads. Despite their hardships, the Joads always act proudly. Although they are concerned about survival, in terms of their search for food and shelter, they maintain a sense of human dignity.

Mood • The Grapes of Wrath is a tragic story of the dispossession of the Joads, and the predominant mood is

dark and gloomy. But there are also moments of light-hearted humor, which provides relief and restores faith in the human ability to survive against all odds.

The Meaning of the Title • Steinbeck uses the grapes as symbols of plenty. The grapes correspond to the cluster of grapes

which Joshua and Oshea bring back from their first trip into the rich land of Canaan. Grampa alludes to this meaning of the grapes when he says that he is going to sit in a tub full of grapes in California. Steinbeck's title also corresponds to Julia Ward Howe's song "The Battle Hymn of the Republic" (1862) from which Steinbeck took his title. In his novel, however, the grapes symbolize both plenty and renewal, and bitterness and wrath. The latter meaning alludes to Revelation XIV which states that those who "worship the beast and his image" will "drink of the wine of the wrath of God." It further says that "the angel thrust in his sickle into the earth, and gathered the vine of the earth, and cast it into the great winepress of the wrath of God." In the novel, the migrants grow angry at the deplorable conditions in California, and Steinbeck uses Biblical parallels to depict this. The Biblical parallels also suggest that the migrants are acting as the agents of God's wrath and judgment and that their triumph is inevitable.

The Grapes of Wrath — PinkMonkeyNotes 14/40 Section 1: Chapters 1-11 Chapter 1 • Summary In Oklahoma, the May rain stimulates the growth of corn, and the winter colors of red and gray earth give way to a cover of green. Then a drought occurs; the corn withers under the blazing sun, and the weeds turn darker green in an effort to protect themselves. The red and gray surface of the earth returns and then fades into a pale pink and white. By June, the green vegetation turns brown, and the earth becomes dust. The unrelenting heat of the sun and the dry wind destroy the corn, and the strong wind blows clouds of dust into the air like sluggish smoke. Women and men seek refuge in their houses and have to tie handkerchiefs over their noses and wear goggles to protect their eyes when they venture out. The film of dust is so thick that when morning comes, there is no real daylight; the sun appears as a dim red circle that gives little brightness. At night it is pitch black because the stars cannot penetrate the dust. Even though the doors and windows of all the houses are wedged with cloth, the dust creeps inside and covers everything. The dust storm takes two days to settle. At its end, the women secretly look at the men for their reaction and are relieved when they see that the men retain an unbroken spirit. They know deep within themselves that "no misfortune was too great to bear if their men were whole." The first chapter ends on a feeble note of optimism: "As the day went forward the sun became less red," and the sharecroppers squat in the doorways "thinking-figuring." • Analysis The first chapter sketches a carefully executed setting before introducing the main characters. In a Steinbeck novel, setting or environment is of great significance and plays an important role in the shaping of the characters themselves. A close relationship between humanity and the environment always exists, and each influences the other. In these opening paragraphs of the novel, Steinbeck describes the dust-blown landscape inhabited by the Oklahoma sharecroppers, including the Joads. By first painting the bleak setting before introducing characters, Steinbeck conveys the message that the forces to be fought against in this novel are tremendous and overwhelming. A sense of inevitability and tragedy is implicit in the unrelenting winds and the dry dust. Humanity is a helpless victim of the forces of the environment. The opening chapter thus presents the fundamental background circumstances that drive the novel forward: the dust storm which ruins the crops and which causes families to migrate westward to California. In contrast to the dreary landscape, the men display an almost Herculean attitude and will to survive. At the end of the chapter, they squat in their doorways and think and figure their next step. The women are relieved to see the resilient spirit of their men. In the first chapter, Steinbeck is also introducing the narrative structure of the novel. In order to communicate both the personal suffering of the Joads and the more widespread generalized suffering of the migrants, Steinbeck employs a structural design of two kinds of alternating chapters for The Grapes of Wrath. Out of the thirty chapters in the novel, sixteen are what Steinbeck called intercalary chapters or interchapters. Starting with the first chapter, these interchapters provide an extensive picture of the suffering of the migrants as well as essential Background Information. Steinbeck also foreshadows the fate of the sharecroppers in the opening chapter. It is evident that they do not have bright prospects in this region of the dust bowl. Those who refuse to leave, like Muley Graves for instance, will seal their fates and will lose their future. Unfortunately, what awaits them in California is not much brighter. Steinbeck also employs symbolism in the chapter. The "walking man" whose footsteps lift a fine layer of dust represents the thousands of migrants who lose their homes. In the next chapter, this abstract figure of the walking man becomes a concrete figure in Tom Joad, the main protagonist of the novel and the living representation of all the woes of the migrant worker.

The Grapes of Wrath — PinkMonkeyNotes 15/40 Chapter 2 • Summary While a truck driver is talking to a waitress in a roadside cafe, a man walks along the edge of the highway, crosses over, and stops beside the huge red transport truck belonging to the Oklahoma City Transport Company. Although the truck's windshield carries a "No Riders" sticker, the man sits down on the running board anyway because "sometimes a guy'll be a good guy" in spite of a sticker. The man is not over thirty and has strong facial features. His clothes and shoes are new, but cheap; they do not fit him properly. While waiting for the driver, the man mops his face with his stiff new cap, unlaces his shoes, and smokes a cigarette. When the driver comes out of the cafe, the man asks for a lift. The driver considers his request for a moment and then tells the man to hide low on the running board until after he turns the truck. The driver is very perceptive and notices the man's ill-fitting new clothes and shoes. He starts asking the hitchhiker questions and discovers that he is returning home to his father's small forty-acre farm. The driver expresses surprise that a small farmer has not been "dusted out" or "tractored out" as yet. The man confesses that he has not been home lately and so does not know for sure. The driver notices the condition of the man's hands and guesses that he has been working with a pick, an ax, or a sledge. The driver's persistent questioning irritates the hitchhiker, but he says angrily that he does not have anything to hide and will tell the driver everything so that he does not have to guess. The driver explains that he was not being nosy, just making small talk. He adds that driving alone all day pushes a man to the verge of insanity and that he feels a need to communicate when someone is nearby. He further tells of his plans to do some correspondence school courses, like mechanical engineering, in order to improve his future employment prospects. The hitchhiker tells the man that his name is Tom Joad. While getting out of the truck, Tom affirms the driver's suspicions by revealing that he is out on parole from McAlester, an Oklahoma state prison, where he has served four years for homicide. He says that he killed a man in a drunken brawl and was sentenced to seven years imprisonment but was out on account of good behavior. Thanking the driver for the lift, Tom walks towards home. • Analysis Steinbeck ensures that there is a continuity in the novel so that the novel does not simply fall into two distinct parts of narrative chapter and interchapter. Chapter two picks up from where the first interchapter left off. Steinbeck achieves a smooth transition from the dying fire-tone of the dust-laden sky to the vivacious red of the transport truck. The faint red of the dusty sky and the dynamic red of the truck symbolize the combined threats of nature and machine. The second chapter develops certain particulars of the main story. Although the novel is replete with symbolic episodes and imagery, the plot is of prime importance. The action of the plot is generated through the story of the individualized suffering of the Joad family. In this chapter, the first Joad is introduced in the person of Tom, the novel's protagonist. The reader learns about his past when he reveals it to the truck driver. Having served four years in prison for homicide, he is now out on parole on account of his good behavior; therefore, if he leaves for California with his family, he will be breaking his parole and the law. Throughout the novel, a constant threat of being arrested hangs over Tom's head. The nameless "walking man" of the first chapter is personalized in the figure of Tom Joad. The detailed description of Tom stresses his well-defined features and his strong, hardy body. It would seem that he is physically fit to endure the hardships that are ahead. The truck driver hints of the hardships. He is amazed that Tom's father has held on to a small farm and asks his rider, "A forty-acre cropper and he ain't been dusted out and he ain't been tractored out?" Now the nameless sharecroppers of the first chapter have taken on a reality in the form of Tom and his family. The driver's astonishment prepares the reader in advance for the novel's main complication--the eviction of the sharecroppers from the farms and the tractors taking over the work of the small farmer and his ploy. The reader is also being prepared to accept Tom's later hostility towards the landowners in California. Already he resents authority figures. He is hostile towards the owners of the company who makes a good guy carry the "No Riders" sticker on his truck and refers to them as "rich bastards," indicating his delineation of social positions. They are rich, and he is poor. Other elements introduced in this chapter receive a fuller treatment later on in the novel. The truck drivers and the roadside cafes with their characteristic waitresses dot the entire route to California and are often mentioned in the book. A central ethic advanced in the novel is that only the poor help the poor. Tom was able to convince the truck driver to give him a ride only because he himself was poor and so was sympathetic to Tom. The chapter also provides another parallel found later in the book. The truck driver's plan to better his prospects by taking correspondence school courses parallels the

The Grapes of Wrath — PinkMonkeyNotes 16/40 ambitions of Connie Rivers. Most importantly, Steinbeck's mastery in creating the essence of ordinary farming folks is evident in this chapter. The rest of the novel will add new details to the picture of the farming folk as they become migrant workers. Chapter 3 • Summary The concrete highway is edged with dry grass; past the grass grow various plants. In the variegated growth, creatures move about-- ants, ant lions, grasshoppers, and a land turtle. The turtle crawls along steadily "turning aside for nothing;" it tenaciously climbs the embankment of the highway with great difficulty and tremendous effort. As the embankment grows steeper, the turtle's efforts become more frantic. He crushes a red ant between his body and legs, and a head of wild oats becomes entangled in his shell. Overcoming all difficulties and numerous obstacles, the turtle finally reaches the top of the embankment and begins to cross the highway. A woman driver swerves her car to avoid hitting the turtle. Some moments later, a man in a light truck deliberately swerves to run over the turtle. Amazingly, the truck that hits it merely throws the turtle across the road in the direction in which it was already moving. The turtle lands on its back and struggles to flip over. Once it has righted itself, the turtle continues indomitably on its way. The clump of oats falls out of its shell and the turtle accidentally buries it as its body drags soil over the oats on its way. • Analysis In a Steinbeck novel, the nature or the environment plays an important role. Steinbeck, a naturalist, believed that heredity and environment determine the actions of people and that humanity is often a helpless victim of an indifferent universe. Steinbeck's naturalistic presentation demands a detailed documentary style, and The Grapes of Wrath is filled with this style of writing. Steinbeck's celebrated naturalistic symbol of the turtle in this chapter stands for the migrants. The turtle, like the Joads and other migrants, carries its home on its back wherever it travels. It must risk life on the road and face the hostile world of machinery, symbolized in the vehicles. The turtle continues on its way, overcoming all obstacles and difficulties. It is important to note that it carries new life, oat seeds, over to the other side of the highway and plants it there. His efforts ensure a rebirth. Steinbeck has made it clear through the symbol of the tenacious turtle that the migrants will be successful in establishing a new life in California. Although the migrants will have to undergo many hardships and trials, they will survive in their endeavors. The turtle's determination and tenacity are stressed with detailed and realistic description and foreshadow the determination of the Joads. Chapter 3, then, presents the story of the migrants in microcosm--in the turtle. Naturalistic imagery combines with symbolic overtones to foreshadow the eventual success of the migrants. Chapter 4 • Summary Tom stands back and watches the truck drive away and starts walking homewards. He notices that the thick layer of dust is discoloring his new yellow shoes. He takes off his shoes and wraps them in his coat. As he walks, his footsteps kick up a cloud of dust behind him. In the nearby farms wind, heat, and drought wither the corn. Nearby is a land turtle, crawling along slowly through the dust. Tom catches it as a present for the Joad children and rolls it up in his coat along with his shoes. As he walks further ahead, Tom sees a man sitting against the trunk of a willow tree. The man recognizes Tom as Ol' Tom's boy and introduces himself as Jim Casy, the preacher who baptized him. Casy announces that he has given up his role as a preacher, for he does not have the call of the spirit anymore. Casy accepts Tom's offer of a drink happily. Casy then outlines his philosophy of life and the factors that led to his loss of faith. He felt hypocritical when he indulged in sex with young women after he had preached to them. He says that he noticed that the more grace the women seemed to have, the more eagerly they gave their bodies to him. Tom humorously comments that "Maybe I should have been a preacher." Casy says that he knew that what he was doing was not right and so he took time off to think about it. After years of constant thought, he has come to understand that there "ain't no sin and

The Grapes of Wrath — PinkMonkeyNotes 17/40 there ain't no virtue." Casy now thinks that humanity only has the right to say whether a particular action is nice or not nice. Casy further says that the "calling" and the Holy Spirit are actually the human spirit, which he interprets as the love of all humankind. Casy also suggests that maybe humanity has one big soul of which everyone is a part. Tom perceptively remarks that the Church and the people would not accept Casy's philosophy: "You can't hold no church with idears like that." Tom knows that people would drive Casy out of the country for such blasphemy. In the meanwhile, the turtle frees itself from the coat and tries to run away in pursuit of its original route. Tom watches it for a moment and then catches it again. Casy asks about Ol' Tom's health. Tom replies that he has spent four years in McAlester because he killed a man in a drunken brawl and is now out on parole. He admits that he does not feel ashamed and would do the same thing now if the circumstances demanded it. Casy asks him about the kind of treatment the prisoners receive in McAlester. Tom tells him that they ate at regular times, got clean clothes, and even had a nice bath everyday. Tom then recounts the story of a man who busted his parole deliberately by stealing a car so he could go back to McAlester. Casy walks with Tom towards the Joad house and talks about things at random. As they start nearing the house, Tom recalls an incident when his Uncle John killed a pig and ate almost the whole of it. Uncle John was not like his father and did not like to salt down pigs. As they move over the slope of the hill and see the Joad house below them, Tom realizes that something is amiss. Then they realize that the house has been deserted. • Analysis In chapter four, the second narrative chapter, Tom Joad finds a land turtle and rolls it up in his coat as a present for the Joad children. This establishes the necessary link between the interchapter dealing with the turtle's strenuous efforts to cross the highway and the narrative chapter telling us of Tom's walk to his home. Steinbeck clearly associates Tom with the turtle. Although there are no obvious statements to indicate that this is the same turtle mentioned in chapter three, the reader can sense the connection. The turtle is also identified with Jim Casy. His long and bony head is covered with tightly drawn skin. His neck is stringy and muscular. His heavy and protruding eyeballs are covered with red and raw lids. His shiny brown cheeks are hairless and he has a full mouth. His nose is beaked and hard. Casy thus bears a striking resemblance to the turtle described in the third chapter. This feeling of resemblance is strengthened later on in the novel when Casy likens himself to a turtle saying, "They (turtles) work at it and work at it, and at last they get out and away they go off somewheres. It's like me." Chapter four focuses on the character of the ex-preacher, Jim Casy. The growth and development of his character is of utmost importance to the novel. Casy's belief in a philosophy based upon the love of people is the product of deep thought and reflection over a period of four years. He tells Tom, "I don't know nobody named Jesus. I know a bunch of stories, but I only love people." He realizes the importance of the human spirit over transcendental and abstract terms. Casy thinks originally and does not accept anything as the given fact. He questions everything so as to get to the root of the matter. He embraces Emerson's concept of the "Over-Soul" when he says that all people have one big soul of which everyone is a part. Casy also functions as a contrast to Tom. In this chapter, Tom shows absolutely no desire to share Casy's views. He is self- absorbed and thinks largely about himself. His humorous comment that "Maybe I should have been a preacher" provides a stark contrast to Casy's seriousness about his decision to leave the ministry because of his being promiscuous. Tom thinks of having sex instead of the weighty issues of what constitutes sin and virtue. Although Tom does not accept Casy's unorthodox views at this point, he will later on adopt them as the foundation for his actions. Chapter 5 • Summary The landowners come in closed cars, feel the dry earth with their fingers, and test the soil's fertility. The tenants watch them uneasily from their sun-scorched dooryards. Some of the owners are kind and hate what they have to do; some are angry because they hate to be cruel; and others are cold and hold themselves at a distance since they had learned long ago that they could not be an owner if they showed sympathy with the people.

The Grapes of Wrath — PinkMonkeyNotes 18/40 Both the owners and the tenants seem to be entrapped in something that is bigger than they are. The owners explain that they have to evict the tenants because of the years of poor crops and claim that the cotton has sucked all the blood out of the land and made it barren. The sharecroppers suggest that maybe rotation of crops would pump the blood back into the soil and that maybe the next year would be a good one. The owners, however, insist that it is too late and say that "the bank--the monster has to have profits all the time. It can't wait. It'll die." The farmers say that they cannot cut down on their share because the kids do not have enough to eat even now. The owner then says that the tenant system will not work any more. A man on a tractor can replace twelve to fourteen families and provide a sizable profit. They will pay the tractor man a wage, and they will take all the produce themselves. At this point, the tenants claim ownership of the land since their grandfathers have settled it. Their families have lived, worked, and died on this land for years; they have no other place to go. Nonetheless, the owners order them to leave and blame the bank: "It's not us, it's the bank. A bank isn't like a man." They explain to the tenants that they can go on relief or go west to California, where there are plenty of oranges to be picked. The tractors come and plow the land efficiently. The drivers, who have no love of the land, have strict orders to demolish anything that comes in the way of a straight line. They rape the land without passion. At mid-day, the tractor driver sometimes stops near a tenant house and has his lunch. He eats without really enjoying his food. The tenants stare curiously at his strange face caked with dust and marked with lines where the goggles and the mask are worn. Hungry children watch his hands as it carries food to his mouth. The tenants often accuse the driver of betraying his own people. The driver declares his prime concern is only for his own starving family and not others. He earns three dollars a day to plow in a straight line. It is not his fault if he must demolish a tenant's house when it blocks his way. The tenant sometimes threatens to shoot the driver, but he points out the futility of such an action by saying that he would just get hanged and another driver will come and demolish his house. The tenant wants revenge; he wants to kill somebody but is at a loss to know whom to kill since the driver gets his orders from the bank which in turn gets its orders from people in the East. • Analysis Chapter five presents a striking contrast between the agrarian way of life and the modern methods of farming. It is an enactment of the generalized drama through which the sharecroppers are evicted from their land. In the narrative chapters that follow, the Joads will be the victims of similar circumstances. In this chapter, Steinbeck describes the representative tenant's encounter with the tractor driver as the latter demolishes the tenant's house by driving through the doorway. He captures the general sense of futility as the tenant merely steps aside and watches his home collapse in front of his own eyes. Steinbeck succeeds in involving the reader emotionally in the suffering of the croppers. He never lets the reader lose sight of the human predicament involved in the national disaster of the dust storm. The real threat comes from the holding companies and the banks which are inhuman and devoid of any feeling and emotion. The bank is a monster that must feed on profits or perish. The owners of the land tell the sharecroppers to vacate the land and blame the bank for their actions. The owners are also devoid of human feeling and passively accept a situation which enables them to make a profit while avoiding the moral implications of their action. The tractors take over. The eviction of the tenants from the land into which they and their forebears have poured their sweat and blood underscores the human side of the tragedy. Steinbeck levels another criticism against the society which allows machines, in the name of progress, to sever humanity's natural relationship with nature. The tractor functions as a symbol of the technological age, and the unfeeling tractor driver, like a robot, has lost contact with the earth. The tractor is indifferent to weather and unaffected by drought or rainfall. Under its mechanical precision, crops can be grown without spending human labor: "No one had touched the seed or lusted for growth. People ate what they had not raised, had no connection with the bread." The tractor driver also becomes dehumanized, "a part of the monster." The dehumanization of the driver is externalized in the form of a rubber dust-mask and goggles which hide his features. He has also lost his human will and the capacity to think and act independently. He mechanically fulfills the role of carrying out the orders of the machine and the capitalist economy. He has been conditioned to merely act without thinking. Steinbeck writes that "the monster . . . had goggled him and muzzled him--goggled his mind, muzzled his speech, goggled his perception, muzzled his protest." The driver, failing to think clearly, blinds himself to the effects of his actions. The dialogue between the tenant and the farmer exposes the selfishness of the driver who betrays his own people. He is only interested in getting his three dollars a day and does not think about the fact that for his three dollars, fifteen or twenty families cannot eat at all and hundreds of families lose their homes and wander about on the roads. He also avoids thinking about the moral implications of his

The Grapes of Wrath — PinkMonkeyNotes 19/40 actions. His self-absorption keeps him from thinking about the suffering of the others. The tenant cannot defend himself. He threatens to shoot the driver but realizes the futility of such an action. Chapter five also examines the issue of what constitutes ownership of land. The absentee landlords and the tenants hold conflicting views about it. For the landlords land is simply a means of earning sizable profits. Land is nothing more to them than a financial investment. For the tenants, on the other hand, land is a vital part of their very existence, and everything in their life is tied to it, including birth, employment, and death. The tenants follow the ideas of Jeffersonian agrarianism. Thomas Jefferson believed that all people should have the opportunity to own landed property. The Jeffersonians argued that even if a person did not own land legally, the person had a natural right to claim ownership if he or she lived on it and cultivated it. This idealism is reflected in the tenants' reply: "We measured it and broke it up. . . that's what makes it ours--being born on it, working it, dying on it. That makes ownership, not a paper with numbers on it." Chapter 6 • Summary Tom and Casy reach the deserted and damaged Joad house. It has been smashed in at one corner and has been pushed off its foundations so that it is tilting at an angle. Cotton grows all around it. The barn is deserted and the well has dried up. The sagging house is all pushed out of shape. Tom does not know what has happened. He knows that either his family has moved out for some reason or is dead. He says, "Somepin's wrong," but "I can't put my finger on her." He sees a lean gray cat sneaking out of the barn and notices that the neighbors have not ripped any wooden planks from the house. He deduces that the neighbors must also have left. Tom then frees the land turtle he has been carrying in his coat and pushes it under the house. But the turtle resumes its southwest journey, heading in its original direction. Tom and Casy watch the turtle go. Casy observes, "I seen turtles all my life. They're always goin' someplace. They always seem to want to get there." The men see somebody coming down the road. As the man comes nearer, Tom recognizes him as Muley Graves, an old acquaintance. They startle him by calling his name out loudly, but after a moment's hesitation he approaches them. Muley recognizes Tom Joad and tells him that his father, Old Tom, was worried about their leaving since they had not written to Tom about it. Muley finally tells them that the Joads have gone to Uncle John's place and are preparing to leave for California. The entire family has been working in the cotton fields to collect enough money to buy a car for the journey. Tom is relieved to know that his family has not yet left. Muley then explains why the tenants were evicted and expresses his resentment at these actions. He declares that although his family has left, he will stay on this land: "They ain't gettin' rid a me." He says that his father had settled the land, and now some large company has bought the land and begrudged the sharecroppers' margin. In turn, the company tractored all the tenants off the land. Tom confesses that he is extremely tired and hungry and is in no condition to walk to Uncle John's place tonight. He asks Muley if they can go to his place. Muley is embarrassed and explains that although his family has left, he has stayed behind and wanders about the land trapping wild animals to eat. He has some cottontail rabbits and a jackrabbit, and he willingly shares this food with Tom and Casy, remarking that he does not have a choice in this matter. As he sees it, if a person has food and another doesn't, there is no choice. The first person has to share. They cook the rabbits over a fire and talk about various things as they eat. Casy says that he plans to travel with the Joads because he wants to help the people out on the road. Muley sees the headlights of a car bobbing in the distance, and warns them that it will be Willy Feely, the Deputy Sheriff, because they are trespassing. He suggests that they will have to hide to avoid getting into trouble. Tom is amazed at the transformation of Muley and demands, "What's come over you, Muley? You wasn't never no run-an'-hide fella. You was mean." Muley remarks that while earlier he was mean like a wolf, now he is mean like a weasel. Tom refuses to hide on his own father's land, but Muley reminds him that he is out on parole and cannot risk being arrested. This makes sense to Tom, so they hide in the cotton field until the car leaves. Muley leads them to a cave where they can sleep without being discovered. Tom says that he dug this cave with his brother Noah years ago while looking for gold. Muley sleeps in the cave, but Tom prefers to sleep outside. Casy says that he will not sleep as he has many things to think about.

The Grapes of Wrath — PinkMonkeyNotes 20/40 • Analysis After the generalized account in chapter five of the eviction of the tenants from the land, this chapter personalizes it through the description of what happened to the Joads. The reader sees the crumpled Joad house and can constantly visualize what must have happened in the Joad farm, just as has happened in countless others. Muley Graves, the living dead, who has refused to leave this useless, dust-blown land, tells Tom that Tom's grandpa had offered resistance to the tractor driver and shot the headlights out on the tractor before stepping aside. When Muley unselfishly shares his food with Tom and Casy, he acts according to the dictates of his conscience. His comment that "if a fella's got somepin' to eat an another fella's hungry--why, the first fella ain't got no choice" reflects the value of people helping each other. Throughout the novel, Steinbeck describes how one poor person helps out another; they have little to give other than assistance. Casy comments on the significance of Muley's altruistic behavior, remarking that "Muley's got a-holt of somepin, an' it's too big for him, an' it's too big for me." Muley's behavior provides a stark contrast to the selfishness of Willy Feeley, who only cares about his own family. Willy's attitude provides a parallel to that of Joe Davis's boy in the earlier chapter. This implies that others have turned on their own people, and similar dramas are being enacted all across the drought stricken land. For Willy and others like him, the question of individual survival has gained precedence over community sharing. When Muley leads Tom and Casy to a cave, Tom refuses to hide saying, "I ain't gonna sleep in no cave." This is ironic since later in chapter 28 of the novel, Tom will hide in a cave and will be extremely happy to find this shelter. Tom realizes that the fact that he is out on parole poses certain limitations on his actions and keeps him from following his natural instincts. Chapter 7 • Summary In this chapter, the reader is taken to a used car lot on the edge of one of the countless small towns in the Dust Bowl region. On the lot, there are rows and rows of parked cars lined up side by side. Car-lot owners, with rolled up sleeves, and salesmen, with small intent eyes, watch for signs of weakness. If the woman likes the car, the man can easily be coaxed into buying it. Rusty old cars with flat tires are selling very fast. The central attraction, the real bargain of the lot, is never sold. It is just used to attract customers. When a car is sold, the yard battery is taken out and a dumb cell is put in its place. The used car business is at a high point in terms of sales figures. The owners and the slick salesmen cheat the naive farmfolk by putting in sawdust to muffle the noise in the transmission or changing of gears. The demand for old jalopies is obviously greater than the supply. The tenants are buying the old cars to get to California. Dishonest salesmen and owners cheat them and make as much money as possible as quickly as possible. • Analysis This is again an interchapter sketching out a general situation which the Joads will experience later. The Joads will have to buy a used car in order to get to California. The rapidity of the dialogues and the mind-boggling interchanges between the salesmen and the naive farmers create the sense of confusion that the sharecropper must feel in this unknown territory of hard sell. Ultimately, the croppers are cheated out of their hard-earned savings by paying too much for a rattletrap and unreliable car. In chapter eight, the reader sees the run down truck in Uncle John's yard and immediately connects the experience of bafflement, dread, and confusion of the used car lots with the experience of the Joads as they bargained for the truck. This chapter thus lends a universal perspective to the trials of the Joads. The sharecroppers who migrate to California will meet many selfish people on their way who will try to cheat them in order to make quick money at their expense. The shrewd salesmen here act without any iota of morality when they sell battered cars to the gullible croppers at extremely high prices. Steinbeck cleverly juxtaposes the agricultural way of life (the farmers) and the mechanical age (the automobile). A naive farmer offers to barter a pair of mules for the partial payment of a car. The salesman quickly exploits the farmer's lack of knowledge about the car business.

The Grapes of Wrath — PinkMonkeyNotes 21/40 Chapter 8 • Summary Tom and Casy walk towards Uncle John's house. Muley had awakened them when it was still quite dark, saying that he had to go into hiding before dawn. As they walk, the two men discuss with amazement the change in Muley, who creeps around the land like a coyote. After a period of silence, the conversation turns to the topic of Uncle John, and Tom tells Casy about the loneliness of his uncle. After four months of marriage, Uncle John's young wife who was pregnant complained of a terrible stomachache and asked for a doctor. Uncle John thought that she had just eaten too much, was suffering from indigestion, and refused to call a doctor. The next day his wife died from a rupturing of the appendix. Uncle John blames himself for her death and suffers from guilt. He feels compelled to do acts of kindness to make up for his sin and frequently gives kids candy or helps a starving family. When they approach Uncle John's house, Tom sees a truck in the yard with the family's belongings. He gathers that his family is about to leave for California. He tells Casy to walk softly and to creep up on the family and surprise them. He first meets his father- -Old Tom--who is repairing the truck. He takes a few minutes to recognize Tom, and his first question is whether Tom has busted out of jail. Tom assures him that he is out on parole. Tom's father says that they are about to leave for California, but that they were going to write him a letter. Now that he has come back, he can accompany them. He also says that Ma has been worrying a lot lately because she feared that if they left for California she would never see Tom again. He tells Tom that Ma is cooking breakfast in the kitchen and that they should surprise her. Pa goes in to ask Ma whether two men could have a bite to eat. Ma tells him to send them in, without asking who it might be. When Tom enters, Ma also takes some time to recognize him. She is also immensely relieved to learn that Tom did not break out of prison but is out on parole. There is a touching reunion of mother and son. Ma feels the "soundness of his muscles," strokes his cheek, and nearly loses control of herself. After a moment's indulgence, she steadies herself and resumes cooking. Ma sends Pa to inform Grampa and Granma of Tom's arrival. She tells Tom that they sleep in the barn as they get up quite often during the night and disturb everybody. When Ma is alone with Tom, she hesitantly asks him whether his imprisonment has filled him with hate and made him "crazy mad." The question is prompted because Purty Boy Floyd, who was earlier a good boy, became "mean-mad" after imprisonment. Tom assures her that it has not happened to him. Grampa and Granma run across the yard to greet Tom, and Granma proclaims their appearance with her distinctive shout, "Pu- raise Gawd fur vittory." Grampa, as usual, fumbles with the fly- buttons on his trousers. Noah, the eldest son, enters slowly behind his grandparents. He is unassuming, quiet, and reserved; in fact, he is almost listless about people and things. He hardly ever gets angry, has "no sexual urges," and although one cannot call him stupid, he does act strangely. Pa attributes Noah's strangeness to the night of his birth when Pa panicked and tried to pull and twist Noah during the delivery. The midwife who arrived later on pushed Noah's head back into shape and molded his stretched body with her hands. Grampa and Granma are extremely happy to see Tom. Grampa thinks that Tom has broken out of prison and boasts that "they ain't a gonna keep no Joad in jail." Granma insists that Casy say grace before breakfast. Casy explains that he is no longer a preacher, but reluctantly agrees to say grace. Casy's blessing is very long. In it he tells about how he tried to find a solution to his problems by wandering in the hills, just like Jesus who had gone into the wilderness. Casy says that he had identified with the hills and had felt "whole"; there was a sense of oneness with nature. This whole thing was holy. Humankind was also holy when everybody worked together: "When they're all workin' together, not one fella for another fella, but one fella kind of harnessed to the whole shebang- -that's right, that's holy." After this long discourse, Casy realizes that he has made everybody's breakfast get cold. He almost forgets to say amen. Tom has not understood the prayer; he does not know what holy means. Pa shows Tom the loaded down Hudson Super Six that Al, the sixteen year old brother, inspected before it was purchased. Al, whose chief interest is in girls, does know something about cars. Pa says that Uncle John has gone to town with the Joad children, Ruthie and Winfield, to sell some household belongings. He also informs Tom that Rose of Sharon has married Connie Rivers and is going to have a baby. Al returns home strutting like a rooster. As soon as he recognizes Tom, his affected swagger drops away, and admiration and veneration shine in his eyes. He respects Tom for having killed a man and has gained popularity just by being his brother. Al is a bit disappointed to learn that Tom has not broken out of jail but is out on parole.

The Grapes of Wrath — PinkMonkeyNotes 22/40 • Analysis This chapter introduces the reader to the Joad family who, along with Casy and Connie Rivers, will journey westwards to California. The characters are described realistically, and the reader can visualize particular portraits of Pa, Ma, Uncle John, Noah, Grampa, Granma, and Al. Ma Joad is the binding force of the family. Her deep concern and fear that she may never see Tom again is indicative of her strenuous efforts to keep the family together. She seems to know that the family is dependent on her strength: "if she swayed, the family shook, and if she ever really deeply wavered or despaired, the family would fall, the family will to function would be gone." Since she is the one who is concerned about the interests of the family at large, she can understand Casy's ideas of "wholeness" and share in them. After Casy says grace, Ma looks at him with intense eyes that were understanding. "She watched him as though he were suddenly a spirit, not human any more, a voice out of the ground." Ma and Casy think in their different ways about how people might help each other by uniting together. Ma thinks that while Tom cannot fight the system alone, if the farmers came together and pooled their resources and energies, they could defend themselves. Casy thinks that holiness implies people working together. This theme of community help and getting together is developed later on in the novel. The reunion of Tom with Ma is indeed touching. Ma lovingly feels, like a blind person, the strength of Tom's muscles and strokes his cheek. This foreshadows their last meeting in the novel where in the darkness of the cave she reaches out to feel Tom in a similar manner. Chapter eight alludes to the symbol of the "grapes". The family is hopeful about picking enough grapes to provides them a comfortable way of life in California. Grampa exhibits great excitement at the prospect of sitting in a tub full of grapes. At this point in the novel, nobody knows that the grapes, symbolizing hope and a happier future, will mature into the grapes of wrath. Chapter 9 • Summary The tenants sift through their belongings and select the essential items for the journey. They cannot carry all their possessions with them and have to either sell or burn the remainder of their belongings. They receive absurdly low prices for the things that they sell since the buyer knows that they are compelled by circumstances and have no other option. A perfectly good seeder, for instance, costing thirty-eight dollars is sold for only two dollars. A hand plow, which has been rendered useless by the tractor, fetches only fifty cents for the weight of the metal. The tenants caution the buyers that they are not merely buying equipment but also bitterness: "You're not buying only junk, you're buying junked lives. And more--you'll see--you're buying bitterness." The buyers are unaware that they are buying "years of work, toil in the sun," that they are buying "a sorrow that can't talk." The buyers fail to realize that what they consider junk constitutes the very fabric of existence of somebody else's life. The tenants walk back dejectedly to their farms, hands in pockets and heads bent. It will be hard to start a new life in California because they are abandoning their past and their memories. When everything that can be sold is sold, the women start sorting through the piles of memories and treasured mementos--the dirty rag doll, the Injun bow, grandfather's favorite book, Pilgrim's Progress, a China dog bought by Aunt Sadie from the St. Louis Fair. They know that there is no space in the truck to carry things of sentimental value. There is only enough room for the bare essentials--a few pots to cook and wash in, mattresses, lanterns, clothes, food, stove, and the rifle. They burn the remainder of their possessions in the yards and then frantically drive away in their cars leaving behind them a cloud of dust. • Analysis Steinbeck unifies the interchapters and narrative chapters by linking actions and experience. The universal experience of the sharecroppers is also that of the Joads. Thus, Steinbeck continually reminds us that beyond the plight of the Joads lies the larger problem--the national disaster of the Dust Bowl region. This interchapter describes the feeling of dispossession and anger felt by the tenants because of their evictions. They must either sell their prized possessions and cherished memories at ridiculous prices or burn them up. The women suffer an emotional shock, and the men want to get on the road. In the previous chapter Pa had told Tom that Uncle John has gone with Ruthie and Winfield to sell the household goods. Now Uncle John's experience is connected to that of the representative croppers. In the next chapter, Pa is afraid to tell Ma about the paltry sum he receives for their belongings.

The Grapes of Wrath — PinkMonkeyNotes 23/40 When the decision to leave is finalized, the Joads also display the characteristic restlessness and eagerness. Thus, the actions and experiences of the general sharecroppers are parallels to the actions and experiences of the Joads. The evicted tenants display sadness, but they are also angry and bitter. Their bitterness poses a threat to society. Chapter 10 • Summary When the truck leaves loaded with the household things to be sold, Tom takes a trip down memory lane and visits familiar places--the red bank where swallows nested and the willow tree over the pigpen. When his pilgrimage is over, he goes and sits on the doorstep. Ma is working behind him in the kitchen. Tom and Ma start discussing California. Ma is afraid that life will not be as pleasant as the handbills which advertise jobs project. Things seem too nice to be true. Tom tells her to take one day at a time and not to worry too much about the future, a philosophy he learned in prison Tom has heard that conditions for the migrants are not too good in California. He knows a man from California who has told him that there are too many people looking for work. Consequently, the fruitpickers are paid low wages, live in dirty camps, and hardly have enough to eat. In addition, work is hard to get. When Tom shares this information, Ma listens, but desperately wants to believe the handbills. Grampa, who has been sleeping in the house, joins them and, as always, fumbles with his fly-buttons. Like the others, he is angry but dreams about sitting in a washtub full of grapes in California. Casy asks if he can travel with the Joads to California. Ma waits for Tom to speak, but when he does not do so, she assures Casy that they would be proud to have him; but the men must make the final decision in a family meeting. Casy assures them that he is not going to preach anymore and just wants to be with the people because that, in itself, is holy. Tom explains his antipathy towards preaching, to which he was subjected in prison. Pa and the others come back from town in the late afternoon. The men are tired, angry, and sad, because they have sold everything, horses, wagon, implements and all the furniture, for the paltry sum of eighteen dollars. They had not understood the system of bargaining and did not know what to do when the buyer's interest seemed to flag. The family then gathers for a meeting near the truck, which "was the new hearth, the living center of the family." Pa tells the family about the eighteen dollars. Al reports on the truck and explains why he chose to buy it. He is very elated when Tom compliments him for his wise decision. Tom then presents Casy's request to accompany them. Pa asks whether they can feed another person. Ma replies that the question is not whether they can or cannot feed another person, but that they must feed another person. The Joads have never refused food and shelter to anybody. The family agrees. Pa feels ashamed by the tone of Ma's voice, but questions whether there will be enough room in the truck. They decide that its already overcrowded, and one more won't make matters worse. The family then discusses the time of departure. They decide to slaughter the pigs immediately, salt down the pork during the day, pack during the night, and leave by dawn the next day. Everybody chips in to help with the final chores and packing. Ma salts down the pork and refuses help from Casy saying that it is a woman's job. Casy says that there is too much work to be done to divide it into "men's or women's work." Ma then tells the men what things are to be taken along. She then goes through an old, soiled stationery box containing her mementos and souvenirs. It contains letters, photographs, earrings, a little gold ring, and a newspaper clipping of Tom's trial. She painfully selects a few items and tenderly lays the box among the coals in the stove. Muley Graves arrives to bid them farewell. He requests the Joads to tell his family that he is all right. The Joads ask him to join them. Muley feels tempted to do so, but just can't leave the country. Grampa comes in and says that he "jus' ain't a- goin'..."This country ain't no good, but it's my country. I'll jus' stay right here where I b'long." The family decides to drug him with medicine, and when he is asleep, they carry him to the truck. • Analysis This chapter marks the symbolical death of Grampa, who refuses to leave the farm; there is a strong bond that exists between him and the land. He feels his identity is dependent on this part of the country, and he knows he belongs here. He has to be drugged and physically carried away from the land. He never really wakes from this sleep and dies on the first evening of the journey. He is buried in a field next to the road. Casy remarks that Grampa was "jus' stayin' with the Lan'. He couldn' leave it."

The Grapes of Wrath — PinkMonkeyNotes 24/40 There is an indissoluble link between Grampa and the land, and he dies the minute he is taken away from it. Ma Joad introduces the first element of doubt about the working conditions in California. She wonders whether things will be as good as advertised in the handbills. Tom then tells her about the dirty camps, scarcity of work, starvation, and pitiably low wages in California. He also tells her not to unnecessarily worry herself about things in the future and to take each day as it comes. This is the attitude that the migrants have to adopt. As they travel to California, they face innumerable difficulties and have to patiently face them. Casy's character develops in this chapter. He begins to believe in a philosophy that exalts love of people over traditional Christianity. He realizes that just being with the people is holy and asks the Joads if he can accompany them on their journey to California. He believes that people must work together and help each other. He puts his belief into action when he salts down the pigs for Ma. He rightly says that there is too much work to be done to divide it into men's work and women's work. It is also important to notice the new importance of the truck to the family. It has become the new living center of the family. As the story progresses, trucks and roadside cafes play an increasingly prominent part in the novel. The truck becomes an important symbol; with its mobility, the truck marks the transition from a relatively fixed and stable agrarian way of life to the instability of the migrant way of life. Chapter 11 • Summary The houses are left vacant and deserted. They soon start to decay and fall apart become inhabited by animals. The tractors have taken over. The mechanization of farming has made the entire process easy and efficient, so easy that the emotion has gone out of work and so efficient that the wonder has gone out of the land. There is no longer a feeling of oneness with the land, for the contact with earth has been lost. The tractor drivers merely steer a machine. • Analysis This interchapter marks the end of the first section of the novel, which deals with the story of the Joads in Oklahoma. The chapter contrasts the new farming method with the older one. Although mechanization has made farming easy and efficient, tractors have severed the wonder and deep understanding between the earth and the farmer. Both the physical as well as the spiritual link between the land and the farmer has been destroyed. The inanimate tractor contrasts unfavorably with the living vitality of the horse. The chapter also summarizes the poignancy of the situation of the migrants who are forced to leave the land. The land also undergoes a process of dehumanization when its link with the humans is severed. It becomes barren and mechanical, seemingly devoid of any purpose.

The Grapes of Wrath — PinkMonkeyNotes 25/40 Section 2: Chapters 12-18 Chapter 12 • Summary The main route of the migrants to California is Highway 66. It is the long concrete path across the country from Sallisaw, Oklahoma to Bakersfield, California. It stretches over the red and gray lands, twists through the mountains, and reaches across the bright and terrible desert into the rich Californian valleys. Highway 66 is the path of a people in flight. It is the mother road into which all the tributary roads pour, and thousands of migrants are traveling on it. Sometimes the migrants are seen in a single vehicle, and sometimes they form a caravan. They listen apprehensively to the noises of their rickety cars and fear mechanical breakdowns. Garage owners cheat the migrants by demanding exorbitantly high prices for spare parts. One of them tries to sell a tire with a broken casing for four dollars. The migrants face innumerable difficulties and have little money or food. In the face of such daunting hardships, they derive faith and courage from random acts of charity. A stranger in a sedan takes a large family of twelve with their possessions in a trailer to California. The stranger also feeds them. Such incidents restore hope in the people. The migrants carry on against all odds since they are "in flight from the terror behind." • Analysis This intercalary chapter foreshadows the trials and difficulties that the Joads will face on their journey. All the migrants listen attentively to the noises of their unreliable cars, which foreshadows Al's concern about the Hudson Super Six. He listens with intense concentration to every sound from the truck for which he feels responsible. The chapter also exposes the unscrupulous business people along the way who show no guilt in taking advantage of the situation and cheating the poverty-stricken migrants. Amidst the misery, there are individuals who show random acts of kindness and reinforce faith in humanity. Chapter 13 • Summary Al drives the truck and talks with Ma. They are overcrowded, and Al questions the wisdom of having Casy along. Ma insists that before the journey is over they will be happy that they have a preacher with them. Al asks her whether life will be really pleasant in California. Adopting Tom's philosophy, Ma says that it is pointless to worry about things that will come in the future. They stop near a clump of bushes since Granma needs to answer nature's call. They also have their lunch while stopped. As thirst sets in, they realize that they have forgotten to bring water with them. When they start panicking, Al calms them down by saying that they will stop at the next gas station to get gas and water. When they stop at a rundown gas station, the attendant asks them whether they have any money. This angers Al, but the man explains that people come begging for a gallon of gas to move on. He starts complaining about people without money. Casy suggests that it is not the people's fault. He grumbles about his trade saying that none of the big new cars stop here and repeatedly asks what the country is coming to. This irritates Tom who reproaches him for dismissing Casy's explanation. Tom sees the run down condition of the gas station and realizes that the man is poor and he will have to move soon. He will not be evicted by the tractors, but by the pretty, new stations in town. Tom feels ashamed and apologizes for shouting at this fellow human being. Rose of Sharon and Connie live in their own private world. Everything they say is a kind of secret. They dream about the baby, a big new car, and a house. When the Joads' dog is run over by a speeding car, Rose of Sharon is very upset and worries that her emotions may have an adverse impact on the baby. Ma and Connie assure her that it will not harm the baby in any way. As they drive throughout the afternoon, Ma is worried about the fact that Tom is on parole and should not cross the state line of Oklahoma. Tom assures her that he will be safe if he avoids trouble. They look for a place to stop before the dark. They pull alongside some folks camping and ask them if they would object to some company. The couple introduce themselves as the Wilsons from Kansas. Their car has broken down, and Mr. Wilson does not know how to repair it. His wife, Sairy Wilson, welcomes the Joads.

The Grapes of Wrath — PinkMonkeyNotes 26/40 When they help Grampa down from the truck, Noah observes that he is sick. Sairy Wilson suggests that Grampa lie down in their tent and rest. Grampa starts crying hoarsely without any warning. Casy and Sairy Wilson concur that Grampa is having a stroke. Grampa tries to say something, and although his lips move in an effort to form words, his voice fails him. Granma wants to see him and comes inside the tent. She thinks that Grampa is sulking. Casy tells her that Grampa is sick. She asks Casy to pray for him, but Casy says that he isn't a preacher any longer. Grampa's breathing stops, and he begins to turn purple. Granma insists that Casy pray. As Casy recites the Lord's prayer, Grampa dies from the stroke. The family becomes a unit again, and they hold a meeting. Since the Joads cannot afford money for Grampa's burial, they must bury him themselves even though it is against the law. Casy tells them, "You got the right to do what you got to do." Ma lays out Grampa and is helped by Granma and Sairy Wilson. The men dig a grave and put in a bottle with a slip of paper stating Grampa's name and the manner of his death. In his funeral service, Casy says that it does not matter whether Grampa was good or bad. What is important is that he lived, and all that lives is holy. Casy says that rather than praying for Grampa, he should pray people who do not know which way to turn. The Joads and the Wilsons share their supper. Over dinner, Casy remarks that Grampa really died spiritually the moment they left home. The Wilsons say that they have been traveling for three weeks now and have been plagued by constant car trouble. The Joads and the Wilsons have the same handbills advertising for fruit pickers, and Wilson wonders whether there will be enough work for everybody. Al and Tom repair the Wilsons' car and suggest that the two families travel together. The Joads are overcrowded, and the Wilsons do not know how to repair their car. Everybody agrees happily. • Analysis Grampa physically dies from a stroke in this chapter, but his real death occurs earlier. As Casy explains, Grampa died spiritually "the minute you took 'im off that place." The farming land in Oklahoma was an indispensable part of Grampa's life, and when he was forced to leave it, he had no identity and no will to live. It is appropriate and not surprising that he dies on the first day of the journey to California. Some critics see Grampa's death as symbolizing the rupturing of the family as a unit. While undoubtedly Grampa's death marks the first upheaval of the Joad family unit, it is also the occasion of a positive and affirmative event, the adoption of the Wilsons by the Joads. The creation of the relationship between the Wilsons and the Joads follows the ideas of mutual help as propounded by Casy. Both the families realize the advantages of traveling together and helping each other. Thus, the Joad family diminishes in size only to be assumed into a larger universal family. This also foreshadows the later awakening of the Joads to the need of helping not only themselves but also everybody. The willingness to help expressed by Sairy Wilson, "People needs to help," also contrasts with the selfishness of the Californian fruit growers who want to pay the lowest possible wages and show no compunction of guilt in cheating the migrants. This chapter deals with the ideas of birth and death. The dog that the Joads brought along with them gets run over by a speeding car and dies. This is technically the first disruption of the Joad family. The dog's ghastly death worries Rose of Sharon, and she fears the event may have an adverse impact on her unborn baby. Her baby, as revealed in a later chapter, is indeed stillborn, due to the mother's condition of starvation and extreme physical exhaustion. The chapter anticipates later events in other ways as well. When Al grumbles about bringing Casy along when they are already overcrowded, Ma prophesies that before long the preacher will prove his usefulness and will help the family in some way. The truth of Ma's statement is borne out very soon when Casy is prevailed upon to say a few words after Pa is buried. Casy also helps the family when he surrenders himself to the deputies so that Tom may escape. Casy's character shows development in this chapter. He reveals discerning thoughts, which demand the attention of the Joads. He has great insight in his appraisal of the migrants' situation. Although the gas station attendant is too self-absorbed to recognize the validity of Casy's viewpoint, it leaves a lasting impression on Tom. Casy also shows intuitive insight when he says that Grampa died spiritually the moment he was separated from the land. In his funeral speech, Casy exhibits his sympathy and concern for the living rather than the dead. He says that it does not matter whether Grampa was good or bad, but that he truly lived. Casy's philosophy, with its emphasis on the living, shows an Emersonian bent of mind.

The Grapes of Wrath — PinkMonkeyNotes 27/40 Chapter 14 • Summary The western states nervously anticipate the large-scale changes taking place in the country. The large landowners are unfamiliar with the nature of the change. They strike out at the immediate things, the expansion of the government, the strengthening of the labor unions, new taxes and plans. They fail to realize that these political and social events are simply the results not the causes. The causes are a hunger for joy and security and the human impulse to work and create with muscles and mind. Humanity's undeterred struggle to achieve its goals shows that its spirit is still alive. One should fear the time when humanity will not suffer and die for a concept. Earlier it was one person, one family driven from the land. But the tenants who migrate meet others of their own kind, and the pathos of their situation strengthens their unity. They would like the tractors if they could own them, but they are afraid of the tractors and the banks, which evicted them. A person used to say, "I lost my land," now that person says, "We lost our land." This is the beginning stage of community, the movement from "I" to "We." There is potential for change and revolution in this unity of the migrants. • Analysis This short interchapter sketches the scenario of a society in transition. It also contains the first note of hope; the sharecroppers could get accustomed to using the tractors if they owned them and could get familiar with mechanized methods of farming. The chapter also shows a fluid migrant society, which is formed for the night and then disperses. Even in this temporary unit, the migrants are always willing to help one another. The selflessness of the migrants is juxtaposed with the egocentricity of the landowners. The chapter also depicts the poignancy of the migrants' situation, which further unifies them. There is a potential for bringing about change and reordering of the society in this unity. Their unity also suggests how the concern for individual good is being assumed into the concern for universal good. Chapter 15 • Summary Roadside cafes dot Highway 66. These cafes have the characteristic gasoline pumps in front, a screen door, a long bar, stools, and a foot rail. Slot machines and phonographs serve to entertain people. Truck drivers are welcomed warmly in these cafes since they provide business and also attract other customers. The representative waitress, Mae, is middle-aged and takes orders in a soft, low voice. She smiles with all her might for the truck drivers, for they leave generous tips. Sometimes wealthy but discontented couples on vacation stop by. Mae does not like them and calls them "shit heels" because they constantly complain about everything and behave unpleasantly. Truck drivers, on the other hand, are pleasant. Two truck drivers enter Mae and Al's cafe. They order coffee and pie, play a record, and gamble on the slot machine. They discuss the huge numbers of people migrating west on Route 66. They tell of an accident caused by a speeding Cadillac which hit a cropper's truck and killed a child. Meanwhile, a migrant family stops by for bread and water. Their truck is loaded to the very top with pots and pans. The man asks to buy part of a loaf since he is short on money. Mae says that she is not running a grocery store and cannot sell bread, for they need it for making sandwiches. She says that she could sell him a sandwich instead. The man says that he only has a dime, which must feed the whole family. Mae's husband Al insists that she sell the whole fifteen-cent loaf for ten cents. Mae also sells the man some candy for his sons at less than the usual price. The truck drivers notice this and leave a generous tip. Al keeps a detailed record of the slot machines and notices that number three is ready to pay off. He plays it and wins the jackpot. • Analysis This interchapter depicts a section of the society with which the migrants come into contact. The truck drivers and the roadside cafes that they frequent have also become an integral part of the migrants' lives. The chapter presents, through short rapid scenes, the cafe's view of three kinds of people who come to the cafe: the poverty-stricken migrants, the generous-tipping truck drivers, and the wealthy tourists. There is a sharp distinction between these three groups.

The Grapes of Wrath — PinkMonkeyNotes 28/40 The truck drivers are best liked, for they are repeat customers and leave good tips. The migrants are tolerated, and often elicit sympathy, as seen when Al sells the family bread and candy at discounted prices. (It is again a case of the poor helping the poor.) The tourists are not liked because they always complain. Steinbeck points outs that the truck drivers and the migrants both have a sense of purpose and direction in life; the tourists, however, seem to lead a useless existence with no goal or purpose in life. Chapter 16 • Summary The Joads and the Wilsons crawl westwards as a unit and settle into a new way of life. The highway has become their home and movement their medium of expression. With Tom driving the truck and Al driving the touring car, the families have traveled out of Oklahoma. During the journey, there is conversation. Rose of Sharon tells Ma that she and Connie plan to live in town, where her husband would work in a factory during the day and study at home at night. She dreamily says that when Connie gets his own store, Al could work for him. This plan enrages Al, who does not want to work in someone else's store, and upsets Ma, who does not want the family to split up. Ma suddenly realizes that all this is just a fantasy. Suddenly, the Wilsons' car breaks down. Al blows the horn for Tom to stop the truck. Tom thinks that the rod bearing has burnt out. Tom suggests that the others continue on their way to California, while he and Casy repair the car; the sooner they get there the quicker they will start earning money. He explains that he and Casy will catch up with the rest of them at Bakersfield. Pa readily agrees to the plan and says that the suggestion has logic. Ma, however, disagrees and says that she is not going leaving them behind. Ma seizes a jack-handle and threatens to fight unless the family stays together. Seeing her determination, the others agree to stick together. Granma is unwell and everybody is tired. Ma sets off to find a place to camp. When the others leave, Tom and Casy start repairing the car. They remove the old connecting-rod bearing. As they work, Casy wonders whether California will provide enough jobs for all the migrants. It seems to him that there is a whole country moving west. Tom, on the other hand, refuses to think that far ahead. In typical fashion, he says that he will take each day as it comes. Presently Al arrives and tells them that the rest of the family is settled in a roadside camp. They are willing to spend fifty cents for the fee since Granma is unwell and everybody else is extremely tired. Al and Tom go to find the needed spare parts. They come to a wrecking yard where a one-eyed attendant sells them the spare part, a flashlight, and a socket wrench for only a quarter because he hates his boss. It is again a case of the poor helping the poor. After Al and Tom repair the car, they join the others at the campsite. The owner of the camp tells Al and Tom that he charges fifty cents per car. Tom argues with him, but Pa stops the argument. He decides not to stay in the camp. A man asks them where they are going. Pa replies that they are headed to California to find work. A stranger warns them about the pathetic conditions in California. He says that when a landowner requires eight hundred hands, he prints five thousand handbills and twenty thousand people come for the job. This results in pitiably low wages, for the supply is far in excess of the demand. He tells them that he is returning home because his wife and children died of starvation in California. The stranger's account upsets Pa. Casy tries to console him by saying that one person's truth may be another person's lie. Ma still holds on to her dreams and is anxious to arrive in California, where it is "rich an' green." Tom and Uncle John leave in search of another place to spend the night. • Analysis This chapter exposes the Joads to the difficulties of the migrant life. The journey has an adverse impact on everybody's health. Granma is exhausted and extremely sick, and her condition worsens rapidly. There are various forces acting which threaten to disrupt the family as a unit. The dreams of Rose of Sharon and Connie are self-centered and do not include concern for the family as a whole. When the Wilsons' car breaks down, the family comes very close to breaking up when Pa readily agrees to Tom's suggestion that the rest of the family continue on their way to California; but Ma refuses to allow the family to separate. She is the principal force which binds the family together; she understands that in their migrant way of life, only the sense of the family is left and says, "All we got is the family unbroke." The incident with the jack-handle reinforces her authority and shows how women play an increasingly important role in making decisions.

The Grapes of Wrath — PinkMonkeyNotes 29/40 This chapter also shows the development of Casy's character. He shows more insight than the others do in understanding the plight of the migrants and more perceptiveness in his appraisal of the changing scenario. He is aware of the huge numbers of families traveling to California in search of work and anticipates the problems that are ahead. Tom, on the other hand, limits himself to the present and refuses to think of the future. This chapter also provides the first account of the working conditions in California by someone who has experienced it himself. The story of the ragged man who is returning home after his wife and children died of starvation in California foreshadows the difficulties that await the Joads. His utter helplessness contrasts with the dreams and aspirations of the Joads, especially Ma, who views California as rich and green. The reality of their lifestyle begins to dawn on the Joads. They no longer own land, are itinerant people, and often need help from others to exist. These facts are emotionally hard for them since they have always prided themselves on paying their own way and being independent of charity. Chapter 17 • Summary The cars of the migrants scuttle westwards like bugs during the daytime. At night they cluster together seeking shelter and water. Twenty families set up a temporary world, and "the twenty families became one family." They share their lives, their food, and their hopes. As morning dawns, this temporary world is torn down. Within the temporary worlds, codes and laws are established; leaders emerge, and families learn what "rights must be observed." When a rule is broken, there are two possible punishments: a quick murderous fight to settle matters or ostracism. • Analysis This interchapter depicts the new migrant society. The migrants agreeably help each other and fight their loneliness by sharing their experiences of the journey. The small family unit becomes assumed into a larger unit composed of about twenty families. They make their own set of laws, which operate smoothly because everyone understands and accepts them; they also know the penalties for breaking the laws. The establishment of these temporary worlds foreshadows the Weedpatch camp in California, which is managed by the people themselves without the interference of the police. Peter Lisca sees chapter 17 as the Deuteronomy (i.e. the fifth book of canonical Jewish and Christian Scripture containing Mosaic laws and narrative material) of the novel. He establishes an analogy between the Israelites receiving the new Law in their exodus and the establishment of their own laws by the migrants. This context, according to Lisca, makes the westward journey of the Joads an archetype of mass migration. Chapter 18 • Summary The Joads are stopped in Arizona by a border guard who wants to know where they are going and the duration of their stay in Arizona. They finally come to the border of the Californian desert and stop near a river to await nightfall before attempting to cross. A stout woman scrubbing clothes by the side of the river cautions them that a policeman will come soon to look them over. The Joads and the Wilsons pitch their tents anyway. The men go to take a bath in the river. They sit in the water and feel the tug of the current. A man and his son who is going back home and telling of the deplorable conditions in California join them. He says that he could not make a living in California, for there is no steady work. He would rather starve with his own folks back home than with people who hate him. He tells them about a man who owns about a million acres of land but does not use it for farming purposes. The people in California are scared stiff because they know that the migrants are desperate for work and will do anything to get it. In spite of this news, Uncle John, a man of few words, says that they are going to California anyway; they will work if they get work, and if they don't, they will sit on their tails. Tom crawls into a shady cave to lie down. He is soon joined by Noah, who says that he is not going with the rest of them, for he knows that nobody in the family really cares for him. He plans to stay by this nice river. Tom cannot persuade him to change his mind, and Noah walks down the riverbank.

The Grapes of Wrath — PinkMonkeyNotes 30/40 Granma is lying on a mattress inside the tent. She is restlessly tossing her head from side to side. Ma and Rose of Sharon sit on either side of her with alarmed expressions. Granma seems to be calling out to Grampa in her delirious state. Ma explains to Rose of Sharon about the inevitable process of birth and death. A red ant climbs up on the folds of loose skin on Granma's neck. Ma reaches quickly and picks it off and crushes it between her forefinger and thumb. A woman comes in and wants to hold a prayer meeting for Granma, but Ma refuses. The woman leaves and holds the meeting anyway in her own tent at a distance. Granma quiets down and goes to sleep. Ma reproaches herself for her rudeness to the woman. Ma and Rose of Sharon lie down to rest. Rose of Sharon tells Ma again of the plans made by her and Connie. Meanwhile a police officer arrives and orders them to leave before morning, saying that he did not want any "Okies" in the area. Ma's face blackens with anger, and she threatens the policeman with a skillet. Ma cannot comprehend the callous attitude of the police officer. Ma sends Ruthie to call Tom and tells him of her encounter with the policeman. He explains the antipathy of the people towards migrants from Oklahoma. He then tells her of Noah's departure, and she worries about the family is breaking up. Pa blames himself for Noah's departure. The Joads prepare to leave when Ivy Wilson comes in to say that they cannot continue since his wife, Sairy, is very ill. Ma suggests that they wait until Sairy gets well and then continue together; but Mr. Wilson tells them to carry on. He requests Casy to see Sairy and say a prayer, but Casy resists. When he learns that she is dying from cancer and the end is near, Casy agrees to pray silently. The Joads prepare for the desert. They leave some money and some pork for the Wilsons and depart with lots of water. On their way, they stop at a service station. A boy working there thinks that the Okies are not really human since their suffering exceeds the human capacity to bear. Ma lies with Granma on the mattress and repeatedly says that the "family got to get acrost." Uncle John talks to Casy about his sins and wonders whether he has brought the misery on the family. As they near Dagget, the Joads have to stop at another border inspection station, and the officer says that he has to check all their belongings to see that they are not carrying vegetables and seeds. Ma pleads with them to let the truck pass as they have a very sick old woman who urgently needs medical help. The officer lets them pass and says they can find a doctor in Barstow, which is only eight miles ahead. When they reach the next stop, however, Ma says that Granma is all right and does not need a doctor. She lied earlier because she is afraid that if they stop they will never get across the desert. Nobody can understand Ma's actions. After boring their way all night through the hot darkness of the desert, the Joads finally see the rich Californian valleys in the distance. Ma reveals that Granma has died early in the night; she did not tell anybody because she wanted the family to get across safely. Ma's extraordinary strength and love amaze everybody. • Analysis This chapter again contains a note of foreboding that California will not fulfill the hopes and aspirations of the Joads. The account of the horrible working conditions and the contemptuous attitude of the Californians towards the migrants by the stranger and his son are reinforced when the police officer warns Ma to leave before morning as he does not want any "Okies" settling there. This is the first time that the Joads hear the term "Okie" used derogatorily. After the family reaches the Colorado River and bathe there before attempting to cross the great Californian desert, Noah decides he will not continue the arduous journey with the family. The symbolic baptismal bath gives Noah a new lease of life, and he decides to strike out on his own. Noah's departure foreshadows the fact that as economic and physical hardships increase, the family as a unit will be unable to bear the pressure and break down. The family is already diminished. Granpa has died and by the end of the chapter Granma dies as well. The Wilsons have become an integral part of the family, and Sairy's illness forces them to stay behind. Faced with the disruption of the family, Ma's strength increases. She devotes all her energies to keeping the remaining family together. When Granma dies she does not tell anybody because she wants the family to cross the desert safely. She displays extraordinary strength and love, which wins everybody's praise and approval. When they are finally across the desert and see the green California valleys, Mom regrets that Granpa and Granma are not alive to see it. Tom tells her that they were incapable of new experiences at their age. "They was too ol'. Who's really seein' it is Ruthie an' Winfiel'."

The Grapes of Wrath — PinkMonkeyNotes 31/40 Section 3: Chapters 19-30 Chapter 19 • Summary Once California belonged to Mexico. The Americans, hungry for land, took California from the Mexicans, who were weak and could not resist the frantic efforts against them. With the passage of time, the squatters in California became the landowners. As the Americans became prosperous, they stopped working on their land and employed cheap labor imported from places like China, Japan, and Mexico. Farming became an industry, with the small farms being bought up by the larger ones, which specialized in particular crops. Although they owned the farm on paper, the new farmers lost all contact with the life-nourishing earth. Many of the owners had never even seen the farms they owned. Migrants from Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Nevada, and Arkansas begin to arrive in California in greater and greater numbers. The owners hate the migrants because they are hungry and fierce; they realize their own vulnerability and feel that the newcomers threaten their security. As a result, the landowners lower wages more in order to earn extra money to pay guards that can protect their property. The migrants settle in Hoovervilles and look for work. Sometimes a lone migrant would secretly cultivate a fallow field, believing that a "crop raised--why, that makes ownership." A deputy would discover their crops and destroy them. The landowners are determined never to give up any of their land. In so doing, they ignore three lessons from history: when property accumulates in too few hands, it is taken away; when a majority of the people are cold, hungry, and homeless, they will take by force what they need; and repression works only to strengthen and knit the repressed. Foolishly, the owners only consider the means to destroy revolt while the causes of revolt continue unabated. This leads to their ultimate downfall. • Analysis In this interchapter, Steinbeck uses the newsreel technique of John Dos Passos and provides a historical account of the pattern of land ownership in California. Over the years, the larger ones, creating huge farming industries have purchased the smaller farms; these large concerns have always used cheap migrant labor for the hard work on the farms. The owners cut the wages of the migrants whenever possible and spend the extra money on hiring guards to keep the migrants in line. The landowners fail to realize that repression does not curb revolt; instead, it strengthens it. Thus, this chapter foreshadows the potential social and political upheaval hidden in the misery of the migrants. The chapter forms a group with chapters 21 and 25; all three have the thematic concern of land ownership in California. These chapters provide the background information and place the individual plight of the Joads in the larger context. Chapter 20 • Summary The Joads take Granma's body to the coroner's office in Bakersfield. Ma is unhappy because she knows that Granma would have liked a nice funeral, but they cannot afford one. Next, they go to find a Hooverville where they can stay. They are depressed by what they see; there is no order in the camp, and little gray tents and cars are scattered about at random. They ask a man whether the camp is owned by anybody and whether it costs money to stay there. When the man incoherently repeats Pa's every question, he almost explodes with anger. Then a young man, Floyd Knowles, tells Pa that they can camp anywhere. He also tells Tom that the earlier man is "bull-simple"; he has lost his mental balance because the cops have been pushing him around too much. The police keep the migrants always on the move so that they cannot vote, cannot avail themselves of relief, and most importantly cannot get organized. Floyd tells Tom about the lack of work and the low wages. He explains that when an owner needs men, he sends out an unreasonable number of handbills, and four times the number of men actually required show up for work. This enables the owner to reduce the wages. Unfortunately, there are hundreds of migrants who would kill each other to work for a little food for their starving children. Tom wonders why the people do not get organized and refuse to do work until they raise the wages. Floyd explains that

The Grapes of Wrath — PinkMonkeyNotes 32/40 people who try to organize the migrants are arrested quickly. Tom starts walking away in disgust when Floyd advises him to act dumb, "bull simple," with the cops. Tom discusses the situation with Casy who is sitting alone, wisely regarding one bare foot and thinking. Casy says that he will find a steady job and repay the Joads for their kindness. Tom asks him to stick around until tomorrow since he senses that something bad is about to happen. Inside the tent, Rose of Sharon tells Connie how sick and tired she is. She knows that she should help Ma, but she throws up every time she moves. Connie tells Rose of Sharon that he regrets coming. They should have stayed at home, where he could have studied at night about tractors and earned three dollars a day as a driver. Rose of Sharon tells him that they must have a house before the baby is born. Connie half-heartedly agrees and goes out of the tent. Ma is preparing a stew, and the smell attracts children from the camp who surround her. One girl volunteers to keep the fire steady because she is hungry and wants food. She tells Ma about the government camp in Weedpatch, which has nice toilets, shower stalls, and drinking water. Soon Ma ladles the stew into tin plates. She is at a loss about what to do, because there isn't enough food to feed the family, but the hungry children are still surrounding her. After she serves the family, she leaves a little in the pot and tells the children to get spoons and have a taste. She sets the pot down on the ground and escapes inside the tent to avoid seeing them. The mother of one child comes and reproaches Ma for giving stew to the children. Ma explains that could not help giving them because of the way they looked at her. Floyd tells Tom and Al of some work available about two hundred miles north. Al says that maybe he will go up north, but Tom tells him that Ma and Pa will never allow the family to break up. A labor contractor comes in a new Chevrolet coupe and offers the men work as fruit pickers in Tulare County. Floyd asks him about the wages, and the man evades the question by saying that it will be around thirty cents. Floyd requests a contract with the wage specified, and the contractor calls the Deputy Sheriff from his car and accuses Floyd of "talking red" and "agitating trouble." Floyd argues that if the contractor were "on the level," he would not have brought a cop along. The Deputy arrests Floyd on a false charge of breaking into a used car lot. Tom speaks up for Floyd, and the Deputy threatens to arrest him as well. The Deputy then warns the people that they will be attacked and the camp burned if they do not go to Tulare. Floyd suddenly breaks free and escapes. As the deputy starts running in pursuit of Floyd, Tom trips him. This makes the Deputy miss his target, and he hits a woman in the hand instead. Casy kicks the Deputy in the neck as he is about to fire again and knocks him unconscious. The contractor runs away for help. Casy implores Tom to run away, reminding him that he has broken parole and will get his whole family into trouble. When more Deputies arrive, Casy takes all the blame on himself. Although the Deputy thinks that Casy is the wrong person, he arrests him anyway. Casy's sacrifice strongly affects Uncle John, who goes off to drown his sorrows by getting drunk. He confesses that he has kept five dollars aside without telling anybody. He gives Pa the five dollars in exchange for two and goes off. Things are not going well for the Joads. Connie has deserted Rose of Sharon, and Tom says that he has seen him walking down the road. Pa tells Rose of Sharon that Connie was never any good. Tom tells the family that they must leave. He goes to fetch Uncle John and finds him lying in a ditch. Tom has to knock him unconscious and carry him back to the camp. The Joads drive south. Tom tells the family that he is growing angry about their treatment. When Ma reproaches him for turning back on his promise to be peaceful, he says that the cops are "a-workin' away at our spirits." In truth, they are trying to break the migrants. Ma persuades Tom to keep out of trouble because the "family's breakin' up." The Joads are stopped at a road blockade and are forced to turn back. Tom controls his anger with great effort and obeys, but he pulls off the road and turns out the truck's lights. When the deputies leave, Tom turns around again and heads towards the government camp at Weedpatch. • Analysis The Joad family unit again shrinks in size due to Connie's departure and Casy's sacrifice. The smaller family must confront the reality of the migrant way of life in California. They cannot afford to have a proper funeral for Granma and have to depend on charity for many things. As the economic conditions of the family deteriorate so does its adherence to custom and tradition. Casy's sacrifice has religious overtones. When he gives himself up for arrest to save Tom, he moves from being the contemplative person to being the person of action. In sacrificing himself for the good of the larger family, he becomes a symbol of Christ. His concerns are not for himself, but for humanity. Just like Christ, Casy has tried to teach his philosophy to those around him; as a result, in his absence his presence will still be felt. In fact, Ma moves towards a partial acceptance of Casy's views when she counsels patience and states her belief in the ability of the people to survive. She believes that the migrants are the chosen people who will strive against all odds and survive to people the land.

The Grapes of Wrath — PinkMonkeyNotes 33/40 Chapter 21 • Summary The migrants are no longer tied to the land and their agricultural way of life; now they scamper about throughout the West as they search for work. Although dispersed, the migrants are also united; the universal hostility of the Californians welds them into a oneness. Then, the landowners begin to fear "the flare of want in the eyes of the migrants;" they unite against the migrants. At cross purposes, conflict grows inevitable. The large companies and banks are creating their own doom. Large owners also buy the canneries. When the peaches and pears ripen, they force down the price of the fresh fruit and take their profit on the tinned fruit. This bankrupts more of the smaller farmers, and they are also forced onto the highway seeking work. The migrants grow ravenous and murderous for work. They have been pushed across the line. • Analysis This chapter is similar to chapter19, in its portrayal of the pattern of land ownership in California. The migrants from the South are not the only exploited people. The smaller landowners are also at the mercy of the big landowners, who employ monopoly tactics and soon bankrupt them. The chapter reinforces the proposition that repression and authoritarian measures are counter-productive and do not accomplish anything. Trouble seems inevitable. Chapter 22 • Summary The Joads drive in search of the Weedpatch camp. When they arrive, they are lucky to find a place, which has just been vacated by a family. They can hardly believe their ears when the watchman tells them that the camp is run by the migrants themselves and there are no cops around. He also tells them that the camp committee will call on them in the morning. The Central Committee keeps order and makes rules. A Ladies Committee will call on Ma Joad as well. Tom wakes early the next morning while the camp is still sleeping. He wanders around and meets the Wallaces, who invite him to have breakfast with them. They tell Tom that they have been working for twelve days and take him to work along with them, even though they know that his presence will mean less work for them. They walk to work because they had to sell their car for ten dollars; they later saw the car on sale in the same lot for seventy- five. Timothy Wallace says that the job will not last a long time. Mr. Thomas, the employer who is sympathetic to the migrants, must reduce their wages from thirty to twenty-five cents an hour because the bank threatened to refuse further loans unless he did this. He is forced to comply with the wishes of the bank because his land is mortgaged. He then warns them that some men are planning to create trouble at the Weedpatch Saturday dance; then the Deputies will have the excuse to raid the camp and close it on grounds of rioting. The Wallaces tell Tom that the Californians are afraid that the migrants will organize themselves; the owners already call people demanding higher wages "reds." In Tom's mind, this makes all migrants "reds," including himself. Ruthie and Winfield explore the toilets in the sanitary unit of the camp. Winfield accidentally flushes a toilet, and the children think that they have broken it. They go to fetch Ma to show her. She is delighted with the toilets, but she is in the men's section and is told by an elderly man to use the women's section on the other side of the building. He also tells her that a ladies committee will visit her soon and explain the rules of the camp. Ma wakes up everybody and sends them to clean themselves. The camp manager, Jim Rawley, comes by while Ma is preparing breakfast and has coffee with her. Pa suspects that the manager is probably snooping around, but Ma says that the camp is clean and that "I feel like people again." Rose of Sharon comes in after having a bath and tells Ma of the shower stalls. Ma is really happy and says, "Praise God, we come home to our own people." She also goes to have a bath. When Rose of Sharon is alone, a woman who calls herself a "deep down Jesus-lover" warns Rose of Sharon that two girls have recently given birth to stillborn babies because of their sins of play-acting and hug-dancing. She also considers Jim Rawley to be Satan because he thinks that the actual sins are starvation and cold. When the woman leaves, Rose of Sharon starts crying. The manager, who is nearby, comforts her and says that although the woman means well, she makes people unhappy. He explains that the babies were

The Grapes of Wrath — PinkMonkeyNotes 34/40 stillborn because the women were under-nourished and physically exhausted due to working too hard. Ma returns and reassures Rose of Sharon that what the woman has said is utter rubbish. The ladies committee arrives, and Ma and Rose of Sharon go with them to learn about the organization of the camp. Although the camp helps everyone, it does not allow charity; however, the camp allows each family twenty dollars' credit at the Weedpatch store. After the return from their meeting, the woman who had scared Rose of Sharon returns and introduces herself as Mrs. Sandry. She warns Ma about the wickedness of the camp. When Ma disagrees with her, Mrs. Sandry denounces her as sinful and prophesies the damnation of Rose of Sharon's baby. When Ma threatens to hit her with a piece of wood, she throws her head back and starts howling. Rawley arrives and tells Ma that Mrs. Sandry is mentally unstable and is always disturbing people. Pa, Uncle John and Al return to camp without having found any work. Although Pa is sad and low in spirits, Ma is optimistic since Tom found work early that morning. • Analysis The Weedpatch camp re-establishes the people's dignity and confidence. The group has more power than the individual. The people themselves manage the camp, and there are no cops around. There is order and cleanliness, and the basic necessities of life are available. This contrasts with the filthy Hooverville camp where the Joads were received by a "bull-simple" migrant. Here the manager, Jim Rawley, greets them. He takes his work seriously, manages the camp sensibly and compassionately, and allows the migrants to organize their affairs themselves. The ladies committee takes its task seriously as well. The fear of the cops at Hooverville is transformed into the confidence placed by the migrants in the committee. People willingly help each other at Weedpatch. The Wallaces share their breakfast with Tom and even take him along with them to work, knowing full well that it will result in less work for them. Such acts of unselfishness reinforce that the willingness to share is not only Ma's characteristic but also a common trait among the migrants. The readiness with which Tom takes to work shows that he isn't simply a spiritual drifter and given a chance, can become a useful member of society. Unfortunately, Tom is the only member of the family who finds work. The orderliness of the camp and the willingness of the people to help almost succeed in camouflaging the real misery of the situation. This optimism, in turn, serves to make the trials still in store for the migrants and the Joads seem even harsher by contrast. There are, however, some decent people who are fair to the migrants. Mr. Thomas is one of the few small landowners who is sympathetic to the plight of the workers. He shows kindness when he explains about the lower wages and tells the men about the troublemakers who will come to the Saturday night dance. Chapter 23 • Summary While the migrants are looking for work, they also look for entertainment. They find release in jokes, stories, occasional visits to a cinema, and drinking. In the evenings, sometimes the migrants will play the harmonica, guitar, and fiddle; as they make music, the others dance. Wherever the migrants go, there are preachers who give sermons and baptize infants. They also exhort the people to lead pure lives in order to attain salvation. • Analysis This is another interchapter; its purpose is to provide a sympathetic account of the migrants' leisure activities. Steinbeck implies that these people are the stuff of folk epics and folk music. The storytellers are respected, and they reinforce the migrants' dignity and faith in themselves. The jest and energy of the young dancers suggest an intense appetite for life. In contrast to the happiness at the dance, there are always preachers close by to warn about sin and frivolity; as they try to point the way to salvation, they make most of the migrants squirm with discomfort.

The Grapes of Wrath — PinkMonkeyNotes 35/40 Chapter 24 • Summary There is constant bathing from early afternoon to evening as women and children clean up and ready themselves for the Saturday night dance. Ezra Huston, the chairperson of the central committee, has made plans to forestall the expected troublemakers. Willie Eaton, the chairperson of the entertainment committee, reports that twenty additional members have been appointed to the committee who are going to move about during the dancing and peacefully weed out the troublemakers. They have strict orders not to hurt anybody, for this would give the police an opportunity to interfere on grounds of rioting. Al dresses for the dance and hopes to meet some girls. Rose of Sharon does not want to go to the dance because she is pregnant and hates it when people look at her. Moreover, she is still worried about Connie. Ma persuades her to change her mind and promises to tell any men who want to dance with Rose of Sharon that she is too ill to dance. Willie Eaton informs Tom that he has been appointed to stand guard at the front gate with a Native American named Jule Vitale; they have the responsibility of picking out the troublemakers. Jule Vitale suspects some men as troublemakers; they say a Mr. Jackson has invited them. Jule says he will keep an eye on the men while Tom verifies the truth of their story. Jackson tells Tom that he has once worked with these men but has not invited them to the dance. The committee decides to watch the troublemakers carefully. Soon after the dance begins, the troublemakers insist on dancing with another man's girlfriend to provoke a fight. The committee moves in quietly and takes charge of them, but someone blows a whistle in the confusion. The deputies, waiting in cars outside the camp, are alerted; they demand that the guard open the gate, saying there is a riot inside. The guard tells them to listen to the quiet music. The deputies have no other option but to pull back and wait. The committee men surround the trouble makers and take them to Mr. Huston, who questions them. They are also migrants. and Mr. Huston accuses them of acting against their own people and orders them to be put out of the camp without violence. Pa talks with a group of other migrants about unemployment and low wages. They realize that if they compete with each other for jobs then the wage decreases. A migrant named Black Hat tells how five thousand workers in Akron, Ohio organized a turkey shoot and walked through town with their rifles. After that the local people no longer bothered them. Black Hat suggests that perhaps they too should organize a turkey-shooting club. • Analysis The migrants display good organizational skill when they peacefully prevent trouble at their dance. They act sensibly and without any violence. The fact that they do not resort to violence, even when they have every right to do so, puts the troublemakers in an even more negative light. The deputies want to disrupt the camp because they fear this unity and organizational capability. They believe that with little effort these migrants could indeed take over California. For the landowners, the migrants represent a threat to their social and political stability. Black Hat's story about the turkey shoot points out the strength that the people can achieve through organization and anticipates the strike by the peach gatherers in a later chapter. The presence of the American Indian, Jule Vitale, in the novel is significant. He functions as the symbol of the destructiveness underlying American settlement and the western expansion pattern. But there is no further development of his character, and he remains on the level of abstraction to index and mirror the white American psyche. Chapter 25 • Summary In spring, California is beautiful. The fruit blossoms and tender vegetables appear in abundance. Grapes, swelling from the old gnarled vines, cascade down to cover the trunks. All of California quickens with produce. The larger and better crops are the result of the use of the knowledge provided by scientific research, but at harvest time the canneries offer low prices. This bankrupts the small farmers, and only the large farmers survive because they own the canneries.

The Grapes of Wrath — PinkMonkeyNotes 36/40 Huge quantities of fruit rot on the ground or are dumped, and men spray kerosene on the dumped fruit to prevent the migrants from taking it. At the same time, children die of malnutrition and starvation. The migrants cross the thin line between hunger and anger and "in the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy for the vintage." • Analysis This chapter describes the fertile California valley and comments on the remarkable scientific knowledge that produces the rich harvests. That same intelligence, however, can pour kerosene on the fruit to destroy it and keep it from the starving children. It also destroys the small land owners, who are unable to fight the economic system and the under-handed tactics of the large land owners. The chapter depicts the beginnings of the anger and wrath generated by the tremendous waste, and the meaning of the title starts to form. Chapter 26 • Summary After one month at the Weedpatch Camp, the Joads do not have any money and hardly any food. Ma tells the men that they must decide to do something, for she has only two days' flour, one day's lard, and ten potatoes left. The men cannot find any work, and Ma suggests that they go to Marysville where fruit pickers are required. Pa does not want to leave because he likes the hot water and toilets in the camp; but Ma insists that they must go and look for work elsewhere. They decide to leave in the morning, but know they cannot travel far since they have little gas. Rose of Sharon is feeling very low in spirits and worries about her baby being born deformed. She complains about not having milk to drink. Ma tries to lighten her mood by giving her a pair of gold earrings and piercing her ears. Before the Joads leave, Al visits his girlfriend and promises her that he will return after making some money. Pa and Uncle John talk to some people living in the camp, and Pa says he is leaving against his wishes. Tom talks with Jule and Willie Eaton about the need for the migrants to organize unions to protect them. The Joads depart before daybreak after having some cold biscuits for breakfast. On the way they have a flat tire. While they are repairing it, a man offers them work at the Hooper ranch, which is only 35 miles away. The Joads immediately head in the direction or the ranch and hope to get work the very same day. When they arrive, police escort them past an angry crowd into the ranch. The crowd, composed of migrants, is shouting slogans. The crowd makes Tom uneasy, and he questions the police officer about the trouble. He is told to mind his own business. The Joads are told to unpack their belongings in shack number 63. The family begins to pick peaches for five cents a box. They earn a dollar by nightfall, and Ma buys some groceries from the ranch store where the goods are inferior in quality and priced very high. She does not have enough money to buy sugar and pleads with the clerk to give it on credit since the men are still picking peaches. The man cannot allow it due to company policy; instead, he lends her a dime for the sugar. Ma thanks him and says, "If you're in trouble or hurt or need--go to poor people. They're the only ones that'll help." After supper Tom slips out to learn more about the trouble that he saw earlier in the day. The guard, however, refuses to let Tom out of the gate. He then slips under a fence and soon meets Casy and some other men. Casy talks about his experiences in prison. He tells Tom about an incident when a prisoner protested against the bad food and nothing happened; but when everybody collectively protested, the quality of food improved substantially. Casy is trying to organize the migrants. He tells Tom that they are on strike because the ranch had reduced their wages from five to two and a half cents per box. Tom tells Casy about the efficient Weedpatch camp where there is no interference from the police and is run by the people themselves. Casy is delighted at the news and wants it to be the same everywhere. Casy says that the wage at the ranch will be cut again when the police end the strike. Casy asks Tom to explain this to the people who are working: "Tell 'em they're starvin' us an' stabbin' theirself in the back." But both know that it is futile to do so since the people will not listen. Casy sadly observes that people always turn against the leaders of the labor movements and revolutions and that the leaders must eventually sacrifice their lives. The men hear footsteps approaching. They try to escape, but are caught. Deputy sheriffs advance towards them. Casy tells them, "You fellas don' know what you're doin'. You're helpin' to starve kids." While he speaks, a short heavy man crushes Casy's head with a pick handle, killing him. Tom leaps silently and kills Casy's murderer. Another man wounds Tom's face, but Tom manages to escape. He hides in some brush and makes his way back to the ranch.

The Grapes of Wrath — PinkMonkeyNotes 37/40 When Tom wakes up the next morning, his face is swollen and his nose broken. He tells the family that he is in trouble and offers to leave rather than drag them along into trouble. But Ma insists that he stay, for he needs to be protected and hidden, and only the family can provide that. That day the Joads pick peaches for two and a half cents a box in order to collect enough money for gas. They hide Tom inside a cave made of mattresses and drive out of the ranch. As they travel, Tom sees an advertisement for cotton pickers, and the family stops. Tom proposes to hide in a nearby creek and join them again after his face heals. • Analysis This chapter constitutes the climax of the novel. It provides further evidence of Ma's authority and power to influence decisions. It is she rather than Pa who controls the family. The men have lost the capacity to face the situation; they do nothing. Ma thus goads the men into taking some action and insists on moving out of Weedpatch camp and looking for work elsewhere. She knows that it is dangerous for her to assume leadership, for it could break the spirit of the men; but she also knows that the men have to be incited into taking any action. It is also Ma who takes action after she learns that Tom has killed a cop. As she tells Tom, "Pa's lost his place. He ain't the head anymore. There is no fambly now." She assumes leadership and decides that they must leave the ranch to protect Tom. Casy emerges once again as a Christ figure that sacrifices his life for the good of the people. In the beginning of the novel, he had told of his wanderings in the wilderness in an effort to find a solution to his dilemma of what constituted holiness. His experiences in the jail have pointed out the immense potentiality of unity and organization. This has already been proven by the success of government camps like Weedpatch, which were run by the people themselves. He has tried to organize people and led them on a strike to demand fairer wages. He has people under his guidance. He attempts to make a disciple of Tom when he asks him to go back to the ranch and tell the people working that they are acting against their own interests. Both know the futility of the task. Casy dies like Christ, as a martyr, saying that the men do not know what they are doing; Christ said the same words about the men who crucified him. Tom's character undergoes development as he starts understanding and sympathizing with Casy's views. His earlier egocentrism is transmuted into a concern for humanity at large. He goes to find out about the trouble and meets Casy and watches as he is killed. The general meanness at large also affects Tom, who kills Casy's murderer. Ma understands his actions and hides Tom in a cave of mattresses to escape unseen from the ranch. This is ironic because in an earlier chapter he had refused to sleep in a cave with Muley Graves. At the end of the chapter, Tom sees a creek and hides there until his face heals (until he gets a new face, a new being). Chapter 27 • Summary Placards on the road and orange colored handbills advertise for cotton pickers. The dark green plants are stringy now, and the heavy bolls of cotton are bursting out like popcorn. Cotton bags cost a dollar each, but this cost is taken out of the first hundred and fifty pounds picked. A cotton bag lasts all season and when it is worn out, the open end could be sewed up and the worn out end could be opened up. When both ends were worn away the cloth could be used to make a fine pair of cotton drawers or nightshirts. There was no end to the uses to which it could be put to. The wages for picking cotton was fair enough, eighty cents a hundred for the first time over and ninety cents for the second time. The good pickers have nimble inquisitive fingers and hardly have to look while picking. The pickers sometimes put rocks in their bags to compensate for the fixed scales and maintain the records of the weight of each sack so as to avoid being cheated. Cotton picking is good work and the migrants hope that it lasts so that they can save some money for the winter when there will be no work in California. But the numbers of the pickers is increasing rapidly so the work lasts only a short time. The pathos of the situation is brought out by the story of a man who never got his cotton bag paid for. • Analysis The chapter points to the bleak future that awaits the migrants. However hard they work and however quickly they pick cotton, disappointment is in store for them. It is evident that they will not be able to earn enough money for winter, and winter assumes sinister dimensions. The conflict and mistrust

The Grapes of Wrath — PinkMonkeyNotes 38/40 between the pickers and the employers come out as each tries to cheat the other. The chapter also prepares the reader for the experiences of the Joads while picking cotton. Chapter 28 • Summary The Joads are among the few families to reach the cotton fields and are lucky enough to get one of the twelve boxcars to live in. The Joads have one end of the boxcar and share the other end with the Wainwrights. The working and living conditions of the cotton pickers are good. It is better than any other place the Joads have traveled so far except for Weedpatch. The Joads pick cotton every day and can have meat every night. They make enough money to buy new overalls for Al, Pa, Winfield, and Uncle John, and a new dress for Ma. One evening Ruthie gets involved in a fight with a big girl and tells her that her brother is hiding nearby and has killed two men. Winfield tells Ma that Ruthie has revealed the whereabouts of Tom. Ma takes two pork chops and some potatoes on a plate and goes to the cave to find Tom and warn him of Ruthie's error. They decide that Tom must leave. She gives him seven dollars that she has saved. Before separating, Tom talks to Ma about Casy's ideas. About how Casy thought that there was one big soul and all the people were parts of that whole. He explains that like Casy, he wants to help the people in organizing themselves in an attempt to improve their living conditions. Ma expresses concern for his safety and reminds him that Casy was murdered. Tom claims that his own safety is immaterial because if his soul is a part of one big soul then it will always be present everywhere. Before she leaves, Ma asks Tom to step closer. She wants to touch him and remember the feeling of him. Unfortunately, she cannot have a last look for the cave is too dark. While Ma is returning to the boxcar a small farmer offers her work picking cotton nearby. His farm is only twenty acres. Ma tells him that her family will be there early next morning. When she reaches the boxcar, the Wainwrights tell the Joads that they are worried about their sixteen-year old daughter Agnes, who is going out with Al almost every night. They are worried that Agnes will become pregnant ,and Ma promises that either she or Pa will talk to Al about the matter. When Al arrives, he tells the family that he intends to marry Agnes and wants to leave and find work in a garage. Ma asks him to stay until spring. The Joads and the Wainwrights celebrate the proposed wedding by making pancakes. The next morning both the families go to pick cotton; but too many migrants arrive, and the cotton gets picked quickly. As the Joads return to the boxcar, it begins to rain heavily, and Rose of Sharon, who has been with the family, starts shivering. • Analysis The Joad family unit continues to diminish. Tom is forced to leave his hide-out due to Ruthie's mistake, and Al announces his decision to leave in search of work in a garage. Despite the determined efforts of Ma to keep the family from breaking up, she is saddened by her losses. When she goes to the cave to bid Tom good-bye, there is a poignant scene of her feeling his face in order to remember him. In spite of the Joad's losses, there is a moment of happiness in their lives when they get work as cotton pickers; they earn enough money to have a decent meal every day and buy some presentable clothes. As the chapter nears the end, however, there is a foreshadowing of the impending doom. The Joads are without any work and money; and the weather is gloomy and raining. Tom's character shows considerable development in this chapter. When Ma goes to meet Tom, she has to go through a long passageway and into the cave, where it is very dark. This imagery suggests a return-to-the-womb and is symbolic of Tom's rebirth as a new person. He has moved out of his self-absorption and totally embraces Casy's Emersonian philosophy. He worries about the well-being of the others as a whole and has a desire to organize them for a better way of life. He openly states that his life alone is unimportant; if he dies, he will continue to live as part of the Oversoul. While Casy was more contemplative, Tom will become active and put Casy's ideas into practice. There is little doubt that Jim Casy is meant to be a Christ-figure. Casy's reverence for life, for "all that lives is holy," is essentially Christian. As a disciple, Tom listens to, learns, and adopts Casy's philosophies. Now, like the disciples, Tom goes out to spread the word and organize the people to seek a better life.

The Grapes of Wrath — PinkMonkeyNotes 39/40 Chapter 29 • Summary The gray clouds march in from the ocean and settle low over the West. Heavy rains lash the mountains and the hillsides. The rain, which begins mildly forming puddles, gradually increases in intensity. Level fields became lakes; water pours over the highways. Even though the cars move slowly, the water seeps into the ignition wires and the carburetors and ruin them. Now the migrants lack transportation. They seek shelter in barns on high grounds or in relief offices; some give up and go home. Those who stay in California cannot obtain relief because they have not lived in the area long enough. The local people pity the plight of the migrants at first; then their pity is transformed into anger and then to fear. The migrants beg and steal food, but many die of starvation. They realize that they receive worse treatment than the horses on their former farms. The women anxiously watch the faces of the men and see that their fear has become anger. The women are relieved because they realize that the men are not yet defeated. • Analysis This is the last intercalary chapter, which anticipates the fate of the Joads. The story has come full cycle, for this chapter (the next-to- the last) is structurally similar to the first chapter where the women watch the faces of men after the disaster of the dust storm. The novel begins with drought and ends with flood; both are murderous on the migrants. Chapter 30 • Summary The final chapter of the novel begins with miserable weather, reflective of the plight of the migrants. There is heavy rainfall. The puddles swell into a little stream that advances toward the flat ground where the boxcars stand. On the second day of the downpour, Al tries to protect the truck by spreading a tarpaulin on its nose. The spirits of the men are dampened. They wonder if they should leave, but decide against it since they are at least dry in the boxcar. Pa notices the rising water level and proposes to build a mud embankment to prevent the water from flooding them. He persuades other men to help him, and they work throughout the night. Fate, however, is against them and a fallen tree knocks a huge hole in the embankment, allowing the water to flood the area. Al runs to start the truck, but the engine will not turn over. Rose of Sharon goes into labor and soon gives birth to a stillborn child, "a blue shriveled little mummy." Pa wonders whether there is anything that he could have done. He goes out to talk to the other men. Mrs. Wainwright offers to sit with Rose of Sharon and tells Ma to take some rest. They talk about helping each other, and Ma perceptively says, "Use' ta be the fambly was fust. It ain't so now." Ma thanks Mrs. Wainwright for her help. Uncle John takes the baby out in a box to bury it, but he floats it downstream instead. He hopes that it will be washed into a street so that the people realize the plight of the migrants. The Joads and the Wainwrights become one family working together; they construct platforms in the boxcar so that they can keep above the rising water. Eventually, Ma decides that they must seek a better shelter. Al stays back with Agnes, and the other Joads leave. They find a dry barn on high ground. The last scene of the novel is Rose of Sharon nourishing a starving man with the milk meant for her dead child. • Analysis The fortunes of the Joads progressively deteriorate as the hardships increase. Pa, who realizes his ineffectiveness, has relinquished his position in the family to Ma, who desperately tries to hold the family together. Despite her valiant efforts, the Joads have considerably reduced in number. Grampa and Granma have died; Noah, Connie, and Tom have left. Now, Al stays behind with his proposed wife. The family is no longer a cohesive whole, and those remaining face a bleak future. They are surrounded with gloom, symbolized in the weather, and death symbolized in Rose of Sharon's stillborn baby. Uncle John put the lifeless body of the infant in a box and sends it down the stream, as a protest of the treatment of the migrants. This death could have been prevented, and he wants others to realize that.

The Grapes of Wrath — PinkMonkeyNotes 40/40 When Ma thanks Mrs. Wainwright for her help, she also expresses her realization that in her present plight the people must transcend their concern for their own immediate families and embraces everybody; they must enter into wholeness, into unity. Thus, she comes to accept the truth of the Emersonian philosophy and starts thinking like Tom and Casy. Rose of Sharon puts this philosophy into practice. Having given up her child to a needless death, she nourishes a starving migrant back to life. The last scene of the play, therefore, is a hopeful one. Through united effort, the migrants can overcome their trials and tribulations.