not sold must be burned, even items of sentimental value that simply cannot
be taken on the journey for lack of space.
Chapter Ten: Ma Joad tells Tom that she is concerned about going to
California, worried that it won't turn out well, for the only information
they have is from flyers they read. Casy asks to accompany them to
California. He wants to work in the fields, where he can listen to people
rather than preach to them. Tom says that preaching is a tone of voice and
a style, being good to people when they don't respond to it. Pa and Uncle
John return with the truck, and prepare to leave. The two children, twelve-
year old Ruthie and ten-year old Winfield are there with their older
sister, Rose of Sharon (Rosasharn) and her husband. They discuss how Tom
can't leave the state because of his parole. They have a family conference
that night and discuss a number of issues: they decide to allow Casy to go
with them, since it's the only right thing for them to do. They continue
with preparations, killing the pigs to have food to take with them. While
Casy helps out Ma Joad with food preparation, he remarks to Tom that she
looks tired, as if she is sick. Ma Joad looks through her belongings, going
through old letters and clippings she had saved. She has to place them in
the fire. Before they leave, Muley Graves stops to say goodbye. Noah tells
him that he's going to die out in the field if he stays, but Muley accepts
his fate. Grampa refuses to leave, so they decide to give him medicine that
will knock him out and take him with them.
Chapter Eleven: The houses were left vacant. Only the tractor sheds of
gleaming iron and silver were alive. Yet when the tractors are at rest the
life goes out of them. The work is easy and efficient, so easy that the
wonder goes out of the work and so efficient that the wonder goes out of
the land and the working of it. In the tractor man there grows the contempt
that comes to a stranger who has little understanding and no relation to
the land. The abandoned houses slowly fall apart.
Chapter Twelve: Highway 66 is the main migrant road stretching from the
Mississippi to Bakersfield, California. It is a road of flight for refugees
from the dust and shrinking land. The people streamed out on 66, possibly
breaking down in their undependable cars on the way. Yet the travelers face
obstacles. California is a big state, but not big enough to support all of
the workers who are coming. The border patrol can turn people back. The
high wages that are promised may be false.
Chapter Thirteen: The Joads continue on their travels. Al remarks that they
may have trouble getting over mountains in their car, which can barely
support its weight. Grampa Joad wakes up and insists that he's not going
with them. They stop at a gas station where the owner automatically assumes
they are broke, and tells them that people often stop, begging for gas. The
owner claims that fifty cars per day go west, but wonders what they expect
when they reach their destination. He tells how one family traded their
daughter's doll for some gas. Casy wonders what the nation is coming to,
since people seem unable to make a decent living. Casy says that he used to
use his energy to fight against the devil, believing that the devil was the
enemy. However, now he believes that there's something worse. The Joad's
dog wanders from the car and is run over in the road. They continue on
their journey and begin to worry when they reach the state line. However,
Tom reassures them that he is only in danger if he commits a crime.
Otherwise, nobody will know that he has broken his parole by leaving the
state. On their next stop for the night, the Joads meet the Wilsons, a
family from Kansas that is going to California. Grampa complains of
illness, and weeps. The family thinks that he may suffer a stroke. Granma
tells Casy to pray for Grampa, even if he is no longer a preacher. Suddenly
Grampa starts twitching and slumps. He dies. The Joads face a choice: they
can pay fifty dollars for a proper burial for him or have him buried a
pauper. They decide to bury Grampa themselves and leave a note so that
people don't assume he was murdered. The Wilsons help them bury Grampa.
They write a verse from scripture on the note on his grave. After burying
Grampa, they have Casy say a few words. The reactions to the death are
varied. Rose of Sharon comforts Granma, while Uncle John is curiously
unmoved by the turn of events. Casy admits that he knew Grampa was dying,
but didn't say anything because he couldn't have helped. He blames the
separation from the land for Grampa's death. The Joads and the Sairy Wilson
decide to help each other on the journey by spreading out the load between
their two cars so that both families will make it to California.
Chapter Fourteen: The Western States are nervous about the impending
changes, including the widening government, growing labor unity, and
strikes. However, they do not realize that these are results of change and
not causes of it. The cause is the hunger of the multitude. The danger that
they face is that the people's problems have moved from "I" to "we."
Chapter Fifteen: This chapter begins with a description of the hamburger
stands and diners on Route 66. The typical diner is run by a usually
irritated woman who nevertheless becomes friendly when truck drivers
consistent customers who can always pay enter. The more wealthy travelers
drop names and buy vanity products. The owners of the diners complain about
the migrating workers, who can't pay and often steal. A family comes in,
wanting to buy a loaf of bread. The one owner, Mae, tells them that they're
not a grocery store, but Al, the other, tells them to just sell the bread.
Mae sells the family candy for reduced prices. Mae and Al wonder what such
families will do once they reach California.
Chapter Sixteen: The Joads and the Wilsons continue on their travels. Rose
of Sharon discusses with her mother what they will do when they reach
California. She and Connie want to live in a town, where he can get a job
in a store or a factory. He wants to study at home, possibly taking a radio
correspondence course. There is a rattling in the Wilson's car, so Al is
forced to pull over. There are problems with the motor. Sairy Wilson tells
them that they should go on ahead without them, but Ma Joad refuses,
telling them that they are like family now and they won't desert them. Tom
says that he and Casy will stay with the truck if everyone goes on ahead.
They'll fix the car and then move on. Only Ma objects. She refuses to go,
for the only thing that they have left is each other and she will not break
up the family even momentarily. When everyone else objects to her, she even
picks up a jack handle and threatens them. Tom and Casy try to fix the car,
and Casy remarks about how he has seen so many cars moving west, but no
cars going east. Casy predicts that all of the movement and collection of
people in California will change the country. The two of them stay with the
car while the family goes ahead. Before they leave, Al tells Tom that Ma is
worried that he will do something that might break his parole. Granma has
been going crazy, yelling and talking to herself.
Al asks Tom about what he felt when he killed a man. Tom admits that prison
has a tendency to drive a man insane. Tom and Al find a junkyard where they
find a part to replace the broken con-rod in the Wilson's car. The one-eyed
man working at the junkyard complains about his boss, and says that he
might kill him. Tom tells off the one-eyed man for blaming all of his
problems on his eye, and then criticizes Al for his constant worry that
people will blame him for the car breaking down. Tom, Casy and Al rejoin
the rest of the family at a campground not far away. To stay at the
campground, the three would have to pay an additional charge, for they
would be charged with vagrancy if they slept out in the open. Tom, Casy and
Uncle John eventually decide to go on ahead and meet up with everyone else
in the morning. A ragged man at the camp, when he hears that the Joads are
going to pick oranges in California, laughs. The man, who is returning from
California, tells how the handbills are a fraud. They ask for eight hundred
people, but get several thousand people who want to work. This drives down
wages. The proprietor of the campground suspects that the ragged man is
trying to stir up trouble for labor.
Chapter Seventeen: A strange thing happened for the migrant laborers.
During the day, as they traveled, the cars were separate and lonely, yet in
the evening a strange thing happened: at the campgrounds where they stayed
the twenty or so families became one. Their losses and their concerns
became communal. The families were at first timid, but they gradually built
small societies within the campgrounds, with codes of behavior and rights
that must be observed. For transgressions, there were only two punishments:
violence or ostracism. Leaders emerged, generally the wise elders. The
various families found connections to one another
Chapter Eighteen: When the Joads reach Arizona, a border guard stops them
and nearly turns them back, but does let them continue. They eventually
reach the desert of California. The terrain is barren and desolate. While
washing themselves during a stop, the Joads encounter migrant workers who
want to turn back. They tell them that the Californians hate the migrant
workers. A good deal of the land is owned by the Land and Cattle Company
that leaves the land largely untouched. Sheriffs push around migrant
workers, whom they derisively call "Okies." Noah tells Tom that he is going
to leave everyone, for they don't care about him. Although Tom protests,
Noah leaves them. Granma remains ill, suffering from delusions. She
believes that she sees Grampa. A Jehovite woman visits their tent to help
Granma, and tells Ma that she will die soon. The woman wants to organize a
prayer meeting, but Ma orders them not to do so. Nevertheless, soon she can
hear from a distance chanting and singing that eventually descends into
crying. Granma whines with the whining, then eventually falls asleep. Rose
of Sharon wonders where Connie is. Deputies come to the tent and tell Ma
that they cannot stay there and that they don't want any Okies around. Tom
returns to the tent after the policeman leaves, and is glad that he wasn't
there; he admits that he would have hit the cop. He tells Ma about Noah.
The Wilsons decide to remain even if they face arrest, since Sairy is too
sick to leave without any rest. Sairy asks Casy to say a prayer for her.
The Joads move on, and at a stop a boy remarks how hard-looking Okies are
and how they are less than human. Uncle John speaks with Casy, worried that
he brings bad luck to people. Connie and Rose of Sharon need privacy. Yet
again the Joads are pulled over for inspection, but Ma Joad insists that
they must continue because Granma needs medical attention. The next morning
when they reach the orange groves, Ma tells them that Granma is dead. She
died before they were pulled over for inspection.
Chapter Nineteen: California once belonged to Mexico and its land to the
Mexicans. But a horde of tattered feverish American poured in, with such
great hunger for the land that they took it. Farming became an industry as
the Americans took over. They imported Chinese, Japanese, Mexican and
Filipino workers who became essentially slaves. The owners of the farms
ceased to be farmers and became businessmen. They hated the Okies who came
because they could not profft from them. Other laborers hated the Okies
because they pushed down wages. While the Californians had aspirations of
social success and luxury, the barbarous Okies only wanted land and food.
Hoovervilles arose at the edge of every town. The Okies were forced to
secretly plant gardens in the evenings. The deputies overreacted to the
Okies, spurred by stories that an eleven year old Okie shot a deputy. The
great owners realized that when property accumulates in too few hands it is
taken away and that when a majority of the people are hungry and cold they
will take by force what they need.
Chapter Twenty: The Joads take Granma to the Bakersfield coroner's office.
They can't afford a funeral for her. They go to a camp to stay and ask
about work. They ask a bearded man if he owns the camp and whether they can
stay, and he replies with the same question to them. A younger man tells
them that the crazy old man is called the Mayor. According to the man, the
Mayor has likely been pushed by the police around so much that he's been
made bull-simple (crazy). The police don't want them to settle down, for
then they could draw relief, organize and vote. The younger man tells them
about the handbill fraud, and Tom suggests that everybody organize so that
they could guarantee higher wages. The man warns Tom about the blacklist.
If he is labeled an agitator he will be prevented from getting from
anybody. Tom talks to Casy, who has recently been relatively quiet. Casy
says that the people unorganized are like an army without a harness. Casy
says that he isn't helping out the family and should go off by himself. Tom
tries to convince him to stay at least until the next day, and he relents.
Connie regrets his decision to come with the Joads. He says that if he had
stayed in Oklahoma he could have worked as a tractor driver. When Ma is
fixing dinner, groups of small children approach, asking for food. The
children tell the Joads about Weedpatch, a government camp that is nearby
where no cops can push people around and there is good drinking water. Al
goes around looking for girls, and brags about how Tom killed a man. Al
meets a man named Floyd Knowles, who tells them that there was no steady
work. A woman reprimands Ma Joad for giving her children stew. Al brings
Floyd back to the family, where he says that there will be work up north
around Santa Clara Valley. He tells them to leave quietly, because everyone
else will follow after the work. Al wants to go with Floyd no matter what.
A man arrives in a Chevrolet coupe, wearing a business suit. He tells them
about work picking fruit around Tulare County. Floyd tells the man to show
his license -this is one of the tricks that the contractor uses. Floyd
points out some of the dirty tactics that the contractor is using, such as
bringing along a cop. The cop forces Floyd into the car and says that the
Board of Health might want to shut down their camp. Floyd punched the cop
and ran off. As the deputy chased after him, Tom tripped him. The deputy
raised his gun to shoot Floyd and fires indiscriminately, shooting a woman
in the hand. Suddenly Casy kicked the deputy in the back of the neck,
knocking him unconscious. Casy tells Tom to hide, for the contractor saw
him trip the deputy. More officers come to the scene, and they take away
Casy, who has a faint smile and a look of pride. Rose of Sharon wonders
where Connie has gone. She has not seen him recently. Uncle John admits
that he had five dollars. He kept it to get drunk. Uncle John gives them
the five in exchange for two, which is enough for him. Al tells Rose of
Sharon that he saw Connie, who was leaving. Pa claims that Connie was too
big for his overalls, but Ma scolds him, telling him to act respectfully,
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