Summary After leaving the burned out squatter’s camp, the Joads go to a government camp where community-elected officials make camp decisions, create laws, and hand out punishments. The next morning, the Joads’ new neighbors, Timothy and Wilkie Wallace, invite Tom to work with them. The owner for whom they are […]
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Summary Endless streams of people move out on the highways, like ants searching for food. These are agrarian folks, pushed off their land by great machines. As they flow toward the west’s fertile fields, hunger and desperation change them. The people who live in the towns the travelers pour into […]
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Summary The family takes Granma’s body to the coroner in Bakersfield but can only spare five dollars for her burial. The family stops at the first tent camp they see on the outskirts of town, a settlement of tents, each with a vehicle parked next to it. As the family […]
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Summary When the Americans first came to settle in California, they were hungry for land. Driven by a desire for property, they dominated the complacent Mexican natives, successfully stripping them of their claim to this fertile farmland. Soon, these Californians were no longer squatters, but owners. Farming became an industry, […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Chapter 19Summary and Analysis Chapter 18
Summary The family moves westward through Arizona and arrives weary in California at dawn. At mid-morning, they camp along the banks of the Colorado River, where Tom and the men bathe and decide whether or not to cross the desert that night. Granma is ill, but Pa, worried about the […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Chapter 18Summary and Analysis Chapter 17
Summary As the cars of the migrant families travel west, they begin to create their own communities with rules, laws, punishments, and social expectations. A community begins with one family camping alongside the road. Eventually, one family turns into 20 families. As the families camp together, it becomes clear that […]
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Summary For two days, the Wilsons and the Joads are in flight across the Panhandle, leaving Oklahoma and crossing Texas. Eventually, they became accustomed to their traveling way of life. As they drive through New Mexico, Rosasharn tells her mother about her and Connie’s plans once they reach California. They […]
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Summary Hamburger stands line Route 66. In the kitchen, the male partner — in this chapter, Alyheru4 — is generally silent and does not acknowledge the diner’s patrons. Mae, representative of the woman behind the counter, usually middle-aged and talkative, is the link between the paying public and the business. […]
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Summary The United States is nervous as change begins. The great owners try to blame these changes on obvious things, like the growing labor movement or new taxes. They are unaware that these changes are the results of circumstances, not the causes. The causes are much more basic: Hunger, not […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Chapter 14Summary and Analysis Chapter 13
Summary As the car turns westward onto the concrete highway, Al is alert for signs of possible breakdowns. He asks Ma if she is frightened of what lies ahead in California, and she replies that her thinking about the future would be too much. She has to take care of […]
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