Memorable Scene

In chapter 20 in The Grapes of Wrath, a group of children surround Ma while she makes stew for the family. The children crowd around Ma's stew because they have not eaten breakfast and are very hungry. Although her family does not have enough stew to eat, Ma decides to let the children have what is left of the pot after she dishes out portions. This scene reemphasizes the underlying theme of the book that the author presents in many ways. Through this scene, the author poignantly shows how humans help one another because they are of the same spirit.

Summary Chapters 17 Through 20

Chapter 17

As the migrant families continue on their journey to California, something very odd happens. At night all of the families camping together become one family with the same pain, joy, and rules. These rules remain unspoken, but are followed by everyone. For instance, if a person in the camp is starving, another family should not eat. These rules have social consequences if broken. However, the next day the families pack up like a circus and continue on the journey. Once again, Steinbeck is trying to show how the human spirit connects everyone.

Chapter 18

The Joads decide to stop and rest at the Colorado River before continuing on to California. While there, the men decide to go bathe while the women stay with Granma in the tent because she is very ill. While at the river, Noah confides to Tom that he will not be going with the family to California. Tom pleads for Noah to stay, but he refuses and simply walks down the river. After all, Noah says that a person cannot starve living by a river. Meanwhile, a Jehovite woman visits Ma and Rose of Sharon at the tent and offers to hold a meeting for Granma. However, Ma refuses because she says Granma is just tired from the journey and so does not need a meeting. A little while later, a police officer visits the women's tent, advising them to move out before nightfall or else. Ma then threatens to hit the office with a skillet after he disrespectfully calls her family "Okies." However, the family soon decides that they will cross the desert in order to avoid trouble. Unfortunately, Sairy is very sick so the Wilsons decide they will stay behind and face imprisonment rather than travel through the desert. After saying goodbye to the Wilsons, the Joads continue to California. On the way through the desert, the agricultural inspector stops the Joads. Hysterically, Ma pleads for the inspector to let the family pass, claiming Granma is sick and needs a hospital. After seeing the sick woman, the inspector lets them through. Upon reaching California, the Joads are struck by the state's beauty. However, Ma remains silent. Only after the family stops does Ma confess that Granma is dead and has been dead since before the agricultural inspector stopped the family. When asked why she did not tell anyone that Granma was dead, she only replies, "The fambly hadda get acrost." This shows just how much Ma loves her family.

Chapter 19
Unfortunately for the Joads, California is not what they dreamed. Large farms with few owners dominate a land where farming is an industry and no longer a passion. The large amount of destitute workers looking for a job keeps wages low and makes the few owners very rich. The migrants coming to California, however, are going hungry, while the rich land owners are well fed. The situation is treating to create riots and strikes, so the land owners make laws which the authorities enforce. Hoovervilles, or camps created by the unemployed migrant workers, are burned because they are "health hazards" and their occupants are kept moving about like nomads.

Chapter 20
When the family finally reaches California, they bury Granma and look for a place to camp. They stop in a Hooverville camp where Tom and Al soon meet a man named Floyd from a nearby tent. Floyd tries to explain the rules of California to the Joads, and especially warns them of the police's harsh treatment. After speaking with Floyd, Tom returns to Ma, whom he finds surrounded by children. Ma, who is trying to cook the family some stew, explains that the children have not had any breakfast. Eventually, she scoops out the stew for her family and leaves the pot outside the tent for the children to scrape. Inside the tent, Connie mopes because he wishes he and Rose of Sharon would have stayed home. Later, Connie leaves and will never return. Soon, a shiny car pulls into the middle of the camp. A contractor, along with a deputy, tells the people in the camp about work in Tulane. However, when Floyd questions the contractor's intentions, the deputy accuses Floyd of stealing parts from a nearby car lot and tries to arrest him. Floyd runs out of the camp. The deputy tries to shoot Floyd, but Tom trips him. Still shooting, the deputy hits a woman in the hand. Casy then kicks the man in the neck, knocking him unconscious. Casy then tells Tom to run away so he will not be sent back to prison because he broke his parole. Seeing no other option, Tom runs away and the police arrest Casy. The police also announce that they will burn Hooverville that night, so the family packs up and heads back on the road.

Summary Chapters 8 Through 16

Chapter 8
Chapter eight finds Tom and Casy walking towards Uncle John's farm where the rest of Tom's family resides. Uncle John is more than a little odd, mostly because he feels he killed his wife by not calling a doctor when she was sick. Now, he tries to staunch the feeling of guilt by giving away most of his possessions. When Tom and Casy finally reach the house, they decide it would be better to surprise the family and enter quietly. Old Tom Joad, or Pa, is the first individual the two men meet. Pleasantly surprised by the arrival of his son, Pa decides to help Tom surprise Ma as well. Ma is more than surprised to see her son, and "her joy was nearly like sorrow." As she fixes breakfast, the grandparents soon arrive. Grampa and Granma are quite a pair. Steinbeck describes Grampa as "mischievous," "cantankerous," and someone who "talked too much all too much all the time." Granma is also described a hellion, constantly yelling, "Pu-raise God fur vittory!" Tom's older brother Noah is also introduced in the story. Unfortunately, Noah is a bit slow because of a tragic mishap as a baby. Pa feels responsible for Noah's mental slowness, and feels terrible because of the accident. Late in the chapter, Steinbeck introduces one of Tom's younger brothers named Al. Al is sixteen and quite a smart-aleck. However, Al can repair cars and will become useful later in the book for doing just that.

Chapter 9
Before heading to California, families had to sell or burn many of their prized possessions. Chapter 9 documents the sorrow of the families selling their most important items to individuals at astoundingly low prices.

Chapter 10
The Joads also must sell most of their possessions before they begin their journey to California. After picking up Tom's pregnant sister Rose of Sharon and her husband Connie, the folks begin to pile their belongings onto the truck. Everyone helps, including the youngest children Ruthie and Winnefield. At this time, Jim Casy asks to go with the family. Even though Casy has nothing to give the family in return, they accept him and he becomes a part of the family. At first, Granpa is excited to go to California. He says he is going to get a big tub of grapes and "scrooge aroun', an' let the juice run down my pants." However, by the time the family has packed up the truck and decided to leave, Granpa has completely changed his mind. He tells Pa, "This here's my country. I b'long here." After refusing to leave with the rest of the family, Ma and Pa decide to put some "soothin' sirup" into Granpa's coffee and then forcefully take him to California. The plan works, and soon the family is on their way.

Chapter 11
John Steinbeck uses chapter 11 to describe the empty houses the tenant farmers left behind. He speaks of the wild animals that soon move into the house and how the once beloved house falls into disrepair.

Chapter 12
Chapter 12 tells the story of the main migrant road Highway 66. In this chapter, Steinbeck addresses some of the problems that face the migrants as they drive along the highway. He compares business to thievery through the conflicts facing an unnamed migrant family. "Fella in business got to lie an' cheat, but he calls it somepin else. That's what's important. You go steal that tire an' you're a thief, but he tried to steal your four dollars for a busted tire. They call that sound business," says one unnamed individual to another.

Chapter 13
This chapter begins as Al continues to drive the family car to California. The family soon discovers that they have forgotten their water and horrible thirst becomes a problem. The family stops at a gas station to use the restroom, get a drink, and refuel. While at the station, the family dog, who Uncle John failed to tie up, is run over by a speeding car. Graciously, the owner of the gas station, whom Casy and Tom had talked to, offers to clean up the remains and bury them in his field. Soon, everyone gets back into the truck, and the family moves closer to their destination. In the meantime, Ma worries about Tom, who will be breaking his parole as soon as he crosses the state line. Tom tells Ma to quit worrying, saying, "We got plenty to worry about 'thout you figgerin' out things to worry about." At sunset, the family truck pulls up along another party of people moving west. The Wilsons are from Kansas and are looking for work just like the Joad family. Grampa, who is found to be sick, is laid in Sairy Wilson's tent while the rest talk. However, Grampa ends up having a stroke and dying right in Sairy's tent, making the bond between the Wilsons and the Joads very strong. They bury Grampa in Sairy's quilt, and have a short funeral led by Casy. In exchange, Al Joad offers to fix the Wilsons' truck and the two families agree to travel together to California.

Chapter 14
John Steinbeck uses chapter 14 to describe the causes and the results of the depression. He also uses this chapter to describe how humans interact on the "we" level verses the "I" level.

Chapter 15
Chapter 15 describes a hamburger stand along Route 66 during the Great Depression. At this particular stand, Mae is the contact, or the waitress, while Al works in the back cooking the food. Mae is particularly fond of the truck drivers that give the stand regular business while she despises the migrants that stop. In this particular scene, two truck drivers stop and eat at the restaurant. Mae is very nice to the men, and everything seems nice until a migrant man and his sons come in to buy a loaf of bread. At first Mae is very reluctant to sell the loaf to the family. Finally, by the urging of Al, Mae sells the loaf of bread to the family for ten cents. Mae also softens and sells the family two pieces of nickle candy for a penny. Steinbeck uses this chapter to show that although migrant families were usually treated very poorly, some people did show kindness to them and help them in their need.

Chapter 16
Once again the Joads and the Wilsons find themselves on the road to California. To pass the time, Rose of Sharon tells her mother about the plans that she and Connie have made once they reach their destination. According to Rose of Sharon, Connie is going to study nights and maybe someday have a store. Just then, the family truck starts making noises. The con-rod bearing goes out, and the family is forced into a cataclysmic decision. Tom and Al volunteer to stay behind and get work in order to fix the truck while the rest of the family continues to California with the Wilsons. However, Ma insists that the family will not be broken apart. When Ma stands up to Pa with a jack handle and threatens to hit anyone that splits the family, she becomes the new leader of the family. Al, Tom, and Casy decide that they will stay behind and fix the car while the family camps up the road. After the rest of the family leaves, Al and Tom decide to walk to a service station to get the parts for the truck while Casy stays behind and watches the car. When Tom and Al finally arrive at the parts store, they meet a man with one eye. Because his boss is out of town, the man gives the parts to them for free. However, the one-eyed man continues to feel sorry for himself until Tom tells him the story of the one-legged prostitute who charged more. After Tom and Al get the parts they need, they return to the car. After fixing the car that night, they catch up to the family at a campground. Tom, however, refuses to pay the fifty cents to stay at the campground and decides that he will sleep out in the car. Before going to bed, the family speaks to a ragged stranger that has startling news. The stranger says there is little work in California. In fact, the stranger says he is going back home because his wife and two sons starved in California. Although worried about the situation, the family goes to sleep.