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.