Grapes of Wrath Quotes Chapters 1 - 13

for mock exam

"The women studied the men's faces secretly”

women reacting to men

"The men sat still - thinking - figuring."

men are in charge of how to deal with the dustbowl

"sometimes a guy'll be a good guy even if some rich bastard makes him carry a sticker."

Tom Joad manipulating the lorry driver

‘…spearhead seeds stuck in the ground…its shell dragged dirt over them.’

brutal imagery of farming?

" there ain't no sin and there ain't no virtue.”

Jim Casy, there’s no morality / religion anymore

Banks "breathe profits; they eat interest on money. If they don't get it, they die the way you die without air, without side-meat."

corporations are only driven by money

"Salesmen, neat, deadly, small intent eyes watching for weakness."

manipulative, heartless capitalists

"Pur-raise Gawd fur vittory!"

Granma and Granpa see Tom when he gets back from prison

"Gonna get me a whole big bunch of grapes off a bush, … I'm gonna squash 'em on my face an' let 'em run offen my chin."

Grampa’s indulgence for when they arrive at California

‘the citadel of the family, the stronghold place that could not be taken.’

the strength of their familial bond

‘it was her habit to build up laughter out of inadequate materials.’

Ma Joad taking care of emotional well-being

‘if she swayed, the family shook’

Ma is the crux of the Joads

"You're not buying only junk, you're buying junked lives."

families selling their goods for v little; whose buying them anyhow? They are just prolonging their inevitable departure

‘Never cold. An’ fruit ever’ place, an’ people just bein’ in the nicest places, little white houses in among the orange trees.’

idyllic idea of Californian houses

“They’s too much of it to do to split it up into men’s or women’s work.”

Jim Casy helping and resisting gendered work

"It ain't kin we? It's will we”

Ma Joad being a voice of intellect and reason; she allows Casy to join the family, and her opinion is respected

"This here is my country. I b'long here. "

Grandpa doesn’t want to leave Oklahoma, he is intrinsically linked to the land

"The machine man, driving the dead tractor on land he does not know and love, understands only chemistry."

Tennant workers have a much more emotional connection to the land, makes their departure more heart breaking

"Grampa didn't die tonight. He died the minute you took 'm off the place."

a part of Grampa was woven into the land