The Grapes of Wrath – Summary of Chapters 1/3

Ch. Location Summaries Quotes

1 Oklahoma Desc° of the Dust Bowl. • "The surface of the earth crusted, a thin hard crust, and as the sky became pale,
so the earth became pale, pink in the red country and white in the gray country"
2 Oklahoma Tom Joad out of prison; meeting with truck driver. • Driver: "a cat"; "tractored out"
3 ? Story of the turtle. •
4 Oklahoma Tom finds a turtle; Tom meets Jim Casy, former preacher; Tom talks abt prison • Casy: "There ain't no sin and there ain't no virtue. There's just stuff people do.
life; Casy explains why he's not preaching anymore; they both go to Tom's It's all part of the same thing."
parents' house, it's empty.
5 Oklahoma? Banks/landowners evict tenant farmers; bank as faceless, inhuman monsters; • The system has put everyone in "something larger than themselves"
farmers powerless; tractors plowing properties even houses.
6 Sallisaw Tom & Casy find the house unscavenged: neighbors must have left too; Muley • Casy: "You shoudn't of broke up the fambly"
Graves tells them of the situation: he has stayed behind, the Joads are at Uncle
John's and prepare to leave for California; police patrol comes, they hide.
7 Oklahoma? A used-car salesman explains how to cheat all the leaving families.
8 Sallisaw Story of Uncle John related by Tom; Tom & Casy find Ma and Pa, Grampa and • Tom: "I let stuff run off'n me"
Granma, Noah and later Uncle John, Ruthie, Winfield, Al; some worries over Tom • Ma as the "citadel"
(has he escaped? Has he turned mad?); prayer of Casy at breakfast; truck bought • Casy: "When they're all workin' together, not one fella for another fella, but one
for the trip. fella kind of harnessed to the whole shebang […] that's holy."
• Casy's grace at breakfast:"I got thinkin' how we was holy when we was one
thing, an' mankin' was holy when it was one thing. An' it on'y got unholy when
one mis'able fella got the bit in his teeth an' run off his own way, kickin' an'
draggin' an' fightin'. Fella like that bust the holiness. But when they're all workin'
together, not one fella for another fella, but one fella kinda harnessed to the
whole she-bang – that's right, that's holy."
9 Route 66 Gal pt of view of all families leaving for California; oblig° to sell evrthg they cannot • Farmer to pawnbroker: "You cut us down, and soon you will be cut down and
take for a few pennies; pawnbrokers cheating them. there'll be none of us to save you."
10 Sallisaw Tom and Ma discuss California  dream of a promised land; Pa returns from
selling stuff with only a few bucks; the Joads decide to take Casy with them;
salting of pork; Rose of Sharon and Connie arrive; when they are abt to leave,
Grampa wants to stay so they drug him
11 Route 66 The new workers of the land don't have the same connect° w/ the land as farmers • "deep understanding of the land"
do; the men's understanding of the land is dead.
12 Route 66 Lines of car on highway 66; ≠ pts of view; farmers still crooked; suspicion of • "strange things happen… some bitterly cruel and some beautiful that faith is
others; but some hope in some beautiful acts of generosity. refired forever"
• "there ain't room enough for you an' me, for your kind an' my kind, for rich and
poor together in one country"
13 Sallisaw Al drives dutifully; he asks Ma if she's optimistic abt Calif., she says she doesn't • Capitalism as "ritualized thievery"
 Paden (dog) know; stop at service station; attendant afraid they can't pay; the place is poor
 Oklahoma City too; dog hit and dies  first fears of RoS abt her baby; Oklahoma City scare the
little ones; camp out of the city; meeting w/ the Wilsons; Grampa has a stroke &
dies; they illegally bury him there, Casy saying a prayer; the Joads and Wilsons
decide to go together.
14 California Pt of view of people in the West, afraid of the flood of people coming from the • "The last clear definite function of man – muscles aching to work, minds aching
East; afraid of a revolt. to create beyond the single need – this is man. To build a wall, to build a house, a
dam, and in the wall and house and dam to put something of Manself, and to
Manself take back something of the wall, the house, the dam; to take hard
muscles from the lifting, to take clear lines and form from conceiving. For man,
unlike any other thing organic or inorganic in the universe, grows beyond his
work, walks up the stairs of his concepts, emerges ahead of his
The Grapes of Wrath – Summary of Chapters 2/3

accomplishments.
15 Route 66 Mae and Al in a coffee shop on Route 66; Mae thinks travellers are thieves &
prefers truck drivers (bigger tips); a man enters with 2 kids to buy bread, he
refuses, Al insists, she accepts & sells them candy for almost nothing; drivers give
her extra-large tip.  // a parable
16 Oklahoma City The two families travel for 2 days; RoS & Connie want to live in town  fear of • "the highway became their home and movement their medium of expression"
 Amarillo man of the family breaking down; the Wilsons' car breaks down; Tom & Al go to
 Santa Rosa find parts in Santa Rosa; meeting with the car lot attendant; Pa meets a man
coming back from Calif. telling him his family starved to death & that the
handbills are + or – a lie; Casy says they might have a ≠ experience.
17 Route 66 The lives of farmers change; they become a community on the road, w/ its own • "twenty families became one family" "the loss of home became one loss, and the
rules; they are no longer farmers but migrants. golden time in the West was one dream"
18 Santa Rosa They arrive at the Calif. border and stop by a river; Sairy Wilson is sick & Granma • "Okies", ranchers with "million acres"
 Flagstaff too; meeting w/ another man w/ his son returning from the West telling them of
 Topock the hostility towards "Okies"; Tom goes to have a bath; Noah decides to leave; a
 through policeman asks the Joads to move on (Ma chases him w/ a cast-iron frying pan
Mojave Desert because he called her Okie, she doesn't want Tom to touch her lest she fall apart);
they are to cross the Mojave desert by night; the Wilsons stay behind; agrial
inspect° stop them & Ma asks them to let them pass > Granma's state; in fact
she's been dead for a while.
19 California History of Calif.: a land taken over by squatters who then became rich men afraid
of other squatters & protecting their wealth from them w/ low wages, they're
afraid of a revolt though; the migrants just want some unused piece of land to
sustain their family  story of the man who planted a few vegs in a fallow field.
20 Mojave Desert Granma's body left at a coroner's office; view of Calif. valleys; they arrive at • Act "bull-simple", label you a "red",
 Bakersfield Hooverville; Connie says he wished they had stayed in Oklahoma (& will soon
 Hooverville leave the Joads); Ma prepares food in front of hungry kids; meeting w/ Floyd
 Bakersfield Knowles explaining to Tom that he should pretend to be an idiot when in front of
a policeman to avoid trouble; discuss° on why not uniting (risk of being
blacklisted); arrival of a contractor recruiting, Knowles asks for the contract & set
wages, police deputy called, fight (woman hurt, Knowles flees, Tom knocks over
the deputy); Casy takes the blame & goes to prison; Uncle John distraught & goes
to drink; Tom knocks him down too & the Joads flee the soon burning camp;
meet w/ angry vigilante, Tom boils up but doesn't do anything, Ma is proud of
him; they move along.
21 California Hostility twds the migrants brings them together; landowners still more afraid; • "the flare of want in the eyes of the migrants"
small Calif. farmers put out of business too; gps of Calif. to attack the migrants.
22 Weedpatch Camp Arrival at the Weedpatch camp at night; discovery of the way the camp works (run • Ma after meeting with camp manager: "that police. He done somepin to me,
(outside by workers themselves); Tom goes to find work thanks to Timothy and Wilkie made me feel mean […] ashamed. An' now I ain't ashamed […] Why I feel like
Bakersfield) Wallace at Mr Thomas's who warns of the intended action on the camp on people again"
Saturday night; Ma meets the manager; RoS meets Mrs Sandry who tells her • Mr Thomas: to pay more would "only cause unrest" – "red agitators"
dancing is sin  scared for the baby; Ma & RoS meet the Ladies Committee; Pa, Al • Mrs Sandry: sins will cause the baby to be born "dead and bloody"
& Uncle John go to find work but return w/ none. • Ma to R o S: "you're jest one person, an' they's lot of other folks"
• At the Weedpatch camp, Ma about the way she's been treated on the road:
• "We're Joads. We don't look up to anybody. Grampa's grampa, he fit in the
Revolution. We was farm people till the debt. And then – them people. They done
somepin to us. Ever' time they come seemed like they was a-whippin' me – all of
us. An' in Needles, that police. He done somepin to me, made me feel mean.
Made me feel ashamed. These folks is our folks – is our folks. An' that manager,
he come an' set an' drank coffee, an' he says, 'Mrs Joad' this, an' 'Mrs Joad' that –
The Grapes of Wrath – Summary of Chapters 3/3

an' 'How you getting' on, Mrs Joad?'' She stopped and sighed. 'Why, I feel like
people again.'"
23 California How migrants entertain themselves (music, folktales, sometimes alcohol);
preachers to offer salvation.
24 Weedpatch Camp Night of the dance; men stationed ard the camp to avoid the intended riot
properly & legally; RoS sits by the dance; Tom & the men spot the troublemakers
& evict them (they've been well-paid for this); later that night, tale of the
mountain men hired in a rubber co. who joined a union, the town people wanted
them out but mountain men marched through town w/ their rifles supposedly for
a hunt  no pb ever since.
25 California Beautiful spring in Calif.; but small farmers watch their products wither > they are • "In the souls of the people, the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy,
put out of business by big landowners; the vine goes bad & anger spreads in the growing heavy for the vintage"
land.
26 Weedpatch Camp After a month, the Joads don't have enough to live anymore so they must leave • Pa wants to put Ma in her "proper place"
 Hooper Ranch the gvt camp; a man says there's work picking peaches not far; shouts on the • Ma to Pa: "You ain't a-doin' your job […] If you was, why, you could use your
(outside Pixley) roadside as they enter the farm; all the family works for 1 day and only get 1$; at stick, an' women folks'd sniffle their nose and creep-mouse aroun'"
 Box Car Camp night Tom goes to see the shouters: men on strike & Casy is there; Casy is now
(outside Pixley) completely involved in helping workers; policemen come, one hits Casy w/ a
pick-handle & kills him; Tom strikes back & kills the policeman; Tom is hurt but
manages to flee, goes to his family; he wants to leave them but Ma insists they
stay together so they leave the farm to go & pick cotton; Tom hides in a culvert
and Ma brings him food.
27 California Cotton picking is advertised evrwhr but pickers barely manage to pay for the
sack; owners cheat them on the scales; pickers cheat owners by putting stones in
the sack; all said in the rough native lg of the pickers.
28 Box Car Camp Cotton fields work alright, the family is earning a bit a money agn; they live in a • Tom says goodbye to Ma and tells her about Casy's philosophy that human
boxcar they share w/ another family, the Wainwrights; Ruthie lets out Tom's connection is more important than land connection:
secret; Ma goes to ask him to leave; news of a field of cotton to pick; Al • "Says one time he went out in the wilderness to find his own soul, an' he foun'
announces he's going to marry Agnes Wainwright; the 2 families celebrate & go to he didn't have no soul that was his'n. Says he foun' he jus' got a little piece of a
work in the field the next day; when they come back it starts raining.. great big soul. Says a wilderness ain't no good, 'cause his little piece of a soul
wasn't no good 'less it was with the rest, an' was whole."
• Tom also tells Ma what he's about to do and that she shouldn't be afraid for
him:
• "Wherever they's a fight so hungry people can eat, I'll be there. Wherever they's
a cop beatin' up a guy, I'll be there. If Casy knowed, why, I'll be in the way guys
yell when they're mad an' – I'll be in the way kids laugh when they're hungry n'
they know supper's ready. An' when our folks eat the stuff they raise an' live in
the houses they build – why I'll be there? See? God, I'm talkin' like Casy. Comes of
thinkin' about him so much. Seems like I can see him sometimes."
29 California Desc° of the deluge; men forced to beg or steal food; floods evrwhr; women • Women know their men will remain strong "as long as fear [can] turn to wrath"
afraid they might break, if so, they will lose their anger and thus dignity.
30 Box Car Camp Rain keeps pouring; 3rd day RoS, sick, goes into labor; truck flooded; necessity to • Uncle John: "Go down an' tell 'em. Go down in the street an' rot an' tell 'em that
keep in the boxcar; constr° of a dam by the men; a tree falls on it; Pa returns to way. That's the way you can talk"
the boxcar to learn that RoS's baby was stillborn; Uncle John is sent to bury the
child but decides to let it flow on the water to the city; 6th day of flood, Ma
decides the family must move; Al decides to stay with the Wainwrights; on foot,
the Joads arrive at a barn where they find a dying man & his son; Ma looks at RoS
who understands her; she asks evrone to go out while she feeds the man w/ her
milk.