shows them a newspaper, which has a story about a band of citizens who burn
a squatters' camp, infuriated by presumed communist agitation, and warns
them about the dance at the government camp on Saturday night. There will
be a fight in the camp so that the deputies can go in. The Farmers'
Association dislikes the government camps because the people in the camps
become used to being treated humanely and are thus harder to handle. Tom
and the Wallaces vow to make sure that there won't be a fight.
While they work, Wilkie tells Tom that the complaints about agitators are
false. According to the rich owners, any person who wants thirty cents an
hour instead of twenty-five is a red. Back at the camp, Ruthie and Winfield
explore the camp, and are fascinated by the toilets they are frightened by
the flushing sound. Ma Joad makes the rest of the family clean themselves
up before the Ladies Committee comes to visit her. Jim Rawley, the camp
manager, introduces himself to the Joads and tells them some of the
features of the camp. Rose of Sharon goes to take a bath, and learns that a
nurse visits the camp every week and can help her deliver the baby when it
is time. Ma remarks that she no longer feels ashamed, as she had when they
were constantly harassed by the police. Lisbeth Sandry, a religious zealot,
speaks with Rose of Sharon about the alleged sin that goes on during the
dances, and complains about people putting on stage plays, which she calls
Њsin and delusion and devil stuff.' The woman even blames playacting for a
mother dropping her child. Rose of Sharon becomes frightened upon hearing
this, fearing that she will drop her child. Jessie Bullitt, the head of the
Ladies Committee, gives Ma Joad a tour of the camp and explains some of the
problems. Jessie bickers with Ella Summers, the previous committee head.
The children play and bicker. Pa comforts Uncle John, who still wants to
leave, thinking that he will bring the family punishment. Ma Joad confronts
Lisbeth Sandry for frightening Rose and for preaching that every action is
sinful. Ma becomes depressed about all of the losses Granma and Grampa,
John and Connie because she now has leisure time to think about such
things.
Chapter Twenty-Three: The migrant workers looked for amusement wherever
they could find it, whether in jokes or stories for amusement. They told
stories of heroism in taming the land against the Indians, or about a rich
man who pretended to be poor and fell in love with a rich woman who was
also pretending to be poor. The workers took small pleasures in playing the
harmonica or a more precious guitar or fiddle, or even in getting drunk.
Chapter Twenty-Four: The rumors that the police were going to break up the
dance reached the camp. According to Ezra Huston, the chairman of the
Central Committee, this is a frequent tactic that the police use. Huston
tells Willie Eaton, the head of the entertainment committee, that if he
must hit a deputy, do so where they won't bleed. The camp members say that
the Californians hate them because the migrants might draw relief without
paying income tax, but they refute this, claiming that they pay sales tax
and tobacco tax. At the dance, Willie Eaton approaches Tom and tells him
where to watch for intruders. Ma comforts Rose of Sharon, who is depressed
about Connie. Tom finds the intruders at the dance, but the intruders begin
a fight and immediately the police enter the camp. Huston confronts the
police about the intruders, asking who paid them. They only admit that they
have to make money somehow. Once the problem is defused, the dance goes on
without any problems.
Chapter Twenty-Five: Spring is beautiful in California, for behind the
fruitfulness of the trees in the orchards are men of understanding who
experiment with the seeds and crops to defend them against insects and
disease. Yet the fruits become rotten and soft. The rotten grapes are still
used for wine, even if contaminated with mildew and formic acid. The
rationale is that it is good enough for the poor to get drunk. The decay of
the fruit spreads over the state. The men who have created the new fruits
cannot create a system whereby the fruits may be eaten. There is a crime
here that goes beyond denunciation, a sorrow that weeping cannot symbolize.
Children must die from pellagra because the profft cannot be taken from an
orange.
Chapter Twenty-Six: One evening, Ma Joad watches Winfield as he sleeps; he
writhes as he sleeps, and he seems discolored. In the month that the Joads
have been in Weedpatch, Tom has had only five days of work, and the rest of
the men have had none. Ma worries because Rose of Sharon is close to
delivering her baby. Ma reprimands them for becoming discouraged. She tells
them that in such circumstances they don't have the right. Pa fears that
they will have to leave Weedpatch. When Tom mentions work in Marysville, Ma
decides that they will go there, for despite the accommodations at
Weedpatch, they have no opportunity to make money. They plan to go north,
where the cotton will soon be ready for harvest. Regarding Ma Joad's
forceful control of the family, Pa remarks that women seem to be in
control, and it may be time to get out a stick. Ma hears this, and tells
him that she is doing her job as wife, but he certainly isn't doing his job
as husband. Rose of Sharon complains that if Connie hadn't left they would
have had a house by now. Ma pierces Rose of Sharon's ears so that she can
wear small gold earrings. Al parts ways with a blonde girl that he has been
seeing; she rejects his promises that they will eventually get married. He
promises her that he'll return soon, but she does not believe him. Pa
remarks that he only notices that he stinks now that he takes regular
baths. Before they leave, Willie remarks that the deputies don't bother the
residents of Weedpatch because they are united, and that their solution may
be a union.
The car starts to break down as the Joads leave Al has let the battery run
down but he fixes the problem and they continue on their way. Al is
irritable as they leave. He says that he's going out on his own soon to
start a family. On the road, they get a flat tire. While Tom fixes the
tire, a businessman stops in his car and offers them a job picking peaches
forty miles north. They reach the ranch at Pixley where they are to pick
oranges for five cents a box. Even the women and children can do the job.
Ruthie and Winfield worry about settling down in the area and going to
school in California. They assume that everyone will call them Okies. At
the nearby grocery store owned by Hooper Ranch, Ma finds that the prices
are much higher than they would be at the store in town. The sales clerk
lends Ma ten cents for sugar. She tells him that it is only poor people who
will help out. That night, Tom goes for a walk, but a deputy tells him to
walk back to the cabin at the ranch. The deputy claims that if Tom is
alone, the reds will get to him.
While continuing on his walk, Tom finds Casy, who has been released from
jail. He is with a group of men that are on strike. Casy claims that people
who strive for justice always face opposition, citing Lincoln and
Washington, as well as the martyrs of the French Revolution. Casy, Tom and
the rest of the strikers are confronted by the police. A short, heavy man
with a white pick handle swings it at Casy, hitting him in the head. Tom
fights with the man, and eventually wrenches the club from him and strikes
him with it, killing him. Tom immediately fled the scene, crawling through
a stream to get back to the cabin. He cannot sleep that night, and in the
morning tells Ma that he has to hide. He tells her that he was spotted, and
warns his family that they are breaking the strike they are getting five
cents a box only because of this, and today may only get half that amount.
When Tom tells Ma that he is going to leave that night, she tells him that
they aren't a family anymore: Al cares about nothing more than girls, Uncle
John is only dragging along, Pa has lost his place as the head of the
family, and the children are becoming unruly. Rose of Sharon screams at Tom
for murdering the man she thinks that his sin will doom her baby. After a
day of work, Winfield becomes extremely sick from eating peaches. Uncle
John tells Tom that when the police catch him, there will be a lynching.
Tom insists that he must leave, but Ma insists that they leave as a family.
They hide Tom as they leave, taking the back roads to avoid police.
Chapter Twenty-Seven: Those who want to pick cotton must first purchase a
bag before they can make money. The men who weigh the cotton fix the scales
to cheat the workers. The introduction of a cotton-picking machine seems
inevitable.
Chapter Twenty-Eight: The Joads now stay in a boxcar that stood beside the
stream, a small home that proved better than anything except for the
government camp. They were now picking cotton. Winfield tells Ma that
Ruthie told about Tom she got into an argument with some other kids, and
told them that her brother was on the run for committing murder. Ruthie
returns to Ma, crying that the kids stole her Cracker Jack the reason that
she threatened them by telling about Tom but Ma tells her that it was her
own fault for showing off her candy to others. That night, in the pitch
black, Ma Joad goes out into the woods and finds Tom, who has been hiding
out there. She crawls close to him and wants to touch him to remember what
he looked like. She wants to give him seven dollars to take the bus and get
away. He tells her that he has been thinking about Casy, and remembered how
Casy said that he went out into the woods searching for his soul, but only
found that he had no individual soul, but rather part of a larger one. Tom
has been wondering why people can't work together for their living, and
vows to do what Casy had done. He leaves, but promises to return to the
Страницы: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60
