I liked chapter 15 in the Grapes of Wrath. It really shows the culture of the Dust Bowl middle class, and how they helped each other, even when they ccouldn't afford to. One of the themes that I identified was the need for each other in this culture. The tuckers needed the coffee and the company of Mae. The poor traveling family needed the water and bread. Mae and Al needed the buisness. the money they lost with the poor family was made up by the money they got by the truckers. Through it all, none of them wanted the others charity, even though they desperatly needed it. This shows the pride and determination they all possesed. My favorite part of this chapter was the last passage
"'Oh, a cup of Java. What kinda pie ya got?'
'Pineapple cream an' bananna cream an' chocolate cream an' apple.'
'Give me apple. No, wait--whats that big thick one?'
Mae picked up the pie and smelled it. 'Pineapple cream,' she said.
'Well, chop out a hunk a that.'
the cars whizzed by on 66."
This passage, nearly identical to the one earlier in the chapter ques you in on the harsh but simple, pleasant, and neccesary redundancy of their lives. It also is a very artistic close to the chapter.
I thought that was really ironic because the travelers were playing her by trying to get bread, but then she was playing her customers to try and sell the pie.
ReplyDeleteThis just goes to show how determined most people where to make it to California on their own, and pay for as much of their stuff as they could, they where very prideful I think and they didn't want to take charity.
ReplyDelete