Grapes of Wrath pgs. 373 - 455

The Joads have been in the government for over a month now. Their supplies and food are starting to run low, and there isn't much work. Ma Joad convinces the family to leave the camp. On their way out of the camp, they get a flat tire. While they're fixing it, a man drives up and offers the whole family a ob picking peaches. Desperate for food, they accept. They later learn they'll only get five cents an hour and that night their total earnings combined is one dollar. The family spends it all on food and still goes hungry that night. Afterwards, Tom goes out looking for girls. He's turned away by the guards at the gate of the orchard field when he tries to come back because men have been on strike and they think he's part of it. He goes wandering and finds a tent with Jim Casey in it. He tells them that the men are on strike because the man that hired them cut the wages to two and a half cents and that will happen to Tom's family tomorrow. Some police come by and start calling Jim a communist for leading the strike. He jumps on the policeman but the po-po clubs Jim in the head and kills him. Tom, in rage, takes the club and kills the policeman. He goes back to the orchard and gets the family to leave. They find work elsewhere picking cotton. Workers without cotton bags are forced to buy them on credit.

The Joads are given a boxcar to live in but they share it with another family, the Wainwrights.

Ruthie gets some candy and brags that her brother killed two people. Ma runs to the woods where Tom is hiding to tell him people know about him. She suggests that he leaves but he decides to stay. Al and Agnes Wainwright plan to be married. They go out to pick the next day. There are so many workers that the whole field is finished by noon. They glumly go back to the boxcar when it starts to do what it hasn't done in months and months. Rain.

The rain continues to fall and Rose goes into labor. The truck is flooded and some men try to make a make-shift dam. A tree falls and destroys it though. They seek higher ground and find a barn. Inside it, there's a small boy and a dying man. The man has been giving all the food to the boy for the past six days. His body can't digest hard food. Rose knows what she has to do and she breast-feeds the man. The last sentence of the book says she she smiled.

This was a great, historical book that showed a families difficult journey. The one thing I didn't like was how abruptly it ended. She just breast-feeds the man and it ends. I need a little closure.

Awesome Freerun Video

It would be really fun to be able to do some of the things in this video.

Grapes of Wrath pgs. 325 - 372

Chapter 23 starts by talking about how the migrants came together and started to make music and folktales.
There is a camp dance being planned and a few men are planning to riot on the same night. Ezra Hutson has people watch for any sign of the riot. Rose goes to the dance but doesn't dance because she is worried about what the religious lady told her about pregnant mother who dance. Tom is looking out for the riot when he sees three men trying to cause trouble. They are evicted from the camp but they tell everyone that they were paid to start the riot. They were paid by a large company to try and get the migrants out of California. They start a union against the company and march through the town with rifles. There hasn't been a problem since.
California is starting to wither the same way Oklahoma was. Farmers watch there plants wither and their debts rise.

The Grapes of Wrath pgs. 273 - 324

The Joads come across a government run camp. The migrants govern themselves and aren't harassed by police officers. They have breakfast with two nice people named Tim and Wilkie Wallace. They take Tom to a ranch where they think they can get him a job. The owner, Mr. Thomas, is require to pay them no more than twenty-five cents an hour. He says he knows that they deserve more but it would only cause unrest. The rest of the Joad men go job hunting during the days. Ma meets the camp manager who is extremely nice to her and makes her fell human again. Mrs. Sandry, a religious fanatic, tells Rose to avoid dancing and sinning or her baby will be born bloody and dead. Tom is hired but none of the other men get jobs unfortunately.

This book has been very descriptive, and I respect that. However, the descriptions can get too lengthy and I'm starting to lose interest. If the book would pick up the speed I think I would enjoy it much more.

The Grapes of Wrath pgs. 203 - 272

After days of traveling, the Joads and Wilsons arrive in California. Although they still have miles to go to get to the green fields they've been expecting. They meet a man and his son who are leaving f because they were unable to make a living there. They disregard this and continue on their trip. Noah announces that he's going to stay by river and make a living fishing. That night he runs away. Grandma has been doing poorly since Grandpa died. She's in the back of the truck hallucinating when policemen tell them they have to keep moving. They are then stopped later by police for a agriculture inspection. Ma realizes Grandma has been dead for a while. She lays with the body all night, saying how the family is falling apart.

Chapter 19 describes how Americans in California forced Mexicans out and now they are angry that the "Okies" are taking "their"land from them. In a way, the wealthy farmers of California are getting a taste of their own medicine.

The Joads settle in a "Hooverville" with many other families. A young man named Floyd tells them that if they have to talk to a cop, convince them that you are mentally handicapped. This keeps them from bothering you. He explains why no one can revolt against the landowners. Anyone who starts talking about that is blacklisted and will not find work in the state of California ever. Ma makes some soup and feeds her own family first. Afterwards, hungry children fight over the leftovers. A fight breaks out between some men and a police officer. Tom knocks him out but Casy decides to take the blame and is arrested.

They leave the Hooverville and head further into California. The come across men on a road with shotguns blocking their way. They are dedicated to "keeping Okies out". The hatred for immigrants bring them all together and landowners are starting to fear their numbers.

The Grapes of Wrath pgs. 150 - 202

The couple of cars on the highway starts to turn into a heavy flood of what seems like every car in the world heading toward California. A waitress and cook named Mae and Al own a small restaurant off of Route 66. They watch as car after car pass their store. Two truckers come in and are friendly enough to Mae. She looks forward to truckers because they always tip the most. They are making small talk when a man with two young boys comes in and asks to buy a loaf of bread for ten cents. She tries to brush him off saying that she'd have to charge more. Al grunts at her to sell the bread to the man. While doing this she sees the boys eyeing some candy that goes for five cents a piece. She sells the man two of them for just a penny. The truckers witnessing this kindness tip Mae extra.

Back to the Joads' family, they have been traveling for three days when Rose says that she and Connie plan on moving into the city so they can run their own business. Ma Joads doesn't like this and scolds the idea of splitting up the family. The Wilson's car breaks down and they all stop to fix it. Al and Tom go into a town to find a mechanic who complains a lot and barely wants to help. Meanwhile, at the camp Pa tells a man he is going to California for work and the man informs him that he's already been there and there's no jobs left. This worries Pa but they decide to keep going. As people traveled, they formed groups and twenty families would come together to make one giant family with their own codes and rules.

Tuesday In-Class Blog

Pharrell Williams' house in Miami conveys a sense of paradise. His house is beautiful with open spaces to look out across the ocean. The spiral staircase is my favorite part of this house. It leads up to a loft on top of the house. The color theme is white which makes it appear even brighter. The odd-shaped pool is abstract and unique. There's also a porch on top of the house for sun bathing.

The Grapes of Wrath pgs. 90 - 149

Tom's mother is reluctant about leaving for California but her father convinces her it will be wonderful. He talks about eating grapes, which must have something to do with the title of the novel. Pa Joads goes into town to sell a few useless items that they won't be taking with them on their journey. He comes back with just eighteen dollars. They have a family meeting and decide to let Casy come with them. Tom's older sister and her husband come home and are going with them also. She is expecting a child soon.

Chapter 11 talks about how farmer's left in Oklahoma still plow the dead land as if in a trance due to how much they have lost.

Highway 66 is full of other cars with different tenant farmer's also making their way to California. The narration is of random farmers traveling. They talk about salesmen cheating them and the difficulty of leaving everything behind. They also bring up how it is a struggle to get from one service station to the next without their cars breaking down. Al seems to know a bit about cars and drives the family along the highway. He listens to the engine for any sounds that might indicate a future breakdown. At a gas station, Al is arguing with a pump assistant when their dog is hit by a car and killed. They bury him and head for Oklahoma City. No one in the family has seen a city so huge before. As they leave the city they pull over and camp on the side of the road. Grandpa Joads is starting to get sick. The family meets Ivy Wilson and his wife. They offer their tent to the old man for the night. He dies from a stroke in his sleep. They give him an improvised funeral and decide it would be everyone's benefit to travel with the Wilson's the rest of the way.

The Grapes of Wrath pgs. 41 - 89

(Above: Picture from the film, "Grapes of Wrath" based on the book)

Casy and Tom soon find another friend, Muley. He explains how a large company bought all the land and kicked the tenant farmers out. Muley is picking cotton to save up for a car to move to California. Next, a car's salesman is on the radio talking about moving to the West.

The three men make their way to Tom's Uncle John's house. Tom reunited with his family, they are afraid he's broken out or gone crazy. Tom assures them he has done neither. Tom has four siblings, but the only one around is Al. Al admires Tom very much.

Chapter 9 explains how the tenants work and how the farmers were kicked out.

I'm starting to a pattern that every other chapter is either narration or random descriptions of the history or the setting.