The Grapes of Wrath California Quotes

Why don’t you go on west to California? There’s work there, and it never gets cold. Why, you can reach out anywhere and pick an orange. Why, there’s always some kind of crop to work in.

– John Steinbeck

The Grapes of Wrath, Chapter 5. The landowner, who has come to evict the tenant family from their home and farm, suggests that they travel to the Promised Land of California. The Golden State becomes the go-to destination for hundreds of thousands of migrants fleeing the misery of the Dust Bowl. But the promise of a better life turns out to be a false one, there aren’t enough jobs for all the unemployed migrants who overcrowd California.

"If on’y they didn’t tell me I got to get off, why, I’d prob’y be in California right now a-eatin’ grapes an’ a-pickin’ an orange when I wanted. But them sons-a-bitches says I got to get off – an’, Jesus Christ, a man can’t, when he’s tol’ to!"

– John Steinbeck

The Grapes of Wrath, Chapter 6. An angry Muley Graves reveals that the only reason he is not in California with his family is because he won’t told what to do. The landowners told him to leave, so he showed his resistance by staying. Muley is the classic example of a stubborn person, choosing dignity and resistance over what others would see as pragmatism. He is the solitary one among all the evicted tenant farmers who remains behind.

Joe, did you know you was talkin’ to pikers?
I ain’t a piker. I got to get a car. We’re goin’ to California. I got to get a car.
Well, I’m a sucker. Joe says I’m a sucker. Says if I don’t quit givin’ my shirt away I’ll starve to death.

– John Steinbeck

The Grapes of Wrath, Chapter 7. There are many important themes in play here: the American Dream, California, money and starvation. Steinbeck also makes great use of irony. The used car lot owner is having a go at one of his customers, labeling him stingy and tight-fisted – a piker! He is trying hard to manipulate him into buying one of his defective, over-priced used cars. The customer wants to get to California which he believes to be an earthly paradise – the American Dream! The salesman engages in a bit of oversell, saying that he is a sucker who is loving his shirt. The irony is that it is the customers he is trying to sucker and steal their shirts.

Soften ’em up, Joe. Jesus, I wisht I had a thousand jalopies! Get em’ ready to deal an’ I’ll close ’em.
Goin’ to California? Here’s jus’ what you need. Looks shot, but they’s thousan’s of miles in her.
Lined up side by side. Good Used Cars. Bargains. Clean, runs good.

– John Steinbeck

The Grapes of Wrath, Chapter 7. The unscrupulous second-hand car dealer speaks at a frantic pace in his bid to rip off car buyers with as many jalopies as possible. He tells his salesman to soften up customers, so that he can can close the sale of his beat-up rust buckets. He is greedily exploiting desperate migrant farmers headed for a better life in California, so that he can extract maximum profit from them. The dealer claims that his cars are good, but the reader knows that they are defective and sub-standard. This is an example of dramatic irony. This passage also foreshadows the nature of the California dream. The dealer’s deception of migrants with worn-out cars that are made to seem roadworthy, suggests that the American Dream of a good life in California may turn out to be just that – simply a dream!

Maybe we can start again, in the new rich land – in California, where the fruit grows. We’ll start over.
But you can’t start. Only a baby can start. You and me – why, we’re all that’s been. The anger of a moment, the thousand pictures, that’s us. This land, this red land, is us; and the flood years and the dust years and the drought years are us. We can’t start again.

– John Steinbeck

The Grapes of Wrath, Chapter 9. Tenant farmers discuss the question of starting again in the new rich land of California. Steinbeck is commenting on the hopelessness felt by the tenant farmers. The passage begins on an optimistic note that tenant farmers can restart new lives in California. But the tone then significantly changes. A mood of despondancy takes over, as the farmers realize that the umbilical cord that bonded them to the land has been broken, that connection which was their source of life and meaning is gone, and they can’t start again. It’s all a deception.

To California or any place – every one a drum major leading a parade of hurts, marching with our bitterness. And some day – the armies of bitterness will all be going the same way. And they’ll all walk together, and there’ll be a dead terror from it.

– John Steinbeck

The Grapes of Wrath, Chapter 9. This passage reminds one of the opening lines of the American patriotic song, <em>The Battle Hymn of the Republic</em>, which sings of the fight to end slavery. Steinbeck appears to advocate a socialist revolution, here as in other parts of the novel that take a stand against social injustice. He warns that the bitter army of angry sharecroppers will one day rise up in a united resistance to the injustices perpetrated against them.

"Tom, I hope things is all right in California…Seems too nice, kinda. I seen the han’bills fellas pass out, an’ how much work they is, an’ high wages an’ all; an’ I seen in the paper how they want folks to come an’ pick grapes an’ oranges an’ peaches. That’d be nice work, Tom, pickin’ peaches. Even if they wouldn’t let you eat none, you could maybe snitch a little ratty one sometimes. An’ it’d be nice under the trees, workin’ in the shade."

– John Steinbeck

The Grapes of Wrath, Chapter 10. If something seem too good to be true, then maybe it is. Ma Joad is fantasizing about the good life in California. But at the same time she has reservations that the reality will match the dream as promised in the fruit farm owners’ flyers. This is foreshadowing of things to come for the Joads.

"I’m scared of stuff so nice. I ain’t got faith. I’m scared somepin ain’t so nice about it."

– John Steinbeck

The Grapes of Wrath, Chapter 10. The practical Ma Joad is skeptical of the promise of an abundant and better life in California. She hopes that it will live up to its promise. But she admits to being scared that the promised land there is only a dream. Ma proves to be a very perceptive woman, as she foreshadows that California will not be quite the utopia the migrants had hoped for.

"But I like to think how nice it’s gonna be, maybe, in California. Never cold. An’ fruit ever’place, an’ people just bein’ in the nicest places, little white houses in among the orange trees. I wonder – that is, if we all get jobs an’ all work – maybe we can get one of them little white houses. An’ the little fellas go out an’ pick oranges right off the tree. They ain’t gonna be able to stand it, they’ll get to yellin’ so."

– John Steinbeck

The Grapes of Wrath, Chapter 10. The theme of hope rings through Ma Joad’s words of positivity when she dreams of what it will be like in California when they get there. As the family loads up their jalopy, Ma fantasizes about the American Dream of owning a little white house and living a bountiful life in the Golden State. It almost sounds too good to be true!

"I knowed a fella from California. He didn’t talk like us. You’d of knowed he come from some far-off place jus’ the way he talked. But he says they’s too many folks lookin’ for work right there now. An’ he says the folks that pick the fruit live in dirty ol’ camps an’ don’t hardly get enough to eat. He says wages is low an’ hard to get any."

– John Steinbeck

The Grapes of Wrath, Chapter 10. Tom Joad tells his mother what he heard about the migrant situation in California. It turns out not to be good news for the huge numbers crowding into the state in search of work. There isn’t enough work to go round, pay is poor, camp living conditions are bad and people are huntry. This foreshadows that the California dream will not be what it’s cracked up to be for families like the Joads.

"This here’s my country. I b’long here. An’ I don’t give a goddamn if they’s oranges an’ grapes crowdin’ a fella outa bed even. I ain’t a-goin’. This country ain’t no good, but it’s my country. No, you all go ahead. I’ll jus’ stay right here where I b’long."

– John Steinbeck

The Grapes of Wrath, Chapter 10. Grampa Joad declares that he is not for moving, when the family announces that they are all packed up and ready to go to California. After being initially positive about the move, Grampa has changed his mind. He belongs in Oklahoma, he says, and all the oranges in California are not going to entice him there. However, the family laces his coffee with medicine which puts him to sleep and take him along anyway.

‘F we can on’y get to California where the oranges grow before this here ol’ jug blows up.

– John Steinbeck

The Grapes of Wrath, Chapter 12. This quote conveys the desperation of migrants as they soldier on in overheating and malfunctioning jalopies they bought from crooked car salesmen. It is a desperate race against time. Despite the mechanical difficulties, many still tenaciously cling onto the slim hope of a better future at the end of the road in California – if their jalopy doesn’t blow up before then!

Well, California’s a big State.
It ain’t that big. The whole United States ain’t that big. It ain’t that big. It ain’t big enough. There ain’t room enough for you an’ me, for your kind an’ my kind, for rich and poor together all in one country, for thieves and honest men. For hunger and fat.

– John Steinbeck

The Grapes of Wrath, Chapter 12. A migrant claims that California is a big state that can support everyone, including migrants. A cynical car parts salesman responds. The quote speaks to the deep divisions in American society, between rich and poor classes, honest people and thieves, the hungry and the well-fed.

That’s what you think! Ever hear of the border patrol on the California line? Police from Los Angeles – stopped you bastards, turned you back. Says, if you can’t buy no real estate we don’t want you. Says, got a driver’s license? Le’s see it. Tore it up. Says you can’t come in without no driver’s license.

– John Steinbeck

The Grapes of Wrath, Chapter 12. A tire salesman on Highway 66 reveals the harsh reality for migrant workers trying to get into California. They have to fight to get into the state, and face hostile border patrol police who stop them and turn them back.

"Well, I’m a-scairt about it. Sometimes you do a crime, an’ you don’t even know it’s bad. Maybe they got crimes in California we don’t even know about. Maybe you gonna do somepin an’ it’s all right, an’ in California it ain’t all right."

– John Steinbeck

The Grapes of Wrath, Chapter 13. Ma Joad is afraid that her son Tom may be caught for breaking parole in crossing the state line traveling to California. Tom’s "crime" in staying with his family pales alongside the "crimes" committed by the banks, business companies and others in the novel. Later we learn of the California growers who leave fruit and vegetables to rot in the ground, while people go hungry. "There is a crime here that goes beyond denunciation," Steinbeck writes.

Ma said, "You won’t be no burden. Each’ll help each, an’ we’ll all git to California. Sairy Wilson he’ped lay Grampa out," and she stopped. The relationship was plain.

– John Steinbeck

The Grapes of Wrath, Chapter 13. When Ivy and Sairy Wilson express worry that they will be a "burden" on the Joads going to California, Ma Joad rejects this. The families have formed a bond of friendship, Sairy helping to lay Grampa out, and Ma says that they will help each other make it to the Golden State. Hope and the American dream remain alive for the Joads and Wilsons.

"She went on excitedly. "Connie gonna get a job in a store or maybe a fact’ry. An’ he’s gonna study at home, maybe radio, so he can git to be a expert an’ maybe later have his own store…An’ we’ll gave a nice car, little car…An’ we’ll live in town, an’ go to pitchers whenever an’ – well, I’m gonna have a
‘lectric iron, an’ the baby’ll have all new stuff."

– John Steinbeck

The Grapes of Wrath, Chapter 16. Rose of Sharon describes her version of the California dream to Ma Joad. She dreams up a house in town, going to the movies, husband Connie getting his own store, having a car, and buying everything new for the baby. There is a lot of over-expectation and air of self-deception in Rose of Sharon’s list of wishes. This is further strengthened by the reaction of Ma Joad, who changes the subject and "seemed to know it was all a dream," we are told.

Ma suddenly seemed to know it was all a dream. She turned her head forward again and her body relaxed, but the little smile stayed around her eyes. "I wonder how Granma feels today," she said.

– John Steinbeck

The Grapes of Wrath, Chapter 16. When Ma Joad listens to Rose of Sharon speak about herself and Connie having a house, car and their own store in California, Ma realizes that this is all a dream. She believes that her daughter is deceiving herself with such high hopes. So Ma changes the subject.

Pa’s tone was dignified. "We gonna take what they got. They got lots a stuff to work in." The ragged man giggled under his breath.
Tom turned irritably. "What’s so goddamn funny about that?"
The ragged man shut his mouth and looked sullenly at the porch boards. "You folks all goin’ to California, I bet."
"I tol’ you that," said Pa. "You didn’ guess nothin’."
The ragged man said slowly, "Me – I’m comin’ back. I been there."

– John Steinbeck

The Grapes of Wrath, Chapter 16. This encounter between Pa Joad and a ragged man returning from California foreshadows how the state might not deliver the Joads the prosperity they expect.

"It don’t make no sense. This fella wants eight hundred men. So he prints up five thousand of them things an’ maybe twenty thousan’ people sees ’em. An’ maybe two-three thousan’ folks gets movin’ account a this here han’bill. Folks that’s crazy with worry…The more fellas he can get, an’ the hungrier, less he’s gonna pay."

– John Steinbeck

The Grapes of Wrath, Chapter 16. A ragged man coming back from California provides the first evidence that California may not be the promised land migrant families like the Joads hope for. He explains to Pa Joad that the handbills promising work in California are designed to attract too many workers, so that employers can exploit those who show up and pay them as little as possible. Steinbeck is hitting at the corrupt system whereby greedy employers can take advantage of workers’ starvation to add to their own wealth.

"I tried to tell you folks," he said. "Somepin it took me a year to find out. Took two kids dead, took my wife dead to show me. But I can’t tell you. I should of knew that. Nobody couldn’t tell me, neither. I can’t tell ya about them little fellas layin’ in the tent with their bellies puffed out an’ jus’ skin on their bones, an’ shiverin’ an’ whinin’ like pups, an’ me runnin’ aroun’ tryin’ to get work – not for money, not for wages!" he shouted.

– John Steinbeck

The Grapes of Wrath, Chapter 16. The angry ragged man at the campsite tells the Joads his distressing story about life for him and his family in California. Unable to get work in the state, his wife and two children died from starvation. The promised good life there turned out to be a lie for them.

"Got her fixed," said Tom. "We’re ready to go when the rest is."
"Thank the dear God for that," Ma said, "I’m just a-twitterin’ to go on. Wanta get where it’s rich an’ green. Wanta get there quick."

– John Steinbeck

The Grapes of Wrath, Chapter 16. Tom Joad announces that the car is fixed and they are ready go go. Ma Joad cannot wait to get to California, where she believes everything is prosperous and fresh. Time is of the essence because the Joads will run short of money and food if they don’t get there soon.

In the evening a strange thing happened: the twenty families became one family, the children were the children of all. The loss of home became one loss, and the golden time in the West was one dream.

– John Steinbeck

The Grapes of Wrath, Chapter 17. This passage shows how migrant families during their time of misfortune can bond together to form one bigger and stronger family. Different families, though not related, reach out to one another and through adversity forge new bonds. By day they are individual families, but at night a wonderful metamorphosis takes place and they are reborn into a collective. They are now one community helping one another achieve the shared dream of a "golden time" in California.
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