The tractors came over the roads and into the fields, great crawlers moving like insects, having the incredible strength of insects.
– John Steinbeck
The Grapes of Wrath, Chapter 5. Using a vivid simile, Steinbeck compares the tractors to giant insects coming to destroy everything in their path on the repossessed farms. The image of a huge, inhuman, cold-blooded creepy-crawlie is used to convey the inhumanity of the landowners.