That man who is more than his chemistry, walking on the earth, turning his plow point for a stone, dropping his handles to slide over an outcropping, kneeling in the earth to eat his lunch; that man who is more than his elements knows the land that is more than its analysis. But the machine man, driving a dead tractor on land he does not know and love, understands only chemistry; and he is contemptuous of the land and of himself.
– John Steinbeck
The Grapes of Wrath, Chapter 11. Steinbeck believes that the introduction of tractors and machines to the farms in Oklahoma has dehumanized farming. He refers to the "machine man" who drives a "dead tractor" and has no love for or connection to the land he works. He praises the farmers that they have replaced, men close to the land, who walk and kneel on the earth, and guide the plow with their hands.