Listen to the motor. Listen to the wheels. Listen with your ears and with your hands on the steering wheel; listen with the palm of your hand on the gear-shift lever; listen with your feet on the floor boards. Listen to the pounding old jalopy with all your senses, for a change of tone, a variation of rhythm may mean – a week here?
– John Steinbeck
The Grapes of Wrath, Chapter 12. Steinbeck pitches us right into the story by speaking directly to the reader and using rhythmic repetition of the word "listen." The monotony of the migrants’ long and tiring motor trip west is conveyed. We feel that we are with the Joads and the thousands of other migrant families who have spent their savings buying a used car. The desperation of the migrants and dehumanizing effect of the long journey also comes across.