The concrete highway was edged with a mat of tangled, broken, dry grass, and the grass heads were heavy with oat beards to catch on a dog’s coat, and foxtails to tangle in a horse’s fetlocks, and clover burrs to fasten in sheep’s wool; sleeping life waiting to be spread and dispersed, every seed armed with an appliance of dispersal, twisting darts and parachutes for the wind, little spears and balls of tiny thorns, and all waiting for animals and for the wind, for a man’s trouser cuff or the hem of a woman’s skirt, all passive but armed with appliances of activity, still, but each possessed the anlage of movement.
– John Steinbeck
The Grapes of Wrath, Chapter 3. The opening lines of the chapter describe a harsh and wild environment full of obstacles – a landscape the land turtle has to navagate. We learn that the highway is edged with dry grasses and weeds, which symbolize life’s difficulties. But the land also has a strong reproductive capacity. Grasses and plants have made a symbiotic bargain with animal and human life to help spread and propogate new life. The natural instinct of survival and ability of the human race to regenerate despite obstacles is one of the themes featured in this beautiful passage.