"Now you hol’ up your head," Jessie said. "That ain’t no crime. You jes’ waltz right over t’ the Weedpatch store an’ git you some groceries. The camp got twenty dollars’ credit there. You git yourself fi’ dollars’ worth. An’ you kin pay it back to the Central Committee when you git work. Mis’ Joyce, you knowed that," she said sternly. "How come you let your girls git hungry?"
"We ain’t never took no charity," Mrs. Joyce said.
"This ain’t charity, an’ you know it," Jessie raged. "We had all that out. They ain’t no charity in this here camp. We won’t have no charity.
– John Steinbeck
The Grapes of Wrath, Chapter 22. This is a conversation between the head of Weedpatch Ladies’ Committee and a mother of five children with the "howlin’ skitters." Mrs. Joyce is low on money because of no work but doesn’t want to accept charity. Jessie Bullit offers help from the committee to be repaid whenever Mrs. Joyce can, while assuring her that it is not charity. A number of themes are explored here, like the dignity of the individual and the strength of community also Emerson’s idea of "Over-Soul."