During a night the wind raced faster over the land, dug cunningly among the rootlets of the corn, and the corn fought the wind with its weakened leaves until the roots were freed by the prying wind and then each stalk settled wearily sideways toward the earth and pointed the direction of the wind.
– John Steinbeck
The Grapes of Wrath, Chapter 1. From the get-go, Steinbeck uses personification to make his story more vivid and engaging to the reader. He stretches the boundaries of reality by giving the wind and the corn human characteristics. Thus the wind is cunning and the corn fights the wind. This adds dramatic effect to the description of the weather.