Sure, cried the tenant men, but it’s our land…We were born on it, and we got killed on it, died on it. Even if it’s no good, it’s still ours…That’s what makes ownership, not a paper with numbers on it.
– John Steinbeck
The Grapes of Wrath, Chapter 5. The strong connections that tenant farming families have with the land is emphasized here. It is part of their identity, which they argue that they lose if the land is cruelly removed from them by the bank.