Summary
"The houses were left vacant on the land, and the land was vacant because of this." (157)
Farmers all over are being removed from their homes by the banks that they borrowed money from, and when the farmers leave their homes they're also leaving the land
"...there is a breathing and a warmth, and the feet shift on the straw, and the jaws champ on the hay, and the ears and eyes are alive" (157)
Steinbeck uses a lot of imagery throughout the book to help the reader get a sense of the setting.
“But the machine man, driving a dead tractor on land he does not know and love, understands only chemistry; and he is contemptuous of the land and of himself.” (158)
The contempt the farmer feels for land could lead to Marx's idea that once workers become very unhappy with their work they will overthrow the capitalists. The love is taken out of the work, so the farmers have become extremely unhappy already
"And this is easy and efficient. So easy that the wonder goes out of the land and the working of it, and with the wonder the deep understanding and the relation"
Care has gone out of the work and is no longer as meaningful. When the capitalists came, they took the humanity out of the work, leaving people without a connection to their job.
First Paragraph:
"warmth of life", "life and vitality"
Second Paragraph:
"the houses were vacant", "ragged curtains fluttered in the broken windows"
Steinbeck's frequency of switching tone and mood throughout his choral chapters
“There is a warmth of life in the barn, and the heat and smell of life. But when the motor of a tractor stops, it is as dead as the ore it came from. The heat goes out of it life the living heat that leaves a corpse.” (157)
The work the capitalists are making the farmers do is wearing them down like the tractors they use. The farmers are considered to only be a a part of society in order to work, and when their work is done for the day, their only motivation dies like the tractors.
"When the folks first left, and the evening of the first day came, the hunting cats slouched in from the fields and mewed on the porch. And when no one came out, the cats crept through the open doors and walked mewing through the empty rooms." (158)
People are being kicked out of their homes so quickly that they do not even have the chance to take their pets with them. The cats symbolize the beginning of nature taking over the now-abandoned houses.
"The man who is more than his chemistry, walking on earth, turning his plow point for a stone, dropping his handles to slide over an outcropping, kneeling in the earth to eat his lunch; that man who is more than his elements knows the land that is more than its analysis." (158)
Steinbeck uses imagery to convey a sense of the people of that time, especially in order to show Marxism
“And this is easy and efficient. So easy that the wonder goes out of the work, so efficient that the wonder goes out of the land and the working of it, and with the wonder the deep understanding and the relation” (157)
This could be connected to capitalism. Work loses its humanity and becomes machine like as it is monopolized and made to be cheap and quick. The farmers only work for a paycheck, and their work doesn’t have the same personal meaning as it used to.
"And the mice moved in and stored weed seeds in corners, in boxes, in the backs of drawers in the kitchens. And weasels came in to hunt the mice, and the brown owls flew shrieking in and out again." (159)
Not only do the mice symbolize the decaying of the house, but also a part in the circle of life. The weasels hunted the mice, similarly to how the bank hunted families behind on payments
"And on windy nights the doors banged, and the ragged curtains fluttered in the broken windows."
The comma and conjunction use creates a sense of finality, indicating that it would be like this forever
"When the corrugated iron doors shut, he goes home, and his home is not the land" (158)
The land previously owned by its farmers is now owned by the capitalists, so their land is no longer their home.