Chapters 19-24

Opposed to the first ten chapters, the Joads don't appear to use the land or interact with it nearly to the extent that they had before. Steinbeck tries to hint at the idea that traveling the land has been very hard on not only the Joad family, but the rest of the migrant families and others that are travelling and trekkin gthe long distance as the land has been so distant from them, the land has become almost their enemy. They cannot use the land as they had before because they are traveling and the long and fatiguing distance that they have to travel is literally the land. The land is almost in the way of them getting to California and is now a sort of burden that they are forced to travel over. The people on the land that they passed had similar hardships and even others befriending and welcoming the Joad family when they got to California did not seem to wipe away the fatigue and the turmoil from the travel.  "On the highways the people moved like ants and searched for work, for food. And the anger began to ferment" (Steinbeck 365). Here the people that were out of work were mostly farmers who got run off the land or tried to escape the hardships of the dust bowl, and so they were more disconnected from the land. Not only this, but they became mad at their situation and their situation started from the decline of the fertility of the land and they all feel little in the big picture and their quest for work and food is difficult because of the extent of everything. Even through this hardship, the Joads are determined to get to California and that doing so will greatly improve their quality of life. "'We still go where we want, even if we got to crawl for the right" (Steinbeck 361). Their 'only' option is to get to California, 'California or Bust' so to speak. They are putting all of their money and lots of their personal health on the line to do so. Running from the dusty land they once were deeply connected to.