How we cite our quotes: Citations follow this format: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #7
[Ma Joad:] "Well, I'm a-scairt about it. Sometimes you do a crime, an' you don't even know it's bad. Maybe they got crimes in California we don't even know about. Maybe you gonna do somepin an' it's all right, an' in California it ain't all right." (13.107)
What crimes do we witness in this novel, and who commits them?
Quote #8
Then the hungry men crowded the alleys behind the stores to beg for bread, to beg for rotting vegetables, to steal when they could. (29.11)
The concept of crime is complicated in The Grapes of Wrath, because if many of these guys don't commit a crime, they will die. Are the hungry men who steal food criminals? Should they be locked up?
Quote #9
At night the frantic men walked boldly to hen roosts and carried off the squawking chickens. If they were shot at, they did not run, but splashed sullenly away; and if they were hit, they sank tiredly in the mud. (29.16)
The laws of society do not mean anything when society is falling apart at the seams.