Grapes+of+Wrath+1+yc

The Grapes of Wrath

Those families who had lived on a little piece of land, who had lived and died on forty acres, had eaten or starved on the produce of forty acres, had now the whole West to rove in. And they scampered about, looking for work; and the highways were streams of people, and the ditch banks were lines of people. ... The great highways streamed with moving people. ... And the little farmers... loat their farms, and they were taken by the great owners, the banks, and the companies. ... As time went on, there were fewer farms. The little farmers moved into town for a while and exhausted their credit, exhausted their friends, their relatives. And then they too were on the highways. And the roads were crowded with men ravenous for work, murderous for work. The great companies did not know that the line between hunger and anger is a thin line... On the highways the people moved like ants and searched for work, for food. And the anger began to ferment.