Chapter 26

Events:

• Joad family leaves the Weedpatch camp
• Joad family finds work at Hooper Ranch
• Tom finds Casy leading a strike outside the Ranch
• A man kills Casy for leading the strike, Tom is outraged and kills the man
• Joad family leaves the Ranch and try to protect Tom, as well as find more work
• Find a place that they might be able to get a job at

Characters:

• Joad family
• Casy
• Store Clerk

 Themes:

• Family (sticking together)
• Hatred towards Okies (ignorance of who they are)
• Desperation

 Questions:

• Should the rest of the Joad family have left Tom behind?
• Is it right for Tom and his family to try to justify killing that man.

 Passages:

•  Pg. 382
• "Well, they was nice fellas, ya see. What made 'em bad was...They come a-runnin', and they give us some other stuff to eat--give it to us. Ya see?"
• Pg. 386-387
• "Tom looked down at the preacher. The light crossed...The water stung and burned."

Comparison:

• The Joad family is on the move once again. We have seen this throughout the book, families moving from place to place trying to find work and make a living.

Contrast:

•   Ma becomes the decision maker in the family. This is very different than the family government we saw early in the story. It also is very different than what most other families we like at this time.