Chapter+19


 * Summary**

Chapter 19 is an intercalary chapter. It starts by describing how California was taken from Mexico by America, due to the greedy relentlessness of the American settlers. It goes on to describe how the land becomes valuable property for the owners, following the changing of cash crops and the importing of what Steinbeck calls “slaves”: poor workers from China, Japan, and Mexico. The owners lose any personal connection with the land and begin to value it in terms of how much profit it brings them. The chapter then shows the displaced migrants moving to California. The owners’ hate for the Okies is shown as semming from a conflict between the desperation of the Okies and the comparatively priveleged lifestyle of the owners. The Okies become very confused and angry over what they see as waste of plenty of perfectly good land. The conflict between the Okies and the Californians grows as the Okies consider fighting back. The owners become more and more concerned with the possibility of a backlash against the injustice done to the Okies. The owners’ fear increases as they see news reports of squatters fighting against the police. The police raid the Hoovervilles, burning down the camps and chasing out the residents. The chapter ends with one more picture of the community formed by the Okies, as all the residents give what little money they have to a family whose son has just died.


 * Passage
 * “And while the Californians wanted many things, accumulation, social success, amusement, luxury, and a curious banking security, the new barbarians wanted only two things-land and food; and to them the two were one. And whereas the wants of the Californians were nebulous and undefined, the wants of the Okies were beside the roads, lying there to be seen and coveted: the good fields with water to be dug for, the good green fields, earth to crumble experimentally in the hand, grass to smell, oaten stalks to chew until the sharp sweetness was in the throat.” (Pg. 318-319)

This passage clarifies the crucial differences between the Okies and the Californians. While the Californians live a comfortable life, desiring for more material pleasures, the Okies have nothing, and thus desire only for what is necessary for survival. This passage also underlines the reliance of the Okies on the land, as it provides them with food, shelter, and a way of life. This bond is probably the most important difference between the Okies and the Californians, and is a theme that resonates throughout the book.


 * Reading Question**

What is the difference between the concept of property as seen by the Okies and as seen by the owners? How does this difference contribute to the owners’ fear of a violent reaction by the Okies?

Steinbeck spends a significant amount of time throughout the novel elaborating on what the concept of property means to different groups of people. For the California owners, the property is simply their way of making profit. They have no personal attachment to the land; it could be anywhere or anything else to them, as long as they ended up with the same amount of money. This viewpoint stands in sharp contrast to that of the Okies, who have an almost spiritual bond to the land, which is the cause of their very survival. The Okies believe that if land has had hard work and care put into it by a person, it is that person’s property. So, when they come to California and see all the misused and unused land, they fail to understand how it can belong to someone with no respect for it. The owners recognize the difference in viewpoints between themselves and the Okies, and realize the desperation of the situation that the Okies are in. They fear that the survival instincts of a starving man, mixed with the anger at being deprived of one’s own land, will cause a violent revolt by the Okies. The owners see the Okies as a stupid, backwards people who will not respect any capitalistic concepts of property.


 * Discussion Question**

17. What is the effect of Steinbeck’s use of intercalary chapters?

Steinbeck uses the intercalary chapters to shift the focus of the novel into a wider range. Most of the book centers around the situations that the Joads are in, but the intercalary chapters show how the tragedy experienced by the Joads is the same tragedy experienced by many other families. The intercalary chapters are more universal than the regular chapters, and therefore, also reinforce Steinbeck’s ideas about the “human spirit.” The intercalary chapters also stand in stylistic relief to the rest of the book. While most of the book is detailed and naturalistic, the intercalary chapters are written in a more urgent and stylized manner.

[|Don't Believe the Hype]--Public Enemy
 * Theme Song

Back Caught you lookin' for the same thing It's a new thing - check out this I bring Uh Oh the roll below the level 'Cause I'm livin' low next to the bass, C'mon Turn up the radio They claim that I'm a criminal By now I wonder how Some people never know The enemy could be their friend, guardian I'm not a hooligan I rock the party and Clear all the madness, I'm not a racist Preach to teach to all 'Cause some they never had this Number one, not born to run About the gun... I wasn't licensed to have one The minute they see me, fear me I'm the epitome - a public enemy Used, abused without clues I refused to blow a fuse They even had it on the news Don't believe the hype...

Yes Was the start of my last jam So here it is again, another def jam But since I gave you all a little something That we knew you lacked They still consider me a new jack All the critics you can hang'em I'll hold the rope But they hope to the pope And pray it ain't dope The follower of Farrakhan Don't tell me that you understand Until you hear the man The book of the new school rap game Writers treat me like Coltrane, insane Yes to them, but to me I'm a different kind We're brothers of the same mind, unblind Caught in the middle and Not surrenderin' I don't rhyme for the sake of of riddlin' Some claim that I'm a smuggler Some say I never heard of 'ya A rap burgler, false media We don't need it do we? It's fake that's what it be to 'ya, dig me? Don't believe the hype...

Don't believe the hype - its a sequel As an equal, can I get this through to you My 98's boomin' with a trunk of funk All the jealous punks can't stop the dunk Comin' from the school of hard knocks Some perpetrate, they drink Clorox Attack the black, cause I know they lack exact The cold facts, and still they try to Xerox Leader of the new school, uncool Never played the fool, just made the rules Remember there's a need to get alarmed Again I said I was a timebomb In the daytime the radio's scared of me 'Cause I'm mad, plus I'm the enemy They can't c'mon and play with me in primetime 'Cause I know the time, plus I'm gettin' mine I get on the mix late in the night They know I'm livin' right, so here go the mike, sike Before I let it go, don't rush my show You try to reach and grab and get elbowed Word to herb, yo if you can't swing this Just a little bit of the taste of the bass for you As you get up and dance at the LQ When some deny it, defy if I swing bolos Then they clear the lane I go solo The meaning of all of that Some media is the whack You believe it's true, it blows me through the roof Suckers, liars get me a shovel Some writers I know are damn devils For them I say don't believe the hype Yo Chuck, they must be on a pipe, right? Their pens and pads I'll snatch 'Cause I've had it I'm not an addict fiendin' for static I'll see their tape recoreder and grab it No, you can't have it back silly rabbit I'm going' to my media assassin Harry Allen, I gotta ask him Yo Harry, you're a writer, are we that type? Don't believe the hype I got flavor and all those things you know Yeah boy, part two bum rush and show Yo Griff, get the green black red and Gold down countdown to Armageddon -88 you wait the S1Ws will Rock the hard jams - treat it like a seminar Teach the bourgeoise, and rock the boulevard Some sau I'm negative But they're not positive But what I got to give... The media says this

The parallels between the song and the Grapes of Wrath come mainly in the first verse. The song is about misconceptions about a person based on their looks, beliefs, or certain images created by the media. The Okies in Ch. 19 are feared by the Californians because they have a different set of beliefs, and disrupt the normal routine of life. The widely spread image of the Okies is that of violent, unpredictable people, when in reality they are, for the most part, supportive and proud. These misconceptions are expressed in the lines “Turn up the radio/ They claim that I’m a criminal/ By now I wonder how/ Some people never know/ The enemy could be their friend, guardian/ I’m not a hooligan.” The song is a plea not to ignorantly believe what may be widely accepted views.