A New Unit (Chapters 16-19 Assignment D) ***

Throughout the book, reliance on others has been vital to the survival of all the migrants. Before embarking on their trip across the country, the members of the Joad family depended on one other as they all had specific expertise needed to complete the trip. For example, Al was the only mechanic in the family who could ensure the car was working well, and Ma was the cook who kept everyone going. The had no choice, family was the only thing the people had after leaving their homes. Since there was no one else left in Oklahoma, this family unit came to represent all the people harmed from the dust bowl.

After the migrants were on the road for some time, the reliance on others grew to include every traveler in the same circumstances as the family. Steinbeck describes the cars of the migrants:

"In the daylight they scuttled like bugs to the westward; and as the dark caught them, they clustered like bugs near to shelter and to water... They huddled together; they talked together; they shared their lives, their food, and the things they hoped for in the new country. In the evening a strange thing happened; the twenty families became one family, the children were the children of all... They grew to be units of the camps" (193). 

Having experienced the same hardships and unfair treatment by the wealthy, the travelers all stuck together in camps. They needed each other for moral support, and had to understand that there were other people in the same boat as they were. It is ironic that they "scuttle like bugs" to the shelter and water of the land, because the rich see them as bugs. However, they have not lost the qualities that make people human--the ability to share stories and help one another. The Joad family, which was once its own contained unit, now benefits from becoming a part of a much bigger unit with many families. All the separate families needed things that other families had, like food, gas, water, or household goods. Because of this, in the end everyone shared and everyone benefited. In this way, these units of camps successfully spread the wealth among everyone, something that the government could not do across the entire country.

The government not only failed to spread the wealth, but it even harmed the poorest citizens. In chapter 20, cops were sent by the wealthy owners in California to burn down the migrant camps because the rich are threatened by the strong communities. The growing number of wage workers start to band together to put on strikes and oppose the inequality, so the rich pay the cops to keep this growing wrath down. They will do anything to keep the wealth inequality present in the country because of man's natural greed.