Grapes of Wrath ch.20-22

In chapter 20, they got grandma a casket. Then they went to "Hooverville" to camp. Tom spoke with a neighbor who told him the blunt truth and told him to be "bull dumb". I don't understand what Tom means when he's talking to Casy. Connie is starting to worry and wishing he'd stayed in Oklahoma and studied tractors, which made Rose of Sharon kind of mad, or sad. I can't believe those little kids just stood there when Tom told them to go on and they were pretty much begging for food. I know they were hungry, but I couldn't have stayed there staring at the Joad's. You can tell Ma has a soft heart because she let them eat what was left, even though she knew there wasn't enough. Floyd told Tom and Al about work up north, but Tom was a little sceptical about it because it was so far away. Then a "contractor" came and told everyone he needed workers, but Floyd knew what was up and tried warning people and they made up a lie that he was stealing at a used car lot so they could take him in. When they about left the deputy grabbed Floyd and Floyd hit him and took off running. Then Tom tripped the deputy who tried running after him, and the deputy shot at Floyd from laying on the ground, but missed and hit a woman's hand. Then Casy kicked him in the neck which made him unconscious. Casy told Tom to go hide so he wouldn't get into trouble. Casy ended up taking the blame. It kind of seems like he wanted to go to jail. I don't know if it is because he thinks he'll be fed there like Tom told him, or if he is doing it to help the Joad family stay together and he kept saying he owed them. Uncle John had to get drunk, which I thought was selfish because they needed money and he was wasting it. They decided to keep moving since they were going to be burned out of there that night anyway. Tom went to find drunk Uncle John before they could leave. Tom had to hit uncle John in the chin a few times to make him weaker because he said he wasn't going with. Tom then carried him back to Hooverville. I can't believe Connie left and didn't say anything to anyone. I wonder if he did go to get books and was going to come back and surprise them? I feel bad for Rose of Sharon because they leave without him. Why did they get a wrench and a jack just in case someone would try to climb on when that never happened before? Tom is starting to have increasing anger all the time now. I think the whole family is getting sick of everything, but Tom is showing it the most.

Chapter 21 talks about how everyone is changing because of the tractors pushing them out of Oklahoma. It also talks how the Californians were scared of the oakies, so they became cruel. They are scared of losing their land and jobs to oakies, which work for less money. I think this chapter shows how everyone is actually being effected right now, not just the oakies.

In chapter 22, they went to the camp and actually got a camp site! I was really surprised they actually got one because it was said to be full. It is unreal how nice the town sounds. It's hard to believe. They went to bed and Tom awoke first and went to a neighbors place and had a good breakfast with them and they even offered him to go with them to see if he could get work. They arrived a mile down the road from camp and the man did hire Tom, but explained they only get 25 cents an hour now instead of 30 cents. Thomas (employer) told them of the plan to have a fight in the camp on Saturday so the cops could go in and break the camp up. Then Tom, Wilkie, and Timothy went to work. I thought it was funny how Ruthie wouldn't go into the bathrooms until Winfield was there and how they thought he broke the toilet when he flushed it. When Ma found out about the woman committee, she got excited and grew frantic. The manager came to the Joad's tent and had a cup of coffee and Ma wouldn't hardly believe that he was just being nice and Pa didn't believe it at all. The men went to look for work and Rose of Sharon was the first to take a shower and was impressed by it and then Ma went and took one. Then a very strange woman was talking to Rose of Sharon. Why did she think the dancing and acting was such a sin? Rose of Sharon was already freaking out about hurting the baby and that lady didn't help at all. Then the manager tried to calm her. The ladies committee came and showed Rose of Sharon and Ma around. There was 3 of them, who rotated chairperson. Ruthie and Winfield found children playing and Ruthie just wanted to play and a girl said she'd have to wait until next game and something came over Ruthie. I wonder why she got so angry at the girl? The crazy lady came back and I don't know for sure, but she had a type of seizure. Ma is realizing how depressed she really is about losing the family members and of missing their old home and the way things used to be.