Discussion Questions 2

Who are the "owners of the land"? What are their main characteristics? How do the owners use terms such as "the bank" and "the company"? Why do owners speak "as though the bank or company were a monster"? Why is it said that "When the monster stops growing, its dies. It can't stay one size"? Why is it said that "The bank is something more than men. I tell you. It's the monster. Men made it, but they can't control it"?
The owners are the banks and the big companies.
Some of them hated what they had to do. They didn't like to be cruel. Some of them made themselves be cold, because it was their job.


What does the cotton do to the land? Why do they farmers plant it?
The cotton sucks up all the nutrients.
They plant it for money. They continue to plant it until it fails.


3. What is the role and effect of technology in the mode of production depicted in the novel? What are the effects of increased productivity (due to technology) on the lives of farmers and labourers? How are tractors characterized? How about their drivers? What is their relationship to the land they work? What is happening to the land? What economic trend do the hired tractor drivers represent? What forms of production seem no longer possible? What seems to be the only alternative?


4. What are the tenants thoughts on large amounts of property (five, ten thousand acres)? How does the size of the land affect the relations between the owner and the land he owns? How is the size of the land related to economic imperatives and emerging modes of production?


5. What arguments do the tenants use against the repossession of their lands by the owners? Why do they repeatedly point out that "Grampa took up the land, and he had to kill the Indians and drive them away... and he killed weeds and snakes"? Is this Ironic? Why?

They feel that the repossession isn't at all fair since the land is their livelihood and their way of sustaining themselves, supporting their family. They do so much with it, and they figure they should own because they're physically, mentally, and to some extent emotionally attached to it, rather than holding a piece of paper which is the only notification of the banks' ownership. Comparing snakes and weeds to the Indians, symbolizing them as things that are not wanted on the land that need to get out. However, the irony is that the farmers are mad that they are getting kicked off their land, when in fact Grampa kicked the Indians off their land and they feel this is justified. Snakes are more than likely a biblical reference here.

6. What is the significance of the unhung gate and the story of the Jacobs's baby devoured by a pig because a door was left open? What does the unhung gate indicate? What do the gates symbolize? What is their purpose, both literal and symbolic? How do such images relate to the concerns of the novel?

The gate was never kept open after the incident with the Baby getting eaten by a pig! :) The fact the gate is left open indicated to Tom that no one is around. His family, or more specifically, his mother is dead or they've moved somewhere else. 

7. Why is there a picture of an Indian girl ("Red Wing") on the wall of the house? What about the sofa pillow (with a picture of an Indian on it) Grampa stole from Albert Rance? What about Albert's claim that "Grampa got Injun blood"?

Perhaps there is a connection between the manifest destiny and the overtaking of Indian land and the banks repossession of the land from the farmers. The house is desolate, ripped apart, with all the things taken out. Tom Joad has nothing left here, which is how the Native Americans felt once they got their land taken from them while being relocated to reservations or getting killed off.  

8. What is the significance of the figure of Muley Graves who refuses to leave the land? What does his name suggest? Why is he "like a damn ol' graveyard ghos'"? Why does he say, "If they throw me off, I'll come back, an' if they figger I'll be quiet underground, why. I'll take couple-three of the sons-a-bitches along for company"? Is this the only ghost that walks the land? What are ghosts anyway? Is this land haunted?

Muley means hornless when referring to a cow, or just a cow without horns. Stubborn as a mule is also an expression which fits the stubborn quality of Graves' wanting to stay on the land to rebel against the owners. Graves equates to death, lack of life, depression, all of which seem to suit the surrounding farmlands. He is described like a graveyard ghost due in part to his name, and perhaps the idea of a ghost town is a town that had all its inhabitants relocated with just empty buildings sitting alone. The farmlands seem to fit this description. 

9. Why do the owners claim (in Muley's words) that "We can't afford to keep no tenants... the share a tenant gets is jus' the margin, a profit we can't afford to lose."

10. Why does Muley share his food with Tom and Casy? What is his argument justifying his obligation to share?