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  • This is a story about a man named Tom Joad, a ex-convict recently released from prison

  • for killing a man with a shovel while being stabbed. While hitchhiking to his father's

  • cotton farm in Oklahoma, Tom meets Casy, his childhood preacher who has since left the

  • church.

  • When they arrive at the farm, they see that it is abandoned and the land has been worked

  • over by a tractor. A man named Muley, a local man who knew Tom when he was younger, approaches

  • and explains that most of the families in the area have been forced out by the banks

  • and that Tom's family has gone to live with his Uncle John.

  • Tom and Casy walk to Uncle John's farm and Tom is reunited with his father, mother, grandparents,

  • and siblings. Over breakfast, Tom's father explains that they were planning on moving

  • to California.

  • The family packs in the truck, which includes Grandpa, Grandma, Casy, Uncle John, Connie,

  • Rose of Sharon, Al, Noah, Ruthie, Winfield, and Tom. They begin their journey on the road

  • to California on Highway 66.

  • As the family continues on their journey, they stop on the side of the road to rest

  • and meet the Wilson's, a husband and wife whose car has stopped working. Grandpa Joad

  • feels sick and dies of a stroke.

  • As they exit Oklahoma and enter Texas, the car breaks down and needs a new engine part.

  • The rest of the family goes ahead in the truck and rests at a stop, while Tom and his brother,

  • Al, look for a service station. They find a car parts dealer and the one-eyed man sells

  • them the part they need for cheap.

  • They return to the vehicle and fix it, eventually catching up to the family at the stop. However,

  • at the stop, a man returning from California tells them that workers arriving in California

  • are being taken advantage of because of their desperation. Still, the Joad and Wilson families

  • continue on their journey.

  • The family drives through Arizona and finally arrives in California, but they still must

  • cross the desert. At a local encampment, Tom's brother, Noah, decides to stay and the Wilson's

  • urge the Joad's to continue without them because Mrs. Wilson is near death. With Grandma

  • Joad nearly dead, the family packs up and makes the final push into California. However,

  • Grandma Joad never sees the orchards and city lights of California, as she dies in the back

  • of the truck.

  • After burying Grandma Joad, the family settles in an encampment called Hooverville. The collection

  • of tents is full of poor workers and their families, all of which are struggling to eat.

  • Tom meets a man named Floyd who tells him that there is no work in the area and describes

  • how the workers are being taken advantage of because of so few jobs.

  • After Al helps Floyd fix his car, Floyd tells Tom that there is work two hundred miles to

  • the north. However, Tom is apprehensive about moving north since the work isn't guaranteed.

  • A man from the south seeking workers appears in the camp with a deputy sheriff. Floyd demands

  • to see his license since the man seems shady. When the man refuses, the deputy tries to

  • arrest Floyd. Floyd runs away and Tom trips the deputy. As the deputy fires his gun at

  • Floyd, Casy knocks out the deputy and turns himself in when more deputies arrive.

  • Tom decides that Hooverville is not safe and so they pack up their belongings. After Tom's

  • brother-in-law, Connie, runs away and Uncle John gets drunk, the family heads north. They

  • are forced to turn around by a pack of angry people, but Tom waits them out as he watches

  • as they burn Hooverville.

  • Angry, Tom turns the truck toward a government camp called Weedpatch in the south that is

  • rumored to have nice amenities and no sheriffs.

  • The family arrives at Weedpatch, a little self-governing community with their own showers

  • and laws. A recent vacancy allows the Joads to move in. They are welcomed to the camp

  • and the rules are explained to them.

  • Tom finds a job digging a ditch, while the rest of the family becomes accustomed to the

  • camp.

  • The camp prepares for their weekly Saturday evening dance, but there is a rumor that a

  • fight will be started, which will allow the sheriffs to shut down the camp. As visitors

  • from outside the camp enter for the dance, a group of men, including Tom, try to screen

  • them to see who might cause trouble.

  • The band plays as the people dance and just as a fight is about to escalate, the men stop

  • it.

  • Eventually, the Joads can't find work and must move out of Weedpatch.

  • The Joads find work at Hooper Ranch and are escorted past a line of picketers. After picking

  • peaches for a day, they barely have enough money for dinner.

  • That night Tom investigates the picket line and reunites with Casy, who is leading the

  • picket. Casy tells Tom that he's learned about the strength of a union and how they

  • keep lowering the wages. However, a group of men attack them, leaving Casy dead. In

  • response, Tom kills one of the men, but gets hit in the face. Tom returns home and can't

  • return to work because of the injuries to his face.

  • The wages for work are lowered just as Casy predicted and as suspicions grow about the

  • killing at the picket line, the Joads decide to leave the camp. On the road, they see a

  • job sign for cotton pickers.

  • After finding residence in a boxcar, the family picks cotton and collects a fair amount of

  • money to buy food. However, the cotton is running low and soon everyone will be looking

  • for work.

  • Ruthie gets into a fight with another girl and accidentally says that Tom recently killed

  • a man. Ma gets worried and gives Tom money to run away. Tom accepts the money and leaves,

  • saying that he's going to try to continue the work that Casy started - trying to setup

  • unions and organize people.

  • It begins to rain, indicating that field work has stopped. Al meets a girl named Agnes and

  • they want to get married. Ma doesn't want Al to leave because he's the only one who

  • can drive the truck.

  • Rose of Sharon, Tom's sister, begins feeling sick and starts to give birth during a rainstorm.

  • As the nearby river begins to flood, Pa and some of the men begin digging a bank to stop

  • the rising water. However, the water continues to rise and eventually floods their truck.

  • Rose of Sharon gives birth, but the baby is born dead. Uncle John is told to bury it,

  • but he lets it float down stream.

  • The rainwater rises and begins to flood their boxcar. After trying to protect themselves

  • from the rising waters, the Joads decide to leave and Al stays behind with Agnes.

  • The family walks in the countryside and sees a barn in the distance. In the barn, they

  • meet a dying father and his son.

  • In the end, Rose of Sharon breastfeeds the man so that he can recover from his illness.

This is a story about a man named Tom Joad, a ex-convict recently released from prison

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