how about a lift, mister?
sure i see it. but a good guy don't pay no attention to what some heel makes him stick on his truck.
just a few miles. i'd a walked her if my dogs wasn't pooped out.
no, my old man got a place, forty acres. he's a sharecropper, but we been there a long time.
yeah.
why don't you get to it, buddy?
you know what i mean. you been givin' me a goin' over ever since i got in. whyn't you go on and ask me where i been?
naw--not much!
listen. that big nose of yours been goin' over me like a sheep in a vegetable patch. but i ain't keepin' it a secret. i been in the penitentiary. been there four years. like to know anything else?
go ahead. ask me anything you want.
me neither. i'm just tryin' to get along without shovin' anybody around, that's all. see that road up ahead?
that's where i get off.
you're about to bust to know what i done, ain't you? well, i ain't a guy to let you down. homicide!
sure, but you'd a throwed a fit if i hadn't tol' you.
howdy.
yeah. on my way home now.
why, you're the preacher!
pa always said you was never cut out to be a preacher.
maybe you should a got yourself a wife.
i never let one go by me when i could catch her.
have a little snort?
ought to be. that's fact'ry liquor. cost me a buck.
didn't you hear? it was in the papers.
i been in the penitentiary for four years.
i don't mind any more. i'd do what i done again. i killed a guy at a dance. we was drunk. he got a knife in me and i laid him out with a shovel. knocked his head plumb to squash.
he had a knife in me. that's why they only gave me seven years. got out in four--parole.
no, but i aim to before sundown. gettin' kind of excited about it, too. which way you going?
maybe ma'll have pork for supper. i ain't had pork but four times in four years--every christmas.
lissen. this wind's fixin't to *do* somepin'!
just around that next bend.
that's our place.
they're all gone--or dead.
no. they wasn't people to write.
this was ma's. had 'em for years.
this used to be mine. i give it to grampa when i went away. you reckon they could be dead?
muley! where's my folks, muley?
i know that! but *where* they gone?
this is muley graves. you remember the preacher, don't you?
all right, you remember the *man* then.
now where is my folks?
but what's happened? how come they got to get off? we been here fifty years--same place.
but who done it?
are you crazy?
that's what i asked you, ain't it?
well?
but it don't seem possible--kicked off like that!
what i can't understand is my folks takin' it! like ma! i seen her nearly beat a peddler to death with a live chicken. she aimed to go for him with an ax she had in the other hand but she got mixed up and forgot which hand was which and when she got through with that peddler all she had left was two chicken legs.
she's settlin'.
it's hard to say. stay here till mornin' an' then go on over to uncle john's, i reckon. after that i don't know.
hide out for what? we ain't doin' nothin'.
won't they come out here?
anybody ever 'tol me i'd be hidin' out on my own place!
no, ma. i'm paroled. i got my papers.
i'd a found you, ma.
muley tol' me what happened, ma. are we goin' to california true?
mad, ma?
no, ma i was at first--but not no more.
no, ma. you don't have to worry about that.
i didn't bust out. they lemme out. howya, noah. howya, uncle john.
parole.
rosasharn! hi, rosasharn! howya, al!
why, she wasn't no more'n a kid when i went up.
naw. they paroled me.
if this don't beat all! well, i see you been busy already!
how you get all this money?
easy. after all, they ain't but about *twelve* of us, is they?
how about it, ma?
think she'll hold?
what's the matter, grampa?
how 'bout granma?
ma. pa. grampa, his eyes hurt and hunted and frightened and bewildered, scratches in the dirt.
either we got to tie him up and *throw* him on the truck, or somepin. he can't stay here.
ain't no whisky, is they?
don't taste bad.
that's right. and douse some in it.
california, here we come!
's all right, grampa. you just kind a tar'd, that's all. somebody fix a pallet.
i figger best we leave something like this on him, lest somebody dig him up and make out he been kilt. lotta times looks like the gov'ment got more interest in a dead man than a live one.
casy, won't you say a few words?
we know. but ain't none of our folks ever been buried without a few words.
yes'm, that was it.
forget it, ma. i got her figgered out. long as i keep outa trouble, ain't nobody gonna say a thing. all i gotta do is keep my nose clean.
forget it, ma. jus' think about the nice things out there. think about them grapes and oranges--an' ever'body got work--
first gas station, granma--
awright! awright!
they shore don't waste no time! take her out.
we ain't campin'. we jus' stoppin' a minute--
she's kinda ol'--
till the tractors druv us out.
what's so funny about it?
wait a minute, buddy. you jus' done some jackassin'! you ain't gonna shut up now. the han'bill says they need men. you laugh an' say they don't. now which one's a liar?
how about us? is that the truth for us?
well, ask right. you ain't talkin' to bums, you know.
california.
no longer'n we can get acrost her.
no plants.
sure. we aim to.
aw, sure. this here's jus' a part of it. ain't no sense a gettin' scairt right off.
got that desert yet. gotta take her tonight. take her in the daytime fella says she'll cut your gizzard out.
she's jus' wore out, that's all.
never seen such tough mountains. this here's a murder country, just the *bones* of a country. wonder if we'll ever get in a place where folks can live 'thout fightin' hard scrabble an' rock. sometimes you get to thinkin' they *ain't* no such country.
dunno. we ain't tried none. sure feels good to set here, though.
she ain't our river. but we'll len' you a little piece of her.
where's home?
me an' you both.
uncle john don't talk much but when he does he shore talks sense.
what you mean?
you been acrost?
if we broke down maybe somebody'd give us a han'.
it don't take no nerve to do somep'n when there ain't nothin' else you can do.
people done it. if they could, we could.
well, we ain't out a it yet.
what's this here?
no.
okay, cap. much oblige.
where's ma? i want ma to see it. look, ma! come here, ma!
ma, you sick?
look, ma!
didn' you get no sleep?
was granma bad?
when?
an' that's why you didn't want 'em to look?
right here. we give out a gas.
where's the bes' place to get some work aroun' here? don't matter what kin' either.
sallisaw.
she shore don't look prosperous. want to go somewheres else?
whatta ya mean? you ain't et today.
you take that plate inside the tent an' you eat it.
you git. go on now, git. you ain't doin' no good. they ain't enough for you.
you got nothin' on him.
i ain't gonna run.
you're right!
hey, al!
we got to get outa here right away. ever'body here? where's uncle john?
fella tells me some a them poolroom boys figgerin' to burn the whole camp out tonight. got to get that truck loaded--what you doin' with the jack-handle, ma?
awright, you can fight it out later. right now we got to hustle. where's connie?
cut it out, pa. he'p al with the truck. don't fret, honey. you goin' to be awright.
maybe he'll be back. we'll leave word for him. jus' don't cry.
just in case. sit up back an' if anybody tries to climb up--let 'im have it.
give 'im a fryin' pan.
ma, they comes a time when a man gets mad.
i know, ma. i'm a tryin'. if it was the law they was workin' with, we could take it. but it *ain't* the law. they're workin' away at our spirits. they're tryin' to make us cringe an' crawl. they're workin' on our decency.
i'm a-tryin', ma. honest i am.
what's that--detour?
well-- --we're strangers here. we heard about they's work in a place called tulare.
which way is it at, mister?
yes, sir.
fella tells me they's three hunerd thousan' aroun' here like us, a- scrabblin' for work an' livin' like hogs. can't figger what it is, but *sump'n's* wrong.
morning.
mister, we're lookin' even under boards for work.
we can pick anything.
mister, we sure that ya!
get some sugar too, for the coffee.
fella named spencer sent us--said they was work pickin' peaches.
sure do.
what's the matter? what's happened?
i don't know what these cops got to do with it but i don't like it. an' these here are our own people, all of 'em. i don't like this.
sure, but what is this?
joad.
four.
two.
two.
why, i guess so.
joad. say, what is this here?
they sure do want to make us feel at home all right.
it's still joad.
got any more, ma?
i ain't full.
think i'll walk out an' try to fin' out what all that fuss outside the gate was. anybody wanta come with me?
thing's been workin' on me, what they was yellin' about. got me all curious.
okay. i be back a little later.
okay, ma. don't you worry.
thought i'd take a walk. any law against it?
you mean i can't even get outa here?
i'll walk back.
evenin'.
jus' goin' pas', that's all.
no. jus' goin' pas', i tell you.
casy! what you doin' here?
thought you was in jail.
workin'. pickin' peaches. but i seen a bunch a fellas yellin' when we come in, so i come out to see what's goin' on. what's it all about?
well, fi' cents a box ain't much, but a fella can eat.
sure. we made a buck since midday.
i dunno. payin' five now.
i aim to.
i'll tell 'em. but i don't know how. never seen so many guys with guns. wouldn't even let us talk today.
they won't. they're a-gettin' five an' they don't care about nothin' else.
five they're a-gettin' now, an' that's all they're int'rested in. i know exackly what pa'd say. he'd jus' say it wasn't none a his business.
we was outa food. tonight we had meat. not much, but we had it. think pa's gonna give up his meat on account a other fellas? an' rosasharn needs milk. think ma's gonna starve that baby jus' cause a bunch a fellas is yellin' outside a gate?
i hear it. i think they's some guys comin' this way, lots of 'em. we better get outa here.
busted my cheek but i can still see. what'd you hear?
i kinda thought so. felt like it.
they killed casy first.
they know what--this fella looks like?
i'm sorry, ma. but--i didn't know what i was doin', no more'n when you take a breath. i didn't even know i was gonna do it.
i'm gonna go away tonight. i can't go puttin' this on you folks.
okay, ma. i shouldn't, though. i know i shouldn't. but okay.
that casy. he might a been a preacher, but--he seen a lot a things clear. he was like a lantern--he helped mw see things too.
i'd hate to get *trapped* in here.
full up. uncle john come through with five bucks he been hol'in' out on us since we lef' home.
she's hotter'n a heifer.
picks a nice place for it, too, don't she?
any gas?
well, looks like we done it this time awright!
looks like about a mile. reckon she'll make it?
don't know--but it's better'n this.
take 'er on down, al. i'll sign.
you're tootin' we're gonna stay.
joad. tom joad.
we'll work it out. what's this committee you talkin' about?
are you aimin' to tell me that the fellas that run this camp is jus' fellas--campin' here?
an' you say no cops?
i can't hardly believe it. camp i was in once, they burned it out--the deputies an' some of them poolroom fellas.
you got dances too?
say, who runs this place?
why ain't they more like it?
anything like work aroun' here?
ma's shore gonna like it here. she ain't been treated decent for a long time.
crate fell on me.
goodnight.
good mornin'.
if this don't feel good!
seems like a nice frien'ly fella to work for, too.
shore looks like my lucky day, anyway. gettin' some work at las'.
yes, sir.
listen. what *is* these reds? ever'time you turn aroun' somebody sayin' somebody else's a red. what is these reds, anyway?
but why? those fellas ain't botherin' nobody.
ain't gonna be no trouble.
yes, sir.
ain't gonna get outa han'.
she's gettin' prettier, ma.
excuse me, ma.
i didn't know, ma. i didn't know if i ought.
come outside.
they was some cops here, ma. they was takin' down the license numbers. it looks like somebody knows sump'n.
i'd like to stay. i'd like to be with ya-- --an' see your face when you an' pa get settled in a nice little place. i sure wish i could see you then. but-- --i guess i won't never be able to do that. not now.
i know you would, ma. but i ain't gonna let you. you hide somebody that's kilt a man an'.  an' you'd be in trouble too.
you know what i been thinkin' about, ma? about casy. about what he said, what he done, an' about how he died. an' i remember all of it.
i been thinkin' about us, too--about our people livin' like pigs, an' good rich lan' layin' fallow, or maybe one fella with a million acres, while a hundred thousan' farmers is starvin'. an' i been wonderin' if all our folks got together an' yelled--
they gonna drive me anyways. soon or later they'll get me, for one thing if not another. until then.
no, ma. not that. that ain't it. but long as i'm a outlaw, anyways, maybe i can do sump'n. maybe i can jus' fin' out sump'n. jus' scrounge aroun' an' try to fin' out what it is that's wrong, an then see if they ain't sump'n could be done about it. but i ain't thought it out clear, ma. i can't. i don't know enough.
well, maybe it's like casy says, a fella ain't got a soul of his own, but on'y a piece of a big soul--the one big soul that belongs to ever'body-- an' then.
then it don't matter. then i'll be all aroun' in the dark. i'll be ever'where--wherever you look. wherever there's a fight so hungry people can eat, i'll be there. wherever there's a cop beatin' up a guy, i'll be there. i'll be in the way guys yell when they're mad--an' i'll be in the way kids laugh when they're hungry an' they know supper's ready. an' when our people eat the stuff they raise, an' live in the houses they build, why, i'll be there too.
me neither. it's jus' stuff i been thinkin' about. gimme you han', ma. good-by.
sure. good-by.