Another instance that demonstrates the migrants’ developing unity is in their willingness to assist each other and bond through their struggles. In this way, because they “all come from a place of sadness and worry and defeat,” they grow closer together and “share their lives, [...] the very things they hoped for in the new country” (Steinbeck 193). This observation shows the families bonding over their struggles; uniting under their shared trepidations of change. Fear is a powerful motivator throughout The Grapes of Wrath. It pushes hundreds of families from their homes and forces them to suffer at the hands of corporate businesses and landowners. These people, who struggle against common enemies, turn to each other in their times of need.
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Despite travelling alone by day, “Every night a world [is] created, complete with friends and enemies [alike]” (194). The migrants rely heavily on these worlds for many things, as they consider it one of the only times they can interact with families experiencing similar struggles. The majority of the time they do not invest in the worlds is for travelling. Although “at first the families were timid in [these] worlds,” continuing west “their builders were more experienced in building them” and their worlds were “more complete and better furnished” (194). This ability to create the camps becomes crucial to them, as they turn to these worlds for comfort nightly. Their reliance on other migrants to help build up these camps demonstrates their developing unity. Had they not founded this tradition, they would not have had this bond so early on in the book. The migrants even abandon their “rights to intrude… to be noisy… of seduction or rape, the right of adultery and theft and murder” because they recognize “the little worlds could not exist for even a night with such rights established” (194). In this way, anything that the migrants feel may endanger the stability of their small communities is often forbidden. This demonstrates how they care too much for the worlds to let old habits tarnish their shared nature, no matter the significance of the rights. Another example of this is shown in how they establish “government in the worlds, with leaders” (195) despite their initial reluctance to do so. The migrants’ willingness to adapt to these customs further proves their newfound unity together. In comparison to their ideologies at the beginning of the novel, where they act and consider themselves to be highly independent and self-governed, this is an important change in their lifestyles. It’s a development of culture, “so fixed that a family
Despite travelling alone by day, “Every night a world [is] created, complete with friends and enemies [alike]” (194). The migrants rely heavily on these worlds for many things, as they consider it one of the only times they can interact with families experiencing similar struggles. The majority of the time they do not invest in the worlds is for travelling. Although “at first the families were timid in [these] worlds,” continuing west “their builders were more experienced in building them” and their worlds were “more complete and better furnished” (194). This ability to create the camps becomes crucial to them, as they turn to these worlds for comfort nightly. Their reliance on other migrants to help build up these camps demonstrates their developing unity. Had they not founded this tradition, they would not have had this bond so early on in the book. The migrants even abandon their “rights to intrude… to be noisy… of seduction or rape, the right of adultery and theft and murder” because they recognize “the little worlds could not exist for even a night with such rights established” (194). In this way, anything that the migrants feel may endanger the stability of their small communities is often forbidden. This demonstrates how they care too much for the worlds to let old habits tarnish their shared nature, no matter the significance of the rights. Another example of this is shown in how they establish “government in the worlds, with leaders” (195) despite their initial reluctance to do so. The migrants’ willingness to adapt to these customs further proves their newfound unity together. In comparison to their ideologies at the beginning of the novel, where they act and consider themselves to be highly independent and self-governed, this is an important change in their lifestyles. It’s a development of culture, “so fixed that a family