gow 25-26

1. The significance is that even though there is an abundance of crops, the owners don’t want to sell it because the price it will bring is too low. They are trying to drive the price of the product up through destroying the crops. The poor migrant workers are watching their children starve to death and cannot do anything about it. The owners are having their crops burnt or dumped and would rather pay for security to make sure the starving children don’t get any of food.

2. A man drives by and tells them that there is work picking peaches at the Hooper Ranch for 5 cents a box. They drive there and find a lot of cars and angry people shouting outside the farm. They pull through and are given a house to live in. The government house had running water, hot water, a good stove and a bathroom. This new house was greasy and had a rusty stove. It was not an improvement. The children didn’t run away to find friends so it wasn’t as friendly an environment.

3. Tom encounters Casey, who is the “Oakie” organizer. Casey is trying to organize the union. He knows that when they leave the owners will just treat the migrant workers worse and pay them less than what they are already getting because there are so many people out of work and willing to work for hardly anything.

Casey’s skull was crushed by a pick handle. He is trying to get his killers to realize what their actions are causing, and they are cause poor children to stave to death.

4. The company store charges enough so that the migrant workers cannot get ahead. Their justification was that they could go to town and buy the products for cheaper, but in reality the people don’t have the gas money to go. This was another way to keep the migrant workers working for them. They aren’t even given money; only pieces of paper with an amount of money written on it. The owners knew the workers were starving and would purchase food, and therefore they wouldn’t lose any money in labor.

5. Power has moved to Ma from Pa and the other men because she is the only one able to get things done. She is trying to keep the family together and that makes her very strong. She will do anything to protect them. Ma and Tom appear to be the only ones that are always on top of things and are only stronger as time wears on.