me, returning to his old lifestyle, catching up on lost time and having some fun. As he learns about the journey west his first priority becomes his family, and he puts them and their welfare before everything else. Finally at the end of the book he decides to take it upon himself to be a voice for all of the “Okies” and fight against the unfairness they all faced on a daily basis. This change is best put by Ma at the end of the book when she says to Mrs. Wainwright, “Use’ ta be the fambly that was fust. It ain’t so now. It’s anybody. Worse off we get, the more we got to do.” (606) Barror-3Throughout the novel, the acts of kindness by poor people are contrasted to the greed and meanness of the rich. One of the ironies of the book was that, as Ma Joad said, "If your in trouble or hurt or need -- go to poor people. They're the only ones that'll help -- the only ones." (335) The irony is that if you need something you have to go to the people who have nothing. The first example of this is at the truck station in Chapter 15 when the restaurant owner and waitress give the family bread at a discounted rate, and candy two for a penny when it is actually nickel candy. The truck drivers then leave large tips to the waitress. Neither the truck driver nor the restaurant owner and waitress are very rich but they are generous anyway. In Chapter seventeen Tom and Al receive car parts from a worker at a run down auto shop at a great discount. Ma Joad is also an example of this. The Joads are poor and yet they give what little they have to the children who need it. In contrast the business class people are shown as ruthless bloodthirsty demons. All they care about is their own personal wealth and to them the poor are simply walking signs reading “take what little money I have, I am poor and desperate”. Chapter seven shows how the car dealers rip the people off by selling them pieces of junk ...
