ted to deadness. The land has become a ruined way of life. The farming is gone, and the people are uprooted and forced to leave their homes. The soil, as well as the people, have been drained of life, and have been exploited by big banks and businesses.“The last rain fell on the red and gray country of Oklahoma in early May. The weeds became a dark green to protect themselves from the sun's unyielding rays....The wind grew stronger, uprooting the weakened corn, and the air became so filled with dust that the stars were not visible at night.”As the chapter continues, a turtle, which appears and reappears several times early in the novel, can be seen to stand for survival, a driving life force in all of mankind that cannot be beaten by nature or man. The turtle represents a hope that the trip to the west is survivable by the farmer migrants (Joad family). The turtle further represents the migrant’s struggles against nature and man by overcoming every obstacle he comes across: the red ant in his path, the truck driver who tries to run over him, and being captured in Tom Joad's jacket. And now a light truck approached, and as it came near, the driver saw the turtle and tried to hit the poor thing. The driver of the truck works for a large company. His company tries to stop the migrants from going west. When the driver attempts to hit the turtle, I think it’s another example of the big guy trying to injure or kill the little guy. Everything the turtle encounters, tries its best to stop the turtle from making it journey. Steadily the turtle advances on, ironically to the southwest, the same direction the Joad family will take toward California. In the novel, the turtle is described as being lasting, ancient, old and wise: “horny head, yellowed toenails, indestructible high dome of a shell, humorous old eyes.”The driver of the truck, red ant, and Tom Joad's jacket, are all symbolic of nature and man trying...
