ture: rain, weeds, dust, wind" (Isherwood, 79). Nature then knows that the house is no longer useful to the Joad's and "reclaims it as its own" (Isherwood, 79). Some of the most interesting proofs of the nature symbolism come the "interchapters". Steinbeck includes several chapters throughout the novel which simply act as a reference to some other idea, that at first glance, have no meaning to the story, but, on further inspection, prove some of Steinbeck's main points. The most famous of these is the journey of the turtle. Steinbeck opens a chapter by describing a turtle that is struggling to cross a highway. He goes into great detail to explain much about the turtle and its own little journey, but he really doesn't say much about the purpose. That is because it becomes very clear. The turtle is heading somewhere and must cross a road. It struggles and struggles and when it finally gets close to its destination, a truck comes by and knocks it across the road unharmed. The moral here is that the turtle made it across, but if it had tried any less, if it had endured any less diligently, it might have been hit by the tire instead of just being brushed aside by it.There is also the chapter about the ant lion trap, which is analogous to the fact that most farmers were scurrying around trying to acquire land and supplies to live but have to avoid being caught at the same time. Of course, not everyone can succeed, so Steinbeck inserts the story of the Joad's dog being hit by a truck. Not everyone is going to be as lucky as the turtle in their efforts, and this lesson comes at a price to the Joads.Each machine taking over where laborers once reigned is an event that pushes the level of adaptation to adversity for each family. "One man on a tractor can take the place of twelve or fourteen families." With this statement from the novel, Steinbeck illustrates how machines add to the complexity of the situation. Not only are the mach...
