The Wilsons lend the Joads their tent so that Grampa can have a comfortable place to die. The Joads return the couple's kindness by fixing their broken-down car.

The one-eyed man does nothing but complain about his lonely life. Tom advises him to get an eye patch, take a shower, fix up one of the broken-down cars and go seek his fortune.

A former preacher, Casy is the moral voice of the novel, articulating many of its most important themes, among them the sanctity of the people and the essential unity of all mankind.

When Al Joad falls in love with Agnes at a cotton plantation where they are working, he decides to stay with her rather than leaving with his family.

Ma brings pork chops and fried potatoes when she tells Tom goodbye.

The novel ends unexpectedly with the Joad family sheltering in a barn against the flooding rains with a boy and his starving father. Rose of Sharon then has the family and the boy leave the barn and proceeds to feed the starving man her breast milk to keep him alive.

Floyd is familiar with the California job market. He urges Tom and Casy to join labor organizations.

The Associated Farmers of California was angered by the book, which implied that they used migrants for cheap labor. They called the book a "pack of lies" and launched an attack against it, publicly burning the work and calling it Communist.

Ma worries for Winfield's well-being, fearing that without a proper home he will grow up to be wild and rootless.

One of the Joads' neighbors, Muley Graves is invited to come along to California but refuses.