And still the family stood about like dream walkers, their eyes focused panoramically, seeing no detail, but the whole dawn, the whole land, the whole texture of the country at once.
– John Steinbeck
The Grapes of Wrath, Chapter 10. Steinbeck describes the moment of departure for the migrating Joads, in terms of their American dream. The family is part of a bigger movement of hundreds of thousands of migrants who will take Highway 66 to California. All have been lured by a collective dream of hope and plenty in the West. What will this new land bring to the Joads? This passage reflects the grand scale of their dream as they leave Oklahoma and head off into the unknown.