The Grapes of Wrath Lies and Deception Quotes

Why don’t you go on west to California? There’s work there, and it never gets cold. Why, you can reach out anywhere and pick an orange. Why, there’s always some kind of crop to work in.

– John Steinbeck

The Grapes of Wrath, Chapter 5. The landowner, who has come to evict the tenant family from their home and farm, suggests that they travel to the Promised Land of California. The Golden State becomes the go-to destination for hundreds of thousands of migrants fleeing the misery of the Dust Bowl. But the promise of a better life turns out to be a false one, there aren’t enough jobs for all the unemployed migrants who overcrowd California.

Watch the woman’s face. If the woman likes it we can screw the old man. Start ’em on that Cad’. Then you can work ’em down to that ’26 Buick. ‘F you start on the Buick, they’ll go for a Ford. Roll up your sleeves an’ get to work. This ain’t gonna last forever.

– John Steinbeck

The Grapes of Wrath, Chapter 7. A ruthless used car dealer takes advantage of the dispossessed migrants fleeing to California. This quote shows how devoid of humanity and profit-hungry he is, his goal being to cheat the unsuspecting customer. Steinbeck uses dramatic irony here, with the reader being able to see the dealer’s dishonesty, but the customer unaware. In this passage the owner advises a salesman to zone in on a female customer who likes a car, so that she will pressure her husband to buy. Deception is a major theme running through this chapter.

Get ’em under obligation. Make ’em take up your time. Don’t let ’em forget they’re takin’ your time. People are nice, mostly. They hate to put you out. Make ’em put you out, an’ then sock it to ’em.

– John Steinbeck

The Grapes of Wrath, Chapter 7. The used car dealer uses dishonest and manipulative tactics to land a sale. Speaking to a salesmen, he suggests that he take advantage of people’s "niceness" to make them feel obliged to buy. He is dehumanized by the way he acts and speaks, using clipped sentences and staccato speech. A corrupt product of the ruthless capitalist system, he is bent on turning a profit at all costs.

Listen, Jim, I heard that Chevvy’s rear end. Sounds like bustin’ bottles. Squirt in a couple quarts of sawdust. Put some in the gears, too. We got to move that lemon for thirty-five dollars. Bastard cheated me on that one. I offer ten an’ he jerks me to fifteen, an’ then the son-of-a-bitch took the tools out. God Almighty!

– John Steinbeck

The Grapes of Wrath, Chapter 7. This entire chapter is about the theme of deception. It is a masterclass in how to cheat vulnerable families fleeing the Dust Bowl. Used car lot owners dupe desperate migrants into buying overpriced defective cars. A crooked business owner instructs his salesman to sell a "lemon" of a car with engine filled with sawdust to hide noisy transmissions.

God, if I could only get a hundred jalopies. I don’t care if they run or not…Christ, if I could only get five hundred jalopies!…Jesus, I wisht I had a thousand jalopies!

– John Steinbeck

The Grapes of Wrath, Chapter 7. Steinbeck employs the literary device of repetition as he quotes the used car lot guy trying to make as much money as he can on his rust buckets. His greed only seems to grow as the sales go on. It is ironic that someone with no moral faith who is a cheat – "I don’t care if they run or not" – calls on God and Jesus to help him make more money.

Guarantee? We guaranteed it to be an automobile. We didn’t guarantee to wet-nurse it. Now listen here, you – you bought a car, an’ now you’re squawkin’. I don’t give a damn if you don’t make payments. We ain’t got your paper. We turn that over to the finance company. They’ll get cops after you, not us. We don’t hold no paper. Yeah? Well you jus’ get tough an’ I’ll call a cop.

– John Steinbeck

The Grapes of Wrath, Chapter 7. The jalopy salesman shows no sympathy for a customer who bought a car which broke down. He cynically tells him that the only guarantee he got is that it is a car. Ironically he threatens to call the law on him, when in fact he is the one selling dodgy cars, which is not quite playing by the rules.

Soften ’em up, Joe. Jesus, I wisht I had a thousand jalopies! Get em’ ready to deal an’ I’ll close ’em.
Goin’ to California? Here’s jus’ what you need. Looks shot, but they’s thousan’s of miles in her.
Lined up side by side. Good Used Cars. Bargains. Clean, runs good.

– John Steinbeck

The Grapes of Wrath, Chapter 7. The unscrupulous second-hand car dealer speaks at a frantic pace in his bid to rip off car buyers with as many jalopies as possible. He tells his salesman to soften up customers, so that he can can close the sale of his beat-up rust buckets. He is greedily exploiting desperate migrant farmers headed for a better life in California, so that he can extract maximum profit from them. The dealer claims that his cars are good, but the reader knows that they are defective and sub-standard. This is an example of dramatic irony. This passage also foreshadows the nature of the California dream. The dealer’s deception of migrants with worn-out cars that are made to seem roadworthy, suggests that the American Dream of a good life in California may turn out to be just that – simply a dream!

Maybe we can start again, in the new rich land – in California, where the fruit grows. We’ll start over.
But you can’t start. Only a baby can start. You and me – why, we’re all that’s been. The anger of a moment, the thousand pictures, that’s us. This land, this red land, is us; and the flood years and the dust years and the drought years are us. We can’t start again.

– John Steinbeck

The Grapes of Wrath, Chapter 9. Tenant farmers discuss the question of starting again in the new rich land of California. Steinbeck is commenting on the hopelessness felt by the tenant farmers. The passage begins on an optimistic note that tenant farmers can restart new lives in California. But the tone then significantly changes. A mood of despondancy takes over, as the farmers realize that the umbilical cord that bonded them to the land has been broken, that connection which was their source of life and meaning is gone, and they can’t start again. It’s all a deception.

That rattle – that’s tappets. Don’t hurt a bit. Tappets can rattle till Jesus comes again without no harm. But that thudding as the car moves along – can’t hear that – just kind of feel it. Maybe oil isn’t gettin’ someplace. Maybe a bearing’s startin’ to go. Jesus, if it’s a bearing, what’ll we do? Money’s goin’ fast.

– John Steinbeck

The Grapes of Wrath, Chapter 12. This quote conveys the migrants’ desperation as they journey in their old and delapidated cars. The deception and lies of the salesmen who sold them the cars comes into play. The families listen for defects in the sub-standard vehicles. They worry that a car rattle means something wrong and with dwindling finances they wonder how they will survive.

‘F we can on’y get to California where the oranges grow before this here ol’ jug blows up.

– John Steinbeck

The Grapes of Wrath, Chapter 12. This quote conveys the desperation of migrants as they soldier on in overheating and malfunctioning jalopies they bought from crooked car salesmen. It is a desperate race against time. Despite the mechanical difficulties, many still tenaciously cling onto the slim hope of a better future at the end of the road in California – if their jalopy doesn’t blow up before then!

Little worried men, reassure themselves that business is noble and not the curious ritualized thievery they know it is; that business men are intelligent in spite of the records of their stupidity; that they are kind and charitable in spite of the principles of sound business; that their lives are rich instead of the thin tiresome routines they know; and that a time is coming when they will not be afraid any more.

– John Steinbeck

The Grapes of Wrath, Chapter 15. Steinbeck denounces dishonorable businessmen who meet in clubs to lie to themselves that what they do is noble – that they are not corrupt, don’t steal and are kind and charitable. By contrast Steinbeck extols the virtues of the humble and dignified Okie migrants, their honorableness, morality and kindness.

"She went on excitedly. "Connie gonna get a job in a store or maybe a fact’ry. An’ he’s gonna study at home, maybe radio, so he can git to be a expert an’ maybe later have his own store…An’ we’ll gave a nice car, little car…An’ we’ll live in town, an’ go to pitchers whenever an’ – well, I’m gonna have a
‘lectric iron, an’ the baby’ll have all new stuff."

– John Steinbeck

The Grapes of Wrath, Chapter 16. Rose of Sharon describes her version of the California dream to Ma Joad. She dreams up a house in town, going to the movies, husband Connie getting his own store, having a car, and buying everything new for the baby. There is a lot of over-expectation and air of self-deception in Rose of Sharon’s list of wishes. This is further strengthened by the reaction of Ma Joad, who changes the subject and "seemed to know it was all a dream," we are told.

Ma suddenly seemed to know it was all a dream. She turned her head forward again and her body relaxed, but the little smile stayed around her eyes. "I wonder how Granma feels today," she said.

– John Steinbeck

The Grapes of Wrath, Chapter 16. When Ma Joad listens to Rose of Sharon speak about herself and Connie having a house, car and their own store in California, Ma realizes that this is all a dream. She believes that her daughter is deceiving herself with such high hopes. So Ma changes the subject.

"It don’t make no sense. This fella wants eight hundred men. So he prints up five thousand of them things an’ maybe twenty thousan’ people sees ’em. An’ maybe two-three thousan’ folks gets movin’ account a this here han’bill. Folks that’s crazy with worry…The more fellas he can get, an’ the hungrier, less he’s gonna pay."

– John Steinbeck

The Grapes of Wrath, Chapter 16. A ragged man coming back from California provides the first evidence that California may not be the promised land migrant families like the Joads hope for. He explains to Pa Joad that the handbills promising work in California are designed to attract too many workers, so that employers can exploit those who show up and pay them as little as possible. Steinbeck is hitting at the corrupt system whereby greedy employers can take advantage of workers’ starvation to add to their own wealth.

"I tried to tell you folks," he said. "Somepin it took me a year to find out. Took two kids dead, took my wife dead to show me. But I can’t tell you. I should of knew that. Nobody couldn’t tell me, neither. I can’t tell ya about them little fellas layin’ in the tent with their bellies puffed out an’ jus’ skin on their bones, an’ shiverin’ an’ whinin’ like pups, an’ me runnin’ aroun’ tryin’ to get work – not for money, not for wages!" he shouted.

– John Steinbeck

The Grapes of Wrath, Chapter 16. The angry ragged man at the campsite tells the Joads his distressing story about life for him and his family in California. Unable to get work in the state, his wife and two children died from starvation. The promised good life there turned out to be a lie for them.

"Sure, nice to look at, but you can’t have none of it. They’s a grove of yella oranges – an’ a guy with a gun that got the right to kill you if you touch one."

– John Steinbeck

The Grapes of Wrath, Chapter 18. Looks are deceiving, the man swimming in the Colorado River warns Pa Joad, who asks if it’s nice in California. It may be beautiful to look at, the man warns, but landowners control the land and will shoot you if you touch one of their oranges. The man suggests that California as a land of opportunity and riches for migrants is a great deception.

"I was afraid we wouldn’ get acrost," she said. "I tol’ Granma we couldn’ he’p her. The fambly had ta get acrost. I tol’ her, tol’ her when she was a-dyin’. We couldn’ stop in the desert. There was the young ones – an’ Rosasharn’s baby. I tol’ her." She put up her hands and covered her face for a moment. "She can get buried in a nice green place," Ma said softly. "Trees aroun’ an’ a nice place. She got to lay her head down in California."
The family looked at Ma with a little terror at her strength.

– John Steinbeck

The Grapes of Wrath, Chapter 18. Ma Joad reveals to the family that Granma died earlier and she sat with her body through the night while they crossed the desert. Granma was dead when stopped by border guards at an agricultural checkpoint, Ma says. She admits lying to the guards that Granma was very ill and needed a doctor. But her lie was for the greater good, so that the Joads could continue their journey across the desert. This passage shows Ma’s great strength and powerful instinct for survival. It shows the individual’s willingness to sacrifice themselves for the sake of the family. For Granma knew she was dying and beyond help and went along with Ma’s plan. Ma also demonstrates her tender side when she speaks about Granma being buried with dignity amid the lush green beauty and trees of California.

"S’pose you got a job a work, an’ there’s jus’ one fella wants the job. You got to pay ‘im what he asts. But s’pose they’s a hunderd men…S’pose they’s a hunderd men wants that job. S’pose them men got kids, an’ them kids is hungry. S’pose a lousy dime’ll buy a box a mush for them kids. S’pose a nickel’ll buy at – leas’ somepin for them kids. An’ you got a hunderd men. Jus’ offer ’em a nickel – why, they’ll kill each other fightin’ for that nickel."

– John Steinbeck

The Grapes of Wrath, Chapter 20. Floyd Knowles explains the corrupt and inhuman system employed by exploitative California landowners to recruit workers and pay them low wages. He tells Tom why they print so many handbills advertising for labor. The promise of so many jobs is a deception to attract a surplus of laborers and pay them as little as possible. If a hundred turn up for a job, you can offer them a nickel and they’ll kill each other for the chance to earn it to feed hungry children.

Floyd said angrily, "You didn’ say how many men, an’ you didn’ say what you’d pay."
"Goddamn it, I don’t know yet."
"If you don’ know, you got no right to hire men."
"I got a right to run my own business my own way."

– John Steinbeck

The Grapes of Wrath, Chapter 20. Floyd Knowles angrily confronts a contractor who comes to the Hooverville camp to hire fruit pickers for low wages. Floyd has been caught before by contractors promising a certain pay on some distant farm, then arriving to find they get paid half that. So Floyd demands that the contractor show him his license and a signed work order saying where, when and how much the work will pay.

"He’ll get five thousan’ there, an’ he’ll pay fifteen cents an hour. An’ you poor bastards’ll have to take it ’cause you’ll be hungry."

– John Steinbeck

The Grapes of Wrath, Chapter 20. Floyd Knowles has a go at an exploitative fruit farm contractor who wants to hire workers from the migrant camp. The contractor won’t say exactly what the pay is, except "’Bout thirty cents, I guess." But Floyd warns the other migrants that when they arrive at the farm they’ll find the pay is 15 cents, and will accept it because they are hungry.
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