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.