Pa’s tone was dignified. "We gonna take what they got. They got lots a stuff to work in." The ragged man giggled under his breath.
Tom turned irritably. "What’s so goddamn funny about that?"
The ragged man shut his mouth and looked sullenly at the porch boards. "You folks all goin’ to California, I bet."
"I tol’ you that," said Pa. "You didn’ guess nothin’."
The ragged man said slowly, "Me – I’m comin’ back. I been there."
– John Steinbeck
The Grapes of Wrath, Chapter 16. This encounter between Pa Joad and a ragged man returning from California foreshadows how the state might not deliver the Joads the prosperity they expect.