"Funny thing. I wanta buy stuff. Stuff I don’t need. Like to git one a them safety razors. Thought I’d like to have some a them gloves over there. Awful cheap."
"Can’t pick no cotton with gloves," said Pa.
"I know that. An’ I don’t need no safety razor, neither. Stuff settin’ out there, you jus’ feel like buyin’ it whether you need it or not."
– John Steinbeck
The Grapes of Wrath, Chapter 28. What a little money can do to a person! With the Joads earning money picking cotton, Uncle John becomes infected with the bug of consumerism. He purchases things he doesn’t need, buying just for the sake of buying. It seems that the Joads, when financial circumstances improve, are not immune to the lure of material possessions. They start to behave like the rich! Or at least Uncle John does.