They heaped the mud up in a long embankment, and those who had no shovels cut live willow whips and wove them in a mat and kicked them into the bank. Over the men came a fury of work, a fury of battle. When one man dropped the shovel, another took it up. They had shed their coats and hats. Their shirts and trousers clung tightly to their bodies, their shoes were shapeless blobs of mud.
– John Steinbeck
The Grapes of Wrath, Chapter 30. At the urging of Pa Joad, the men in the boxcars work as a team to build a makeshift dam following three days of heavy rain. The Joads’ boxcar is under threat because it is close to the swelling stream. While women get on with domestic work, the camp men work to prevent the Joads’ shelter from being flooded. The fact that nature will soon destroy the dam may be Steinbeck suggesting that men and women working seperately doesn’t work. This passage displays themes of kindness, community, survival, gender roles and perseverance.