"Go down an’ tell ’em. Go down in the street an’ rot an’ tell ’em that way. That’s the way you can talk. Don’ even know if you was a boy or a girl. Ain’t gonna find out. Go on down now, an’ lay in the street. Maybe they’ll know then."
– John Steinbeck
The Grapes of Wrath, Chapter 30. Uncle John says this as he places Rose of Sharon’s stillborn baby in a box and sends it floating away in the stream. In doing so, he wishes that the body will be a message and a protest to the townspeople about the inhuman conditions of people in the migrant camps. His hope is that it will shock and stir people’s humanity, provoke their anger and bring about change.