Chapter 20- Hoovervilles

1. Chapter 20- Hoovervilles • Core Value: Higher order thinking skills • 21st CLE: Students should communicate clearly and effectively EQ: How did the time period in which the work was written affect how and why it was written? • Standard 12: Students will identify, analyze, and apply knowledge of the structure and elements of fiction

2. Activator: How does this picture relate to the story? Why would the artist photograph this scene? Does this pictures reflect ethos, pathos, or logos?

3. Agenda 10.1 • Check-in • Activator Chapter 20 • Go over Chapter 20 • Summarizer: What is the significance of the end of the chapter? • Assign essay Homework: Read 21-22 ½ (See syllabus)

4. Hooverville • Looks disorganized • Meet the “Mayor” a bearded man- bull simple • The cops have pushed him around so much his mind is still spinning • Floyd Knowles- young man working on a car

5. Why do the deputies keep pushing them along? • Why aren’t the migrant allowed to stay in one place?

6. Floyd says the following:“You got a job a work, an’ there’s jus’ one fella wants the job. You got to pay ‘im what he asts. But s’posethey’s a hundred men. S’psethey’s a hundred men wants that job. S’pose them buy a box a mush for them kids. S’pose a nickel’ll buy at least sompin for them kids. An’ you got a hundred men. Jus’ offer ‘em a nickel– why, they’ll kill each other fightin’ for that nickel” (334).What is this an example of?

7. Why won’t the men unionize to fight for a fair wage? • “First time this fella opens his mouth they grab ‘im an’ stick ‘im in jail, An if they’s another leader pops up, why, they stick ‘imin jail” (336). • Doesn’t sound bad, go to jail food and shelter, but what about the kids?

8. Blacklists • What’s a blacklist? What consequence does this have on the farmers? • Tom – “So we take what we can get, huh, or we starve; an’ if we yelp we starve” (336). So who wins?

9. “My people ain’t no sheep”- Tom (336) • Floyd tells him that he’s nobody, so they’ll just kill him and his body will be found in a ditch- “Vagrant found dead” (337) • His advice be “bull simple”

10. Casy’s thinking… uh OH We don’t need one! Where’s our leader? Maybe I am… • He hears folks and listens to how they are feeling and they’re like a bird in the attic that’s “gonna bust their wings on a dusty windatryin’ to get out” (340). • “They’s an army of us without no harness” (340) • Significance?

11. Tom’s sixth sense- can smell trouble • “Stick aroun’… I was talkin’ to a kid up the road. An’ he’s bein’ jus’ as sneaky an’ wise as a dog coyote, but he’s too wise. Dog coyote a-mindin’ his own business an’ innocent an’ sweet, jus’ havin’ fun an’ no harm– well, they’s a hen roost close by” (342). • When nice folks know nothing about nothing “somepin’sgoin’ on” (343).

12. Oh, Connie Boy… • Would have stayed home and studied tractors if he known it was going to be like this. • Rose of Sharon worried that he’s going to leave. He’s not very reassuring, “No– No– ‘course not” (343).

13. Ma cooking dinner • Children gather around her like animals (“wolfish”) looking for food and warmth (351). • Children don’t want to admit that they didn’t have breakfast. • Older girl describes the wonders of the Weedpatch camp. Ma lets the kids get a flat stick/spoon and have the remnants • She can’t even watch. • Why? Who else can’t watch? “mound of children smothered the pot” (352)- ants again…

14. No charity! • Mother of the children came over and was upset with Ma. Why? • “Don’t you go a boastin’ an’ a-braggin’ ‘bout havin’ stew. Don’t you do it” (353). • Ma wants to know what the woman expected her to do: be selfish?

15. Floyd’s good news! • Work up north in Santa Clara Valley- prunes and pears, but 200 miles away. • Have to sneak away so no one else follows them. Why? • They’re not sure, but Al wants to go no matter what

16. Man comes in Chevrolet… • Work in Tulare County • Floyd asks for pay- guy isn’t sure about 30 cents • Floyd asks for guy’s license and a work slip and they’ll go. • Contractor tells the deputy that Floyd is “Talkin’ red, agitating trouble” (359). • What do they do to get rid of Floyd and then how do they threaten Tom? • Deputy warns them and tells them to clear out

17. Deputy tries to take Floyd… • Spins and hits the deputy in the face • Tom trips him • Deputy grabs gun and shoots and Floyd, but hits a woman’s hand in front of the tent instead. • Floyd sprints for the willows, but the deputy raises his gun again… • Casy kicks him in the neck. • Casy tells Tom to flee because the deputy saw Tom trip him and he’s on parole.

18. Casy’s sacrifice • “Somebody got to take the blame. I got not kids. They’ll jus’ put me in jail, an’ I ain’tdoin’ nothin’, but set aroun’” (363). • Casy’s crime= talking back and hitting the deputy. • Makes sure the woman gets help. • Cop says proudly, “What a mess a .45 does make! We’ll send a doctor out” (364). • Casy taken away, but “On his lips there was a faint smile and on his face a curious look of conquest” (364). What’s that all about?

19. Uncle John • Wants to tell about his sins • Ma says, “Well, don’t tell ‘em. Go down the river an’ stick your head under an’ whisper ‘em in the stream” (365). • Pa agrees, “It gives a fella relief to tell, but it jus’ spreads out his sin” (365). • What do you think?

20. Rose a Sharon and Uncle John’s Melt Downs… • Connie has left Rose a Sharon. Why? • Ma tells Rose a Sharon to keep going and not think about- “take this here knife an’ get to them potatoes” (366). • Rose a Sharon says she’ll get even with him if he comes back and Ma says “He might smack you. You got it comin’… smacks some sense in you I’ll bless him” (366). • Uncle John kept $5- feels guilt so gives it Pa. • Why does he want $2? Why did he keep the money hidden?

21. Floyd explains the way things are up north • “The deputies got take guys in. Sheriff gets seventy-five cents ad ay fore ach prisoner, an’ he feeds ‘em for a quarter. If he ain’t got prisoners, he don’t make no profit” (371). Are the prisons today about making money? • What is Steinbeck trying to say with this quote?

22. Pa says good riddance about Connie. How does Ma feel about that? • Why do the Joads have to leave that night?

23. Tom looks for Uncle John • Grocery store owner saw him buy two bottles of whiskey and crumple up his hat. • Uncle John is found drunk and singing • Just wants to die- tired, doesn’t want to wake up– “Gonna wear a golden crown”

24. Leaving… • Tom says, “They comes a time when a man gets mad,” but Ma reminds him of his promise (381). • Tom’s argument: • “If it was the law they as workin’ with, why, we could take it. But it ain’t the law. They’re a-workin’ away at our spirits. They’re a-tryin’ to make us cringe an’ crawl like a whipped bitch. They tryin’ to break us… They workin’ on our decency” (381). • What is he saying?

25. Ma- “Tom, we’re the people that live…. Why, we’re the people– we go on” (383). • Tom- we take beatings. • Ma- “Maybe that’s what makes us touch. Rich fellas come up an’ they die, an’ their kids ain’t no good, an’ they die out. But, Tom, we keep a-comin’. Don’t you fret none, Tom. A different time’s comin’” (383). What different time is coming?

26. Summarizer: What does the crowd of men on the highway show about the people of California? How is this closing to the chapter a final realization for the Joads of their true situation in California?