John Steinbeck again switches to a more general overview of a flashback of the Joad family. They were only allowed to take the necessities: food, clothing, a few pots and pans, oil, money, and a rifle, on their trip. The rest of their possessions they had to sell in order to make some money and make room on the truck for their family. This chapter covers the trouble they went through to sell the items and their disappointment afterwards.
First off many of their items were out dated farming equipment. One of the reasons they were forced out was the newer, more efficient farming equipment. Also, the country was in a recession already and many people were not buying or paying full price for anything. Yet, these custromers were not only buying the material items.
They were also buying the memories that went into those items, the hard work that assisted those items. There were strong emotions setting in selling the household items. People felt bitterness and rage in actually having to sell their house hold belongings in the first place. There was sadness in having to say goodbye to their memories in those items. "There's a premium goes with this pile of junk and the bay horses--so beautiful--a packet of bitterness to grow in your house and to flower, some day. We could have saved you, but you cut us down, and soon you will be cut down and there'll be none of us to save you."
These people were not just selling their house hold possessions, they were selling their lives. They did not know what awaited them in California; they were starting anew. They had to just drop their livelihoods, leave, and resettle. Confusion was an obvious reaction, and it was accompanied by fear: fear of the unknown, fear of a new start, a new life. "How can we live without our lives? How will we know it's us without our past?"
"Suddenly they were nervous. Got to get out quick now."
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