Chapter 13

Chapter thirteen foreshadows events on the Joad family's trip. When they first meet the service station owner, he treats them with rudeness and contempt. This foreshadows the other people on the road they will meet that will treat them with just as much hatred and contempt as the owner did. However, this meeting is ironic in itself. The owner himself is packing up and heading out for better work also. Yet he degrades the Joad's trying to boost himself up. He is caught in his own charade, humiliated for his behavior.

The next significant events are the death of the Joad family's dog and Grampa. This represents the bad obstacles that are yet to come. It also foreshadows more death and sadness. They do find a little bit of hope in the new characters they meet, Mr. Ivy and Sairy Wilson. They are a middle aged couple from Kansas with no children. Ivy is a lean man, with dirty blue jeans, and blue shirt and black vest with a straw hat. " His face was lean, the deep cheek-lines great furrow down his face so that his cheek bones and chin stood out sharply. He looked up at the Joad truck and his eyes were puzzled and angry." Sairy Wilson is a sickly woman, who tries very hard to hide her pain. The couple was on their way out west until their car broke down, and Ivy was having trouble fixing it.

In turn for friendship and help, the Joad's promise to help fix Ivy and Sairy Wilson's car. With this, the families pair up together and plan to travel with each other, helping each other, and caring for each other. Still even in their new friendship, there is pain and sadness. "Only Sairy Wilson was awake. She stared into the sky and braced her body firmly against pain." This foreshadows more suffering and pain. Also it symbolizes the fight against the suffering. The coming together of the families can also symbolize the coming together of the Joad family. With their losses now and their losses to come, the Joad family depend on each other more and more.