The Grapes of Wrate - Chapters 20 - 22

At the start of chapter 20 the Joads have just left Grandma with the coroner. Ma is sad because Grandma always wanted a nice funeral but they didn't have the money to give her one. They then move into a Hooverville and set up camp for the night. Tom makes friends with another man in the camp and this man tells Tom that he has heard there is work up north. Meanwhile nobody has seen Connie for awhile, and while Rose of Sharon thinks he will come back, everyone else knows that he won't. Once the family has ate and has begun to settle in a car pulls into the camp with two men inside. The man that was driving steps out and asks a group of men if they want any work. Of course the men say they need work, but Floyd, the man that Tom has made friends with, asks the contractor how much he is going to pay. The man says he's not sure, and Floyd starts to get angry. He starts to get angry because he knows that the man isn't a real contractor. He knows that he is just going to get as many guys as he can to come and show up for work so that he can pay them hardly anything. Floyd then asks him to show his liscence if he is a contractor, and the man starts to get angry and calls for the other man in the car. The other man steps out of the car, and everyone can see he is a deputy. The contractor asks the deputy if he has every seen Floyd before and the deputy says that he is the same guy that robbed a used-car lot last week, which isn't true. When the deputy orders Floyd to get in the car Tom steps in and says that the deputy has nothing on Floyd, which only aggrivated the deputy enough to tell the rest of the camp that they all better go work for this contractor because they are going to have to burn down the camp the next day anyways. As they turn to leave the deputy grabs Floyds arm to escort him into the car, but instead Floyd punches him and as he staggers around Tom trips him and Floyd takes off. As the deputy lies on the ground he starts shooting at Floyd running between the tents, but instead shoots a ladie's fingers right off her hand. As the deputy attempts to get up Reverand Casey steps up and kicks him in the neck. Casey tells Tom to run, he will take the blame for it. Tom hesistates, and then realizes that he has to, considering that he is on parole. When more deputies arrive they take Casey away and probably to jail.
After this whole incident, the Joads decide that they should get out before they come to burn the camp down. They decide to try to go north to where they heard there was some work. They don't get far before they are stopped by a handful of men who won't let them enter their town because they don't wan't "Okies" taking over. So instead of giving up, they decide to go around the towns and find the government camp that they have heard so many good things about. They arrive at the camp in the middle of the night to find that there is a spot that has just opened. They don't even unpack, they set up their tent, and they all fall asleep.
In the morning Tom is the first one up and he meets the Wallaces. They say they have had work for 12 days straight and tell Tom that they can probably get him work too. Tom agrees to go with them to work. They have to walk about a mile and when they get there the boss agrees to let Tom work for 25 cents an hour. This man, the boss, also tells them though that there is going to be a fight at the next Saturday night dance at the camp. He continues to tell them that the reason for this fight is because then the cops can come in and shut down the camp. I think this bit of information will come into play in the next few chapters.
While Tom is working the rest of the family is trying to get used to their new home. The government camp is the nicest place they have stayed at since they left Oklahoma. It has wash tubs, toilets, and even showers. They also start to learn how this camp is run. The people in the camp elect officers to run the camp. There are even seperate officers for the women and the men. Ma is given a tour of the camp by the women officers and ma thinks that this is the greatest camp ever. Rose of Sharon is starting to go a little crazy though. She believes that she is going to lose her baby if she sins just because this one crazy lady told her so. Meanwhile, the rest of the men go looking for work and find none. Ma doesn't seem to care though, she seems so happy to be in such a nice place with people that are just like her. At the end of the chapter she tells Tom and Al to go to the store and get something good to eat. I think she wants to have a celebration, even if they don't have any money, because they have found such a nice place.