- 0:03:10 I was in the pen
- Tom: Why don't you get at it, buddy?
Truck driver: Get at what?
Tom: You know what I'm talking about. You been goin' over me ever since I got in. Why don't you ask me where I've been?
Truck driver: I don't stick my nose in anybody's business.
Tom: Nah, not much!
Truck driver: I stay in my own yard.
Tom: That big nose of yours has been goin' over me like a sheep in a vegetable patch. Well, I ain't keepin' it secret. I've been in the penitentiary. Been there four years.
- 0:12:33 The dusters
- Tom: Well what happened? How come they got to get off? We lived here 50 years, same place.
Muley: Everybody's got to get off. Everybody's leavin', goin' out to California. Your folks, my folks, everybody's folks. Everybody except me. I ain't gettin' off.
Tom: Who done it?
Muley: Listen. That's some of what done it. (Wind howls.) The dusters. They started it, anyways. Blowin' like this year after year. Blowin' the land away, blowin' the crops away . . . and blowin' us away now!
- 0:13:37 Eviction time
- The Man: The fact of the matter, Muley, after what them dusters done to the land, the tenant system don't work no more. You don't even break even, much less show a profit. Why, one man and a tractor can handle twelve or fourteen of these places. You just pay him a wage and take all the crop.
Muley: Yeah, but uh, we couldn't do on any less than what our share is now. Why, the children ain't getting enough to eat as it is, and they're so ragged. We'd be ashamed if everybody else's children wasn't the same way.
The Man: I can't help that. All I know is, I got my orders. They told me to tell you to get off, and that's what I'm telling you.
Muley: You mean get off of my own land?
The Man: Now don't go to blamin' me! It ain't my fault.
Son: Who's fault is it?
The Man: You know who owns the land. The Shawnee Land and Cattle Company.
Muley: And who's the Shawnee Land and Cattle Company.
The Man: It ain't nobody. It's a company.
Son: They got a President, ain't they? They got somebody who knows what a shotgun's for, ain't they?
The Man: Oh son, it ain't his fault, because the bank tells him what to do. Son: All right, where's the bank?
The Man: Tulsa. What's the use of picking on him? He ain't nothing but the manager. And he's half-crazy himself trying to keep up with his orders from the East.
Muley: Then who do we shoot?
The Man: Brother, I don't know. If I did, I'd tell ya. I just don't know who's to blame.
Muley: I'm right here to tell you, mister, there ain't nobody gonna push me off my land! My grandpa took up this land seventy years ago. My pa was born here. We was all born on it. And some of us was killed on it. And some of us died on it. That's what makes it arn. Being born on it and working on it and dying, dying on it. And not no piece of paper with writing on it.
- 0:23:26 California -- The Promised Land
- Granpa: Wait 'till I get to California, I'm going to reach up and pick me an orange whenever I want! Or some grapes! Now-- Now-Now-Now, there's something I ain't never had enough of. I'm gonna get me a whole big bunch of grapes off the bush and I'm gonna squash them all over my face and let the juice drain down off my chin.
Granma: Praise the Lord for Vittery!
Granpa: M-M-M-Maybe I'll get me a whole washtub full of grapes and just sit in 'em and scrounge around in 'em until they're all gone. {Chuckles} I sure would like that.
- 0:25:08 Going to California
- Tom: Muley told me what happened; you’re going to California, true?
Ma: Oh we got to go, Tommy, but its going to be alright, I seen the hand bills ‘bout how much work they is, and high wages too.
- 0:25:20 I don't want no mean son
- Ma: There’s somethin’ I gotta find out first, Tommy. Did they hurt you, son? Did they hurt you and make you mean mad?
Tom: - Mad, Ma? -- Sometimes they do.
Ma: Sometimes they do
Tom: No, Ma, I was at first, but not no more.
Ma: Sometimes they do somethin’ to you. They hurt you and you get mad and then you get mean. Then they hurt you again and you get meaner and meaner ‘till you ain’t no boy nor man anymore -- just a walking chunk of mean mad. Did they hurt that way, son?
Tom: No Ma, don’t worry about that.
Ma: Well, I -- I don’t want no mean son.
- 0:33:08 It's mine
- Grampa Joad: This is my country and I belong here. It's my dirt. . . . It's no good, but it's . . . it's mine, all mine.
- 0:36:07 Moving forward
- Ma: We’re goin’ to California, ain’t we? All right then, let’s go to California
Al: That don’t sound like you, Ma. You never was like that before.
Ma: I never had my house pushed over before. Never had my family stuck out in the road . . . never had to lose everything I had in life.
- 0:38:58 Dead man > live man
- Tom: Nobody killed him. Just a stroke and he died. Figure best we leave something like this on him. Unless somebody digs him up, makes out he was killed. Looks like a lot of times the government’s got more interest . . . in a dead man, than a live one.
Pa: Not be so lonesome, knowin his name’s there with him.
- 0:39:52 Closing words
- Casy: This here old man just lived a life and just died out of it. I don’t know whether he was good or bad. It don’t matter much. Heard a fella say a poem once . . . and he says, “All that lives is holy.†Well, I wouldn’t pray just for an old man that’s dead, ‘ cause he’s all right. If I was to pray, I’d pray for folks that’s alive and don’t know which way to turn. Grandpa here, he ain’t got no more trouble like that. He’s got his job all cut out for him, so . . . cover him up and let him get to it.
- 0:44:04 The handbills
- Migrant: Now, how many of you all got them handbills?...(The men respond that they all have them) There you are, same yellow handbill. 800 Pickers Wanted. All right, the man wants 800 men, so he prints 5,000 handbills and maybe 20,000 people see 'em. And maybe two or three thousand people start West on account of that handbill. Two or three thousand people that are crazy with worry headin' out for 800 jobs. Now does that make sense?
- 0:47:21 Family pride
- Gas Station Attendant: You folks aim to buy anything?
Al: We want some gas, mister.
Gas Station Attendant: Got any money?
Al: What do you think? We're beggin'?
Gas Station Attendant: I just asked, that's all.
Tom: Well, ask right. You ain't talkin' to bums, you know.
- 0:52:50 The Land a Milk and Honey
- Pa: Well, there she is, folks. The land a milk and honey -- California.
Connie: Well, if that's what we come out here for--
Rosasharn: Well, Connie, maybe it's nice on the other side. Them little picture postcards they was really pretty.
Ma: There, Grandma. There's California.
Granma: [Spits.]
- 0:56:30 They ain’t human
- Service Station Man 1: You and me got sense. Them Okies got no sense or no feelin’. They ain’t human. No, a human being wouldn’t live the way they do. Human bein’ couldn’t stand to be so miserable.
Service Station Man 2: Just don’t know any better I guess.
- 1:00:38 The Promised Land
- Pa: Ma! Grandma! Look! There she is! There she is! I never knowed there was anything like her!
Rose: Will ya look at her!
Pa: Lookee yonder, John
Ruthie: Look how pretty and green it is, Winfield!
Pa: Wonder if them’s orange trees, John
John: Look like orange trees to me.
Pa: Well, they sure are pretty, whatever they are.
John: Oh, yes indeed
Ruthie: Look at them haystacks! I bet we could sure have fun playin’ over there.
Noah: Pretty, ain’t it? Mighty pretty.
- 1:01:19 Closure
- Tom: Where’s Ma? I want Ma see this! Look, Ma! Come here, Ma! You sick, Ma?
Ma: You say we got across?
Tom: Look!
Ma: Oh, Thank God! And we’re still together, most of us.
Tom: Didn’t you sleep none? Was Grandma bad?
Ma: Grandma’s dead
Tom: When?
Ma: Since before they stopped us last night.
Tom: That’s why you didn’t want ‘em to look, huh?
Ma: Well, I was afraid they’d stop us and we wouldn’t get across. I told Grandma. I told her when she was dyin’. I told her the family had to get across. I told her we couldn’t take no chance on bein’ stopped. So its all right. She’ll get buried where its nice and green and trees and flowers all around. She got to lay her head down in California after all.
- 1:06:02 First meal of the day
- Little girl: I could break up some brush if you want me ma’am.
Ma Joad: You wanna be asked to eat, don’t ya?
Little girl: Yes ma’am
Ma Joad: Didn’t you have no breakfast?
Little girl: No ma’am, there aint no work hereabouts. Pa’s been tryin to sell some stuff to get gas so we can get along.
Ma Joad: Didn’t none of yous have no breakfast?
Little boy: I did. Me and my brother did. We had good.
Ma Joad: Well, you ain't hungry then are ya?
Little boy: Well, yeah, we good.
Ma Joad: Well I'm glad some of yous ain't hungry cause there wont be enough of this to go around.
Other little girl: Aw he was braggin, know what he done? Last night he came out to say he got chicken to eat, Well sir I looked in whilest they eatin and it was fried dough, just like everybody else.
- 1:09:48 Agitating
- Worker: All right, mister. I'll go. You just show us your license to contract, then you make out an order -- where and when and how much you gonna pay -- and you sign it, and we'll go.
Contractor: Now, listen, smart guy. I'll run my business my own way. I got work. If you want to take it, okay. If not, just sit here, that's all.
Worker: Twice now I fell for that line. Maybe he needs a thousand men. So he gets 5,000 there and he'll pay 15 cents an hour. And you guys will have to take it because you'll be hungry. If he wants to hire men, let him write it out and say what he's gonna pay. Ask to see his license. He ain't allowed by law to contract men without a license.
- 1:14:20 Connie leaves the family
- Tom: Where's Connie?
Ma: Tom, he's gone. He lit out this evenin'. Said he didn't know it was gonna be like this.
Pa: Glad to get shed of him. Never was no good and never will be.
Ma: Pa! Shh!
Pa: How come I got to shh? Run out on us, didn't he?
Ma: Cut it out, Pa!
- 1:16:07 Rosasharn's false hope
- Rosasharn: Ma. Maybe -- maybe Connie gone to get some books to study up with. He gonna get some books to study up with. He gonna be a radio expert, ya know. Maybe he figured to surprise us.
Ma: Maybe that's just what he done.
- 1:18:50 A prayer answered
- [The Joad family’s caravan is pulled over to the side of the road.]
Ma: I tell ya, somethin’s got to happen soon. We’re down to our last day of grease and two days of flour and ten potatoes. And Rosasharn. We got to remember she’s gonna be due soon.
[Spencer stops his car alongside the caravan.]
Spencer: Morning.
Joad Family: Good morning.
Spencer: You folks lookin’ for work?
Tom: Mister, we’re lookin’ even under boards for work.
Spencer: Can you pick peaches?
Tom: We can pick anything.
Spencer: Well, there’s plenty of work for you about forty miles up here, just this side of Pixley. You turn east on thirty-two. Look for Keene Ranch. Tell ‘em Spencer sent you.
Tom: Mister, we sure thank ya!
- 1:29:06 A preacher's gotta know
- Tom: I know exactly what Pa would say. He'd just say it's none of his business.
Casy: Guess that's right. He'll have to take a beatin' before he'll know.
Tom: Take a beatin'? We was out of food! Tonight we had meat. Not much but we had it. You think Pa's gonna give up his meat on account of some other fellas? Rosasharn needs milk. You think Ma's gonna starve that baby just on account of fellas yellin' outside a gate?
Casy: Tom you gotta learn like I'm learnin'! I don't know it right yet myself, but I'm trying to find out. That's why I can't never be a preacher again. A preacher's gotta know. I don't know. I gotta ask.
- 1:34:28 We’re crackin’ up
- Ma: There was a time we was on the land. There was a boundary to us then. Old folks died off and little fellers come. We was always one thing. We was the family . . . kind of whole and clear. But now we ain’t clear no more. There ain’t nothin’ that keeps us clear. Al, he’s a hankerin’ and jibbetin’ to be off on his own. Uncle John’s just draggin’ around. Your Pa has lost his place. He ain’t the head no more. We’re crackin’ up, Tom. They ain’t no family now. . . . Got nothing to trust. Don’t go, Tom. Stay and help. Help me.
- 1:36:56 That Casy
- Tom: That Casy. He might have been a preacher, but he seen things clear. He was like a lantern. He helped me to see things too.
- 1:43:10 Unbelievable
- Tom: You aimin’ to tell me . . . the fellas that are runnin’ the camp are just fellas campin’ here? . . . Oh, I can’t hardly believe it.
- 1:46:48 The Reds
- Farmer (reading newspaper): “Citizens angered at Red agitators . . . burn another squatters camp . . . and order agitators to leave the county.â€
Tom: Listen, what is these Reds anyway? Every time you turn around, somebody callin’ somebody else a Red. What is these Reds anyway?
- 2:00:20 I'll be there
- Tom: I been thinking about us, too, about our people living like pigs and good rich land laying fallow. Or maybe one guy with a million acres and a hundred thousand farmers starving. And I been wondering if all our folks got together and yelled.
Ma: Oh, Tommy, they'd drag you out and cut you down just like they done to Casy.
Tom: They'd drag me anyways. Sooner or later they'd get me for one thing if not for another. Until then...
Ma: Tommy, you're not aiming to kill nobody.
Tom: No Ma, not that. That ain't it. It's just, well as long as I'm an outlaw anyways . . . maybe I can do something . . . maybe I can just find out something, just scrounge around and maybe find out what it is that's wrong and see if they ain't somethin' that can be done about it. I ain't thought it out all clear, Ma. I can't. I don't know enough.
Ma: How am I gonna know about ya, Tommy? Why they could kill ya and I'd never know. They could hurt ya. How am I gonna know?
Tom: Well, maybe it's like Casy says. A fellow ain't got a soul of his own, just a little piece of a big soul, the one big soul that belongs to everybody, then . . .
Ma: Then what, Tom?
Tom: Then it don't matter. I'll be all around in the dark. I'll be everywhere. Wherever you can look. Wherever there's a fight, so hungry people can eat, I'll be there. Wherever there's a cop beating up a guy, I'll be there. I'll be in the way guys yell when they're mad. I'll be in the way kids laugh when they're hungry and they know supper's ready, and when the people are eatin' the stuff they raise and living in the houses they build -- I'll be there, too.
Ma: I don't understand it, Tom.
Tom: Me, neither, Ma, but -- just something I been thinking about.
- 2:01:31 The big soul
- Tom: Well, maybe it’s like Casy says, Fella ain’t got a soul of his own. . . just a little piece of a big soul . . . the one big soul that belongs to everybody.
- 2:07:36 We're the people
- Ma: Rich fellas come up an' they die, an' their kids ain't no good an' they die out. But we keep a'comin'. We're the people that live. They can't wipe us out; they can't lick us. We'll go on forever, Pa, 'cause we're the people.
