16 Chapters Down

I have read sixteen chapters of Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck. I am really starting to enjoy it quite a lot. The more I read along, the more happens in the story. The plot is thickening, and it is getting more and more exciting to read. I still have no clue what the conflict will be for sure. Maybe the conflict will be the Joads looking for something to do once they reach California. Maybe the Joads will not reach California and that is the conflict. At this stage in the book it is impossible to tell for sure.

I really like how Steinbeck adds all of these twists and turns to the story. Like when the car breaks down and the family is forced to go with the Wilson's. Well they are not forced to go with the Wilson's, but the family decides it will be the best way to solve things with a broken down car.

It is kind of cool how the Joads are traveling along Route 66. I think of Route 66 as a road for tourism and wild adventures, not people heading West to make a better life for themselves. It really is a shame that people actually had a life like this. They were just so poor they were forced to move away from their homes just to survive and feed their families or themselves.

One thing I dislikes about chapter sixteen was when Tom and Casy went to the gas station to get a con rod for their car. I found it just a little too convenient that they managed to grab the last available con rod from their 1925 Dodge. It is getting to be like a soap opera and getting too predictable.

Anther thing I did not like was proprietor at the camping sight. It is hard to imagine people were actually that mean to possible customers. I am sure the proprietor could have survived without making the family camp at the sight. He also was a bull spitter and told them cops would arrest them for sleeping in the ditches on the side of the road.