Chapter 18
The desert crossing; Granma dies
Summary
The Joads cross Arizona and reach the Colorado at Needles. Bathing in the shallows, they meet a father and son heading back to the Panhandle, who describe what waits: good land held fallow, guards over the orange groves, deputies moving people on, and the word "Okie", which now means scum. Noah tells Tom he will not leave the water and walks away down the river. Ma refuses to let a Jehovite woman hold a meeting over the dying Granma, then is ashamed when the howling from the next tent seems to settle her. A deputy bangs on the tarpaulin, calls them Okies and orders them gone; Ma advances on him with a skillet. Sairy Wilson is too ill to travel and the Wilsons stay behind. Crossing the desert at night, Ma lies beside Granma's body and says nothing at the inspection station. At dawn, from Tehachapi, they see the valley — and she tells them Granma is dead.
Plates
Illustration style
Composition
Written: 4 August 1938 to 10 August 1938 Journal entries: #47, #50 Dating: from DeMott's editorial markers in Working Days
From the journal
4 August 1938, Thursday, 11:00 — Entry #47
[…] Have moved my table to the shady side of the room. I hope to God this book isn’t suffering from all the inroads of other things. Now today I must move my family fast. I think I want to get them through the desert in this chapter [Ed.—Chapter 18] and to Bakersfield. Ten pages to this chapter will be 92 […]
10 August 1938, Wednesday, 11:20 — Entry #50
[…] desert and into the field. Must do that and soon. Now to work at least into thought of work. So long! Got it done, by God, and still they aren’t across the desert. Just starting. Tomorrow the desert and the valley and Granma and the agricultural station [Ed.—Chapter 18].
Source: Working Days: The Journals of The Grapes of Wrath, 1938–1941, ed. Robert DeMott (Viking, 1989).