Personification
"The dust road stretched out ahead of them, waving up and down" (27)
Personification is being used here to allow the readers to visualize the journeys travelled on the road. The road "stretches", which shows its flexibility. This contributes to the text as it expresses the path taken for the journey. The road stretched ahead of them, meaning there is a possibility for the spontaneity of life to surprise Joad and Casy. The road stretches ahead which signifies that there are "unknown" events to occur. The road also waves "up and down", which signifies that the journey is welcoming their presence. The road is personified to motivate travel and migration.
"You know the land's getting poorer." (32)
Personification is used here to emphasize the behavior of the environment. The land is being personified as a person that is "getting poorer", which generally refers to "losing money". However, the land is an object and cannot literally get "poorer". This personification is being used to describe the effects of the dust on the land. The dust is causing the land to lose its value as it has become more difficult to plant crops, therefore the land is getting poorer. The land is getting poorer in a sense that it cannot provide as much money due to the lack of nutrients. Personifying the land illustrates the struggles of the farmers in Kansas during the Great Depression and motivates the migration to the West.
"You know what cotton does to the land; robs it, sucks all the blood out of it." (32)
Personification is used here to highlight the harsh reality of farming for those who lived in the Great Plains during the 1930s. Cotton is being personified as a person that "robs" and "sucks blood", though the plant itself obviously cannot do such action. Cotton is given human traits, though this statement metaphorically represents the effects of cotton on the land. Cotton is an intense crop that will damage the land it is planted on, it will "rob" and "suck" all the nutrients out of its surrounding soil. Personifying cotton in this way highlights how cotton adds to the struggles of farming in the Great Plains. It contributes to the text in the way that it allows the readers to visually understand how the farmland has become extremely weakened by its environment, which also motivates migration to the West.
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