Grapes of Wrath chapters seventeen through twenty

The Joad's and Wilson's finally reach California. Grandma is barely surviving and Saria is in great pain, but they are in California, nonetheless. As the two families come to stop by the Colorado river, some of the men sit down in the river. Two men come up and ask if they sit with them also. The two men explain that they are going back to their home to starve to death with the people they know. The Joad's are shown once again how terrible California really can be, but they still refuse to admit it themselves just yet.The two men even tell them what their nickname will be, an "Okie." Okie means that you are a dirty worthless man, who is most likely a migrant also. The people who own land are cruel to the migrants and the deputies can be even crueler. Once they get done talking, Tom and Noah are standing by the river. Noah tells Tom that he is not going any farther. He would prefer to live by the river. Tom watched Noah walk away, wondering what would happen when he told Ma. Back at the tent, Ma and Rose-of-Sharon are trying to keep Grandma cool. Some other campers beside them come in and ask Ma if she would like them to hold a meeting because they heard someone was about to join Jesus. Ma refuses their meeting and cannot explain why she will not allow them to hold the meeting. A deputy comes around and tells Ma they have to get moving by the next day or he will run them in. Ma tells Tom once he gets back on camp, so Tom gets all the men back together. They also tell the Wilson's, but Ivy says they cannot go any further because Saria is in too much pain, so the Joad's go on without the Wilson's. As they get back on the road, Grandma eventually dies right beside Ma's body. Ma does not tell anyone till they stop. Rose of Sharon and Connie happened to be "underneath the blanket" as Grandma was dieing, even though Connie swears it was not at the same time.The Joad's take Grandma to a coroner and have her buried properly. Once they are done burying Grandma, the Joad's find a place to pull over, which is called Hooverville, just like every other place where makeshift homes are put up and sanitation is nowhere to be found. At Hooverville, Tom and Al meet a young man named Floyd. As Ma cooks dinner, children surround her. At first, Ma refuses to feed them, but after a while she gives in. She gives each family member a plate to eat from, and tells the other children to find something to eat with. She sits out the pan and the kids devour every last slurp of the soup she made. Floyd soon tells Al about some work up north, but Tom does not want to drive two hundred miles to get there. A new Chevrolet coupe suddenly pulls up into Hooverville. A contractor comes out and says he needs some workers but won't give how much money they will recieve if they work. Floyd begins to tell everyone how the contractor is no good since he will not tell them what their wages will be. A deputy steps out of the car and claims that Floyd looks like the same guy that was stealing on a used car lot. When the deputy is walking towards Floyd with his gun, Tom trips the deputy and the gun shoots off. The bullet grazes a woman's knuckles and her fingers hang by a couple of nerves. Casy steps in and kicks the deputy in the back of his neck and knocks him unconscious. Tom and Floyd run for the woods so they will not be arrested. The police soon arrive and Casy says that he did it all. So Jim Casy is taken away while the Joad's quickly pack up their personal belongings to get back on the road before the police comes and burns down Hooverville. Rose of Sharon soon realizes that she cannot find Connie. The family finds out that Connie left them because he could not handle California. Uncle John makes a confession before they leave also. He had been keeping five dollars for himself in his pocket. Ma and Pa let Uncle John keep some of it so he can get drunk. Tom has to go get Uncle John quickly so they can get on the road, so he punches Uncle John so he will be knocked unconscious. When Tom reaches a town, the guards tell him he has to go north and get out of their town, but Tom actually wants to go south to see a government camp. So Tom goes around the town and starts heading south to see if the government camp is what people say it is.