"The Grapes of Wrath" Tone and Figurative Language

The tone set forth in The Grapes of Wrath, was a quiet, sad tone from the start, based on Steinbeck's description in the very first sentence of the book "To the red country and part of the gray country of Oklahoma, the last rains came gently, and they did not cut the scarred earth..." Another tone portrayed early on was anger by sellers and businessmen, "Spend all their time looking. Don't want to buy no …

…and Grandpa had gathered. "...That was the nucleus." (9) In one of his "mood setting" chapters, Steinbeck describes a tractor after being turned off. "...The heat goes out of it like the living heat goes out of a pig." (10) "The siren screamed again and again, and always, it came closer." (11) "The women went back to the fires that had died." (12) While Ma was cooking, the "....frying pan of potatoes was hissing and spitting over the fire."