Chapters 1-10 (C) *

                                                                                                                       

To Oklahoma farmland,                                                                                                 

        It is thanks to you that we tenant farmers stay in Oklahoma, despite the terrible weather and financial difficulties that have plagued us.

        Your harsh droughts and dust storms have made it so hard for us tenant farmers to plant crops. Coupled with the scarcity of water and the scorching sun, the constant dust kills our carefully tended plants. "If the dust only wouldn't fly. If the top would only stay on the soil, it might not be so bad"(32). However, we are hopeful that "...maybe the next year will be a good year"(32). If there are enough wars,"...cotton'll hit the ceiling"(32). If we are lucky and are not evicted by the bank, we may make profits.

        The bank's representatives says,"You'll have to get off the land...The bank, the monster owns it. You'll have to go"(34). But these folks don't understand that for generations, our families have raised families and planted crops on you. Signs of our long history as your stewards can be found everywhere, like the"...pump put in ten years ago...the chopping block where a thousand chickens had been killed..."(34). Us farmers have a innate connection to you. We touch the seeds, harvest crops, and eat what we have grown. "That's what makes [this land] ours-being born on it, working it, dying on it. That makes ownership, not a paper with numbers on it"(33).

        "Maybe we got to fight to keep our land, like Pa and Grandpa did"(34). It will be an uphill battle all the way, but "we'll get our guns, like Grandpa did when the Indians came"(34). We will not yield you to the bank and the ferocious tractors without a fight. Investing our tiny profits and our livelihood into you brings us dignity and a sense of purpose because"[If a man] owns property only so he can walk on it and handle it and be sad when it isn't doing well and feel fine when the rain falls on it, that property is him, and some ways he's bigger because he owns it"(37). Unlike the bank, we are not here to profit at your expense. As tenant farmers, we want to continue with our simple way of living and our family history by living on you, the place where we grew up. Kickin' us off will take more than a bout of bad weather and the monsterous bank's threats. We are proud to be Oklahomans and will do everything we can in order to stay on you, the glorious farmland that we call home.

With much thanks and gratitude,

The Joad Family