Chapters 1-10 (H)

When addressing the brain-washing that the bank has done to a tractor driver, Steinbeck uses repeated diction, specifically the words "goggled" and "muzzled", in order to illustrate his point that the people who work for greedy corporations are blind to the suffering that they cause and are unable to speak up against the unethical practices that they are forced to do. Steinbeck writes:

A twitch at the controls could swerve the car', but the driver's hands could not twitch because the monster that had built the tractor, the monster that sent the tractor out, had somehow got into the driver's hands, into his brain and muscle, had goggled him and muzzled him—goggled his mind, muzzled his speech, goggled his perception, muzzled his protest (35).

 Anaphora is used in this passage in order to emphasize the bank's ferocity because the bank uses people as an instrument to exploit the land for financial profit, and changes people to become callous and uncaring about nature or their farming community. Repetition of the words "goggled" and "muzzled" shows how that the bank is restricting the senses of tractor driver. As a result, the driver is unable to see how his job is ruining the livelihoods of the tenant farmers because he only cares about the money that he earns by razing down the land. Big business has corrupted the tractor driver because it prevents him from comprehending his betrayal of the community. Instead, the driver is a puppet of corporations, characterized by "monsters", that are earning profit by evicting the tenant farmers and using machinery to work the land. The placing of the repeated words in front of each clause, "goggled...muzzled...goggled...muzzled..." demonstrates the methodical ways that the bank oppresses the driver by restricting his senses and his obligation to speak out against the bank's practices.