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...... Another function of the book was to illustrate the great class differences between the wealthiest members of society, such as the growers, and the poorest, like the Joads and the other migrants. Steinbeck writes, "And in the south he saw the golden oranges hanging on the trees, the little golden oranges on the dark green trees; and guards with shotguns patrolling the lines so a man might not pick an orange for a thin child, oranges to be dumped if the price was low" (Steinbeck 234). The growers would rather dump the fruit and take a loss than give it to someone without cost, indicating just how callous and selfish they were. They took advantage of the workers by paying the lowest wages they possibly could, too. Another critic notes that in the 1920s, wages for the poorest paid workers rose by 9 percent, while those for the richest rose 75 percent (Johnson 27). After the Stock Market crash, factories shut down, about 25 percent of the workforce was out of work, and the government had to step in to help, but the richest Americans who could have helped make a difference did not, just like the greedy growers

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