Chapters 3-6: Economic and Political Pressures

The banks hit every single family hard.  They owned the farmer's land, their homes, and their equipment.  A family's entire livelihood, what they had spent their entire lives working for, was gone in an instant.  The banks were struggle and could not afford for the poor families to live on their land.  They viewed these families as parasites just mooching off of their land.  Some families, however, worked with the banks to continue their easy going life of farming.  These families found a way to strike a deal with the banks.  They would continue to live in their homes, but they would plow the entire lot of land which tended to have multiple other families living on it.  The families were only trying to look out for their own.  They realized that even though the banks were evil, conniving, and corrupt monsters, they must continue to make money some how.  The families "betrayed" their neighbors to be able to continue to support their family.  From the other point of view, the farmers who were forced to leave were livid but understanding at the same time.  For example, Grampa Joad shot at the tractor that was coming toward their land, but Grampa would not shoot the man who was driving the tractor.  Both the driver and Grampa understand that Grampa was angry and was only trying to defend what was his.  They also understood that Grampa was not going to take the man's life because the driver was only doing what he could to make a buck.