Quote 1
"Fella gets use' to a place, it's hard to go," said Casy. "Fella gets use' to a way of thinkin' it's hard to leave." (6.72)
Can you imagine having to leave a place you've lived in your whole entire life? Scratch that. Can you imagine leaving a place you, your parents, and their parents have lived their whole entire lives? The Joads have spent all of their lives cultivating their land, and now they have to start over. Now they have to go to a place they've never even seen before. It would be like a modern day family having to move to the moon.
Quote 2
[Casy:] "Somepin's happening. I went up an' I looked, an' the houses us all empty, an' the land is empty, an' this whole country is empty." (10.35)
When we think about change, we think about new life and new experiences. We think about advancements and growth. But this kind of change rids a huge section of America of life and makes it kind of dead.
Quote 3
[Casy:] "They's gonna come somepin outa all these folks goin' wes' – outa all their farms lef' lonely. They's gonna come a thing that's gonna change the whole country." (16.111)
When Reverend Casy says these words, he almost senses, can almost hear the great migration out of the Dust Bowl and toward California. What does it mean that over 300,000 people left their homes? How does Casy feel about the change that's about to take hold of the country?