"The Unknown & The Unwanted"

In the beginning of the chapter, Uncle John said, in reference to the father and son who said there isn't any work out in California and they don't like our kind out there, " I don't think nothin' about it. We're a-goin' there. When we get there, we'll get there. When we get a job we'll work, an' when we don't get a job we'll set on our tail. This here talk ain't gonna do no good no way." (Steinbeck p. 283). I feel like this quote can relate to chapter 16 when the family ran into the other man who said California wasn't any good. Regardless of who tells them what, the family is going to go to California. They feel like they are at an all time low as it is, so what's it going to hurt to actually find out how livelihood truly is out in California for themselves. At the end of the chapter, they do just that. They make it to where the orchards, trees, and fruit are.

The second main idea I picked up on was how more people of the group are becoming sick. In the chapter, the Joads leave the Wilson's because Sairy is too sick and painful to leave that day, grandma dies on the ride to California, and now Ma is acting sick and exhausted. The thought of the unknown is starting to eat away at them physically and mentally. They know they have no other choice but to keep moving forward, though.

I think wisdom is taught by your elders, passed onto generation to generation, and the streets. Wisdom is understanding when to follow your intuition. Wisdom to me is knowing how to act and what to say in certain situations. Knowledge is taught by textbook to me. You can have all the knowledge in the world on certain things but understanding people and how to survive is wisdom. A simple example from my experience is when my grandfather lost his brother. My grandfather is a reverend and the backbone of our family. His brother asked him before he died if he would do his service. Obviously, this put my grandfather in a hard place but he still did. Later that week, after it had all sunk in, my grandfather called me and asked me to come over and play cards. He's not a man of emotion. He rarely shows them, if ever. So of course, I went on over. It doesn't take an Einstein to understand that he just didn't want to be alone. He didn't want to speak of it either nor did I ask him too. I had the common sense and the wisdom of understanding what to do in that situation. I had the wisdom of understanding what his hidden agenda truly was behind playing cards. A textbook doesn't teach you how to act in these circumstances. You learn by interaction.