In the novel, The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck, representatives of the Bank force the Joad family out of their home during the age of the Great Depression. The representatives force most all sharecroppers in Oklahoma out, telling them that sharecropping is no longer profitable. Droughts in Oklahoma occurred too often, destroying the crops. Tom Joad, who had just been released on probation from the local jail, went to help his family on their …showed first 75 words of 405 total…

…showed last 75 words of 405 total…a flood. While traveling away, in search for higher ground they come across a barn with an old man and a boy inside already. The man was passed out from hunger, the boy at his side. Rosasharn, a new mother, breastfeeds the man, concludes the novel, and Steinbeck's philosophy. This act represented Holy Communion, when Christ gave his blood for mankind to live. The milk Rosasharn gives represents the blood, and the old man, mankind.