Caskets

Besides “the pathos of the family's fear becomes an instrument of anger directed at a government that did too little to educate its citizens and too much to keep them in fear of undeserved punishment, (Lott 66) the Joad family struggled with the funds for the family’s funerals and essentials such as caskets.

During Grandpa’s death, the Joads quickly estimate how much it be to bury Grandpa “We go in like the law says an' they'll come out for him. We on'y got  a hundred an' fifty dollars. They take forty to bury Grampa an' we won't get to California - or else they'll bury him a pauper studied the darkening ground in front of their knees.”(Steinbeck 93) However, Grandma Joad’s death is the prime example that the Joads “are among the uneducated poor without the knowledge necessary to keep them from making dire mistakes.” (Lott 65)

Once the family cross the California border, they care of Grandma’s corpse by immediately going to the nearest corner.

“They had sat in the heat in front of the coroner's office in Bakersfield while Pa and Ma and Uncle John went in. Then a basket was brought out and the long bundle lifted down from the truck. And they sat in the sun while the examination went on, while the cause of death was found and the certificate signed. (Steinbeck 162)

This is the first time The Joads are obeying the burial laws but soon realize that is all they can do for Grandma.

“Pa sighed deeply. "They wasn't nothin' else to do," he said.

"I know," said Ma. "She would a liked a nice funeral, though. She always wanted one."….

…."Yeah," Pa shook his head quickly, as though to get back to some reality. "We didn' have enough. We couldn' of done it." He turned to Ma. "You ain't to feel bad. We couldn' no matter how hard we tried, no matter what we done. We jus' didn' have it; embalming, an' a coffin an' a preacher, an' a plot in a graveyard. It would of took ten times what we got. We done the bes' we could."

"I know," Ma said. "I jus' can't get it outa my head what store she set by a nice funeral. Got to forget it." She sighed deeply and rubbed the side of her mouth.” (163)