Then families turned into communities

Building a community around displaced families during their quest for work in the fields. 

Children becoming educated as they grew up in these communities or camps.

The communities built a foundation of strength in education as they stayed together to form a larger family of strangers held together by tragedy. Pregnant mothers bringing new life into these communities only made these camps stronger. It is these aspects that are also prominent within Steinbeck's novel as seen throughout the description of family: "And still the family stood about like dream walkers, their eyes focused panoramically, seeing no detail, but the whole dawn, the whole land, the whole texture of the country at once." This image created a link between the family and their new home, as the minor details did not matter as much as the fact that they were together in this moment, in this new "land."