Intercalary chapters are used to enhance other chapters that are not included as a part of the plot. They can provide historical background, social commentary, provide philosophical ideas, expand situations to a more universal level or enhance the overall meaning of the plot. In The Grapes of Wrath, chapter 25 describes California as a beautiful place with abundance of fruit and land but as time progresses, the economy begins to suffer and the once beautiful land turns into a land full of sorrow and bitterness. The setting, conflict and rhetorical mode, description, are some elements Steinbeck uses within this chapter to help describe what living in California was like during that time period. Many people from the dust bowl region were traveling to California in hopes to make money and make a living. Steinbeck opens up this chapter by describing the setting of the beauty of California. He describes the pink flowers blossoming, the white waters, and full green hills with mile-long rows of crops growing among them. California seemed like the land where everything would be okay and where people could restart their lives. For some, this held to be true. Large landowners were coming onto the land and creating their own farms and running the small farm owners out of business. Competition became a conflict the current farmers and upcoming new landowners had. Many people were growing the same crops and “the year is heavy with produce (Steinbeck 347)” but not everyone would be fortunate to sell their crops. “The little farmers watched debt creep up on them like a tide (Steinbeck 347).” Farmers could “find no way to let the hungry people eat their produce. Men who have created new fruits in the world cannot create a system whereby their fruits may be eaten and the failure hangs over the state like a great sorrow (Steinbeck 348).” Everyone was fighting to make money to provide his or her families. The feeling of sorrow, pain and selfishness grew inside of people and spread all over the area “and children dying of pellagra [died] because a profit cannot be taken from an orange (Steinbeck 349).” Making money became everyone’s mindset rather than help those in need. Steinbeck’s use of word choice and the rhetorical mode, description, helped to enhance the setting and emphasize the conflict. It described the setting, which allowed us to understand and see what they were witnessing. The function of this chapter in the novel as a whole also served to compare the fruits to the people, which only enhanced the situations and made connections between the characters addressed and the
