The Joads meet this migrant couple on the first night of their journey. Looking for a place to camp, they roll up next to the Kansas couple's disabled automobile. When Granpa dies of a stroke, the Wilsons offer their tent space and quilt. They even tear a page from their own bible to be buried with Granpa. In return, Al fixes their car, and the two families decide to travel to California together. They remain together until the California desert when Sairy tells her husband that she is too ill to continue. The Joads leave the couple, knowing that she will not survive. The Joads' relationship with the Wilsons is a microcosm of the larger picture of migration, a look at the strength derived from unity in action. Their communal way of life is amplified in scope at the government camp at Weedpatch.
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