The Joads are one of the first families to get work picking cotton, so they are able to live in one of the boxcars. They share this dwelling with another family, the Wainwrights. The Joads are able to earn enough money to have meat each night and are able to buy some new clothing and some Cracker Jacks for the children.
While Ma is cooking supper that evening, Winfield rushes in to tell her that Ruthie has gotten into a fight and childishly boasted to the other children that her big brother was hiding because he had killed two men. Ma is instantly concerned. Leaving the others to eat, she goes to the hidden culvert to warn Tom.
She meets Tom who takes her back to the lightless cave he has been hiding in. Explaining what Ruthie has done, she tells him that he’ll need to go far away. Tom agrees. Ma hasn’t seen Tom since he has been in hiding, and there is no light in the cave, so she touches his face to remember him. He tells her that while he has been alone, he has thought a lot about Jim Casy and what he taught.
Tom is beginning to grasp the preacher’s idea that people must stand together. He realizes that each person doesn’t have their own soul, but rather is a piece of a great big soul that includes everyone, and “his little piece of a soul wasn’t so good ‘less it was with the rest, an’ was whole.” He doesn’t completely understand this philosophy, “it’s jus’ stuff [he’s] been thinking about.” Ma begs him to find the family later on, but Tom tells her that if Casy’s theory is true, she’ll find him in every human action around her: “Wherever there’s a fight so hungry people can eat, [he’ll] be there.” He wants to continue the work that Casy had begun. When Ma expresses her worry that they will kill him like the preacher, Tom replies, “He didn’t duck fast enough.”
Returning to the boxcar, the Wainwrights approach Ma and Pa with concerns about Al and their sixteen-year-old daughter, Aggie, spending time together. Ma and Pa agree to speak with Al. Once the Wainwrights leave, Pa confides to Ma that he feels like life is over and done. Ma reassures him that they will keep on going. Aggie and Al return from a walk to announce they want to get married and live on their own. Ma begs them to stay until spring, and the families celebrate.
The next morning, both families leave for the cotton fields before dawn, knowing that this will be the end of the work for the season. When they arrive, people are already in line. With so many people, the fields are picked by 11:00 a.m. As they return home, the rains begin, and Rosasharn takes a chill.
