serfs persons in feudal servitude, bound to a master's land and transferred with it to a new owner.
straw bosses supervisors who have little or no authority to support their orders.
dispossessed deprived of the possession of something, especially land, a house, and so on.
barbarians people regarded as primitive, savage, and so on.
Hooverville any of the encampments of displaced persons especially prevalent during the 1930's; "Hoover" is a reference to the President of the United States at the time, Herbert Hoover.
jimson weed a poisonous annual weed.
