After spending a month in the Weedpatch camp, the Joad men have been unable to find any sort of work. The family is running out of food, and Rose of Sharon's baby is due soon. Ma decides that they need to leave the camp to search for work. Her assumption of leadership angers Pa, but Ma continues to goad him. Her sassing is calculated to rile him up, figuring that if a man has something to get angry at, he'll be okay.
The Joads leave the government camp early the next morning. While fixing a flat tire on the truck, a well-dressed man offers them work as peach pickers. When they arrive at the Hooper Ranch, policemen escort them through wire gates. Angry, shouting people surround the entrance. Inside the gates, the Joads are registered and begin picking fruit for five cents a box. The entire family works and by sundown they have earned a dollar. Ma spends the dollar at the Hooper Ranch store but can only get some poor quality hamburger and a little coffee. The sales clerk is sarcastic, but Ma recognizes his shame. She asks for some credit in order to get a little sugar, but the clerk refuses. Surprisingly, however, he pays for the sugar and tells her to bring the credit slip so that he can get his dime back. She tells him she is learning that if "you're in trouble or hurt or need — go to the poor people. They're the only ones that'll help."
