"Gophers and ant lions started small avalanches."
(Ch. 1, p. 1)
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"A bee flew into the cab and buzzed in back of the windshield. The driver put out his hand and carefully drove the bee into an air stream that blew it out the window."
(Ch. 2, p 8)
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"A grasshopper flipped through the window and lighted on top of he instrument panel, where it sat and began o scrape its wings with its angled jumping legs. Joad reached forward and crushed its hard skull-like head with his fingers, and he let it into the wind stream out the window. Joad chuckled again while he brushed the bits of broken insect from his fingertips."
(Ch. 2, p 12)
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All of Chapter 3.
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"A red ant ran into the shell, into the soft skin inside the shell, and suddenly head and legs snapped in, and the armored tail clamped in sideways. The red ant was crushed between body and legs."
(Ch. 3, Page 15)
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The tractors came over the roads and into the fields, great crawlers moving like insects, having the incredible strength of insects. They crawled over the ground, laying the track and rolling on it and picking it up.
(Ch. 5, p. 35)
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He looked into the barn shed, deserted, a little ground straw on the floor, and at the mule stall in the corner. And as he looked in, there was a skittering on the floor and a family of mice faded in under the straw.
(Ch. 6, p. 40)
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A lean gray cat came sneaking out of the barn and crept through the cotton plants to the end of the porch. It leaped silently up to the porch and crept low-belly toward the men. It came to a place between and behind the two, and then it sat down, and its tail stretched out straight and flat to the floor, and the last inch of it flicked. The cat sat and looked off into the distance where the men were looking.
Joad glanced around at it. "By God! Look who's here. Somebody stayed." He put out his hand, but the cat leaped away out of reach and sat down and licked the pads of its lifted paw. Joad looked at it, and his face was puzzled. "I know what's the matter," he cried. "That cat jus' made me figer what's wrong."
"Seems to me there's lots wrong," said Casy.
"No, it's more'n jus' this place. Whyn't that cat jus' move in with some neighbors--with the Rances. How come nobody ripped some lumber off this house? Ain't been nobody here for three-four months, an' nobody's stole no lumber. Nice planks on the barn shed, plenty good planks on the house, winda frames--an' nobody's took 'em. That ain't right. That's what was botherin' me, an' I couldn't catch hold of her."
(Ch. 6, p. 43)
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The dog wandered, sniffing, past the truck, trotted to the puddle under the hose again and lapped at the muddy water. And then he moved away, nose down and ears hanging. He sniffed his way among the dusty weeds beside the road, to the edge of the pavement. He raised his head and looked across, and then started over. Rose of Sharon screamed shrilly. A big swift car whisked near, tires squealed. The dog dodged helplessly, and with a shriek, cut off in the middle, went under the wheels. The big car slowed for a moment and faces looked back, and then it gathered greater speed and disappeared. And the dog, a blot of blood and tangled, burst intestines, kicked slowly in the road."
(Ch. 13, p. 130)
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"A red ant ran up the curtain cloth and scrambled over the folds of loose skin on the old lady's neck. Ma reached quickly and picked it off, crushed it between thumb and forefinger, and brushed her fingers on her dress."
(Ch. 18, Page 210)
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A snake wriggled across the warm highway. Al zipped over and ran it down and came back to his own lane.
"Gopher snake," said Tom. "You aughtn't to done that."
"I hate 'em," said Al gaily. "Hate all kinds. Give me the stomach-quake."
(Chapter 26, p. 365)
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