John Steinbeck expresses a dismayed attitude towards the tractor and machine men, and a sympathetic attitude toward the farmers who have unjustly been removed from their land. Steinbeck uses the resources of language to relay his pity for the farmers and abhorrence towards the tractor men.
             The connotation of the word "vacant" gives the beginning of the excerpt a cold, empty feeling. It indicates that since people are not on the land, and people give the land life, the land is dead. Conversely, the details involved in describing the horse give a sense of warmth and vitality. The words "breathing", "warmth", and "alive" inject liveliness into the sentence. The horse does not just chew the hay, but it champs the hay, savoring every morsel. This choice of words gives the reader a sense of energy. The horse is connected with the land. It lives on the land, and works the land. A parallel is drawn between man and the horse. Both need the land to survive, but it has been taken from them.
             Steinbeck uses the words such as "contempt", "dead", and "corpse" to give the tractor an ominous feeling. The author shifts from the life of the horse to the dead tractor. When it is off, the tractor does not need love or companionship. The tractor, which is "as dead as the ore it came from" possesses no connection with the land. When it is turned off, Steinbeck describes it as a corpse, a word with a negative, lifeless connotation. The job of the tractor is described as "easy and sufficient" which reveals a sarcastic and edgy tone towards the tractor, which further adds to the dismay and contempt Steinbeck feels towards take over of innocent farmers' land.
             The farmer man is much closer to the land. When he eats his lunch, he kneels in the land, as if praying to it. Steinbeck repeats "much more" three times to emphasize hoe essential the land
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