In literature, setting serves to mirror what is occurring in the novel, and can reinforce the mood or climate of the novel. In The Grapes of Wrath the setting of California is symbolic of dashed hopes. As early as Chapter 5, we hear of California as a tantalizing "promised land." The bank spokesmen leave the tenant farmers with one small seed of hope. They ask them, "Why don't you go on west to California? There's work there, and it never gets cold. Why you can reach out anywhere and pick an orange." (46) Through the words of the bank spokesman California is portrayed as a warm, fruitful climate, in which work is readily available. This seems like a place that everyone would want to move to, and for the most part this accurately described the landscape and climate of California.
             "...Valleys in which the fruit blossoms are fragrant pink and white water in a shallow sea. Then the first tendrils of the grapes, swelling from the old gnarled vines, cascade down to cover the trunks. The full green hills are round and soft as breasts. And on the level vegetable lands are the mile-long rows of pale green lettuce and the spindly little cauliflowers, the gray-green unearthly artichoke plants." (473)
             This passage is California as described by Steinbeck. This passage goes beyond what the bank spokesmen tell the Joads along with the other tenant farmers. What the Joads do not realize is who does California, as described not seem appealing to? Nonetheless, it they had nothing to lose and everything to gain. Coming from the dustbowl, symbolic of emptiness and desperation. California is the antithesis of the Dustbowl with its green fields and plentiful crops. Indeed it is the answer to their prayers. When the Joads and the other "Okies" arrive in California, however, they find the reality much different than the dream. They are unwanted and unwelcome; the work is not plentiful; the...