Chapter fifteen of Grapes of Wrath was incredibly touching, so much so that it once again restored a little piece of faith in the goodness of humanity in general.
At first as the story went on about Mae and how much she had and how much she turned up her nose at the poor people who came into her diner begging for some kind of mercy, I was incredibly disgusted by her attitude. She was so taken by those truck drivers and the way they acted even though the jokes they told were inappropriate. It was horrible to me how she could find those poor, respectful people who just happened to be in a bad way disgusting and disgraceful while these men who had plenty and could be rude she surveyed reverently as if they had ever done anything worthy of her respect.
Then some of the poor people entered and she put on a show for the truck drivers, not showing any mercy and being stubborn about doing them one small favor. The man was clearly an honest man who did his best to be humble and respectful, and he was not asking for anything for free but just simply to be allowed to buy some bread to feed his family. Finally she allowed tem to buy a fifteen cent loaf of bread for ten cents. Then, in a moment that could practically move a reader to tears, she surveyed his poor, bedraggled children eying the candy with a sort of reverence that something so wonderful could even exist. The father, seeing this pitiful display, aasked Mae if the candies were penny candies. She quietly replied that they were two for a penny, and he bought one. Not until they elft did the reader realize that the candies were not in fact two for a penny, they were five cents apiece. And as this one blessing that she bestowed on the stunningly grateful children set in, the reader's faith in the goodness of people was once again restored.
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