I think that in the third chapter of Grapes of Wrath, the author is trying to show, through the journey of the turtle, how every single thing that happens starts a kind of chain reaction or leads to something else. Every step we take could be an important or horrible step in somebody else's journey of life.
For example, the ant running into the shell of the turtle caused a reaction. One reaction was that the turtle clamped all of his body inside his shell for protection. This clamping caused a head of wild oats to get caught up inside the turtle's shell. There it stayed as the turtle continued on his tedious joruney across the ground. Had the turtle not closed its shell so quickly, the oats might not have gotten caught in its shell. Another example was when the turtle attempted to cross a road slowly but surely. Soon a middle aged lady came across the turtle while driving down the road and mercifully swered in order to avoid it. The car went up on its wheels and could have crashed but luckily it recovered. Perhaps this encounter taught the woman to drive more cautiously in order to avoid similiar situations in the future.
In a similar situation, the encounter with the lady in the sedan made the turtle stayin his shell for a little while. Unfortunately, soon after it emerged, a mean driver in a truck appeared on the road and purposefully attempted to hit the turtle. Fortunately the truck just got the side of the shell and sent the turtle flying to the edge of the road. Had the turtle not been nearly hit by the woman and remained in one place for so long, he might have gotten across the road before the truck got there.
When the turtle finally got the nerve to open up again, the oats fell to the ground. There the turtle trampled them with dirt adn in a sense sowed them. If that tiny ant had not gotten in the turtle's shell, those oats m,ight never have been sown.
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