The Grapes of Wrath

by John Steinbeck

And perhaps a man brought out his guitar to the front of his tent. And he sat on a box to play, and everyone in the camp moved slowly in toward him, drawn in toward him. Many men can chord a guitar, but perhaps this man was a picker. There you have something—the deep chords beating, beating, while the melody runs on the strings like little footsteps. Heavy hard fingers marching on the frets. The man played and the people moved slowly in on him until the circle was closed and tight, and then he sang “Ten-Cent Cotton and Forty-Cent Meat.’’ And the circle sang softly with him. And he sang “Why Do You Cut Your Hair, Girls?’’ And the circle sang. He wailed the song, “I’m Leaving Old Texas,’’ that eerie song that was sung before the Spaniards came, only the words were Indian then. And now the group was welded to one thing, one unit, so that in the dark the eyes of the people were inward, and their minds played in other times, and their sadness was like rest, like sleep.