The intercalary chapters in particular make a strong social statement that transcends the Joads. As Louis Owens states: .

             . . . the Joads are only selected specimens . . . there are thousands of others.

             just like the Joads, and what Steinbeck is writing about is a tragedy on an.

             enormous, epic scale . . . .

             The narrative chapters thus follow the migration of the Joads, telling their.

             .

             personal story of pain, despair, and hope, while the interchapters shift the.

             .

             narrative consciousness from the intimate portrait of the Joads to the epic .

             .

             dimensions of the Dust Bowl tragedy. (p. 28) .

             Warren French further suggests that the Joads themselves, even with all of their personal and self-contained misery, eventually become "part of one vast human family that, in [the preacher] Casey"s words, shares '[one big soul everybody"s a part of" (p. 77). As Frederic I Carpenter further suggests, "When the old society has been split and . . . individuals wander aimlessly about, some new nucleus must be found, or chaos and nihilism will follow" (p. 10). .

             Specifically, the intercalary chapters, interspersed as they are throughout the novel, serve to remind us that, even though we are focused mainly on the Joads and their personal hardships, tens of thousands of other migrant families also exist, and they, along with the Joads, are experiencing something similar. The process of moving westward, for the Joads and others, takes place in three methodical and equally heart-wrenching stages. First, the families pack all of their belongings, and themselves, into a single old vehicle. Second, they travel westward toward California, a journey fraught with setbacks, obstacles, frustrations, and disappointments. Typically, illness and death occur along the way. Third, upon finally arriving in California, where they had hoped life would be better once they got there, the migrant families must try their best to survive.