"As a child, Horace walked to school backward to keep the dirt from scraping him in the face."
Chap. 1, p. 6

"'The dust storms scared us to pieces,' Bessie said. 'It was dark as the middle of the night, and it stayed that way all day.'"
Chap. 1, p. 8

"For those with their own vehicles, an old car with three mattresses lashed to its roof was called 'rich.' a car with two mattresses was said to be 'mediocre.' and if someone saw a car with just one mattress, they'd say, 'There goes a poor Okie.'"
Chap. 2, p. 13

"And then it rains, with insufficient food, the children develop colds because the ground in the tens is wet. I talked to a man last week who lost two children in ten days with pneumonia. His face was hard and fierce and he didn't talk much."
John Steinbeck...