Scared to Death for Survival

In addition to being touching, chapter seventeen made me think. I am currently in the Great Smoky Mountains in a cabin up in a mountain. I am surrounded by wildlife including deer and bears. However, I feel quite safe even sleeping on an outdoor porch area with just a netting/wire mesh material surrounding the porch. As I was reading, especially chapter seventeen, I got to thinking what it would have been like to camp alongside a road back in the 30's. Because to be honest, I found what the Joad family did, along with the many other families camping, to be a bit more dangerous than what I am doing.


Like I said, I am surrounded by wildlife, but I feel protected and secure. The families who had to spend the night along Route 66 probably did not feel as safe. They were spending their nights in a tent, which does not provide as much protection as a wood cabin. Also, the travelers were unfamiliar with the area in which they were camping in. Even though most families stayed just one or two nights, the area was unfamiliar, which could be dangerous. I just could not imagine sleeping in a tent with four other people surrounded by wildlife on one side and other travelers on the other. I would be scared out of my mind, even at my age.

However, camping in unknown places was what the travelers had to do in order to survive. The travelers had no other way of getting from one side of America to the other without making stops along the way to rest. Therefore, they would stop along to road to rest despite the threat of wildlife. However, the fat that most of the campsites contained about twenty families helped because it was a large group. Plus, the men of the families were usually alert for anything unusual, so they could protect their families from harm.

But, the people would never really know what was actually snuffling outside their tent unless someone went and checked. More times than not, a raccoon was probably sniffing around looking for dropped food and causing a ruckus. At night, where I am staying, a chipmunk can make enough sound to make be believe the chipmunk is a bear, so sounds can be deceiving a lot of times. People back then were taking a huge, but necessary risk by sleeping alongside the road. However, it was for survival, and it usually worked out most of the time.