The car

Do you think that they'll make it all the way? The car is all falling apart, and it seems like something steinbeck would do (to make the car break down, I mean). What do you think?

The Family and things...

So in chapter eight Tom goes home and talks to his parents about being paroled from prison, his mother feels that he could be insane because she once knew someone with a child who went insane in prison. They also fear that he had broken out illegally and he had to reassure them that was not the case. So after that explanation...the point remains that when he came to the house no one recognized him...What does that mean exactly? How could someone not recognize their own son? Have they moved on and completely forgotten him? How would that make Tom feel?

Car salesman

So does the used car salesman have any significance other than to sell the farmers crappy cars?

Will Tom get to go to California? Or will he stay?

In the book, around...I believe Chapter 9 our characters find out that Tom might not be able to go with them because Al overheard people talking about Tom and how his parole wouldn't allow him to leave the state.
How many think that Tom will be able to go with the family with California? How many thing the latter and if so, what did you think Tom will do if he stays?

House

Okay, I know this is sort of from a while back in the book.... but the very first paragraph of Chapter 6 (page 54) describes a "small unpainted house...mashed at one corner, and...pushed off its foundations so that it slumped at an angle." Is this the very same house described in the other part of the story, the one without Joad? The one that was run over by the bulldozer? Or is it just a similar situation?

Cat?

So was the cat supposed to be another symbolism thing? or was it just there to be there?