JOHN STEINBECK
The Grapes of Wrath

There is a crime here that goes beyond denunciation. There is a sorrow here that weeping cannot symbolize. There is a failure here that topples all our successes. The fertile Earth, the straight tree rows, the sturdy trunks, and the ripe fruit. And the children dying of hunger must die because a profit cannot be taken from an orange. And coroners must fill in the certificates - died of malnutrition - because the food must rot if not sold at a profit. In the eyes of the hungry there is a growing wrath. In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage.