*Ch11-15 (H/F)

There exists, within the idea of the movement of Transcendentalism, the idea of the individual - that is to say, the statement of one acting upon one's own worth, to refuse to intrude on the other. And so a true individual, a person who is truly self reliant will ascertain himself to his own moral compass; the result of this being that if we ascertain the stance that like minded individuals band together, than said self reliant people will thus form true communities. A described community of this sort would, due to having been created of like minded individuals who require work of themselves and thus upon and for others, be almost an altruistic one. Since each individual would be unwilling to receive help, each individual would instead offer help. With enough time, action would thus arise from the previously defined inaction; this action would be of each towards another, creating a harmonious community free of self interest - instead, it is "self-reliant" and ungoverned by written law.

Steinbeck proposes this very idea -  along with an extension of it - in this section. Often seen in dialogue between the Wilsons and the Joads, the two groups, mainly the Wilsons, refuse help from each other in statement but choose to receive it regardless due to necessity: "Wilson said, "Seems like it's my fault. This here goddamn wreck's give me trouble right along. You folks been nice to us. Now you just' pack up and' get along...we'll figger some way. We don't aim to put you folks out none."" (Steinbeck 167). This is repeated again and again - the Wilsons as an entity, along with it's two members exemplify the behavior of an individual; they state that will rely on themselves when Wilson states "we'll figger some way", while acknowledging that the Joads "been nice to" the Wilsons. When the Joads reply saying "We ain't a gonna do it." right back to them, the example of action towards another instead of oneself is also exemplified. Since the two groups go right along together, the "self-reliant" community of before is created. Steinbeck's extension of this idea is a tad more subtle. Throughout the entire text the Transcendental community is juxtaposed with the corporate one, or the government, ruled by the elite few with written, binding law. The second statement Steinbeck tries to make is thus that the Transcendental community of harmony and near altruism (if not altruism already) is far more welcoming to the population than the one with which it is juxtaposed - a white dot on a black background is far more noticeable than a white dot on a grey or white background; the government being the black. After all, the government has served only to strip the farmers of their land due to economic need - the stark contrast of the migrant communities continues to serve one another despite them all being in a time of depression and need - is this not far more human?