Ch11-15 (B)

Also known as the Main Street of America, the Mother Road, the Will Rogers Highway, Route 66 was one of the first highways to be built - on November 11, 1926.

The Route is known as a good way to travel west due to its straightforward nature in shape, and has thus been the subject of many pieces of American culture - songs - poems - and other bits of the like. And so the migrants during the Dust Bowl chose this path to the west instead of going towards the east. The historic road is now no longer on maps.

Always, Route 66 is of a moving and changing America.

It is therefore of symbolic reason that Steinbeck includes the route as the one which the Joads travel on - and not just of historic relevance. The Great Depression led up to WWII, which brought about great changes, and the travel of the Joads is one that will be marked with changes, such as in gender roles between the characters of Ma and Pa.