novel first two parghraph

There is a very peaceful and calm mood at the beginning of the story. The nature around is gentle and the weather is warm. There is a sense of reflection as well as a calm. Steinbeck is however very articulating in subtly foreshadowing something menacing to come inside his peaceful scene. Consider this quote:

On the sandy bank under the trees the leaves lie deep and so crisp that a lizard makes a great skittering if he runs among them. Rabbits come out of the brush to sit on the sand in the evening, and the damp flats are covered with the night tracks of 'coons, and with the spread pads of dogs from the ranches, and with the split-wedge tracks of deer that come to drink in the dark.