The Grapes of Wrath
What "bitterness" is being bought?
Chapter Nine.
Chapter Nine.
This refers to the Joads selling all their belongings for next to nothing. Anything that can't be sold is burned. Steinbeck is explicit about the meaning of the sales: he states that, "you're not buying only junk, you're buying junked lives." The people buying this stuff are buying the emotions that go along with it, bitterness, sadness and broken dreams.