In Chapter 3, to what is the town compared to and for what reason?

Steinbeck compares the town to a "colonial animal”. It has become a separate entity from the indigenous people, and Steinbeck described it as having a "separate nervous system", meaning the town operates separately from the values, beliefs and practices of the natives. The town, like the colonials, absorbs whatever worth it can out of its struggling people..... the same thing it wall attempt to do to Kino.