Both set a slow, heavy pace as we continue reading, as if we are living through these times with this ambiguous community. (Then they asked: What shall we do?)” And the men replied: “I don’t know. » But the women knew everything was fine. The women and children knew deep down that no misfortune was too great to bear if their men were safe and sound. They went into the houses to work and the children began to play, but cautiously at first, as the day progressed the sun became less red on the dust-covered earth. The men sat on the doors of their houses; their hands were occupied with sticks and small stones. The men sat thinking, thinking. » (page 4, chapter 1), there was a change in tense and a change in the description. The first few pages of the book set the scene with the imagery and personification of the environment, then we focus on the community as a whole. Note the absence of quotation marks. John Steinbeck didn't use them for a reason, and that was to emphasize that he wasn't quoting anyone. These are the questions that every family in the community asks themselves