Along with the important themes of change and family, lying is also one of the main themes of the novel The Grapes of Wrath. The main lie that is told in the story is when the jobless and homeless people effected by the Dust Bowl were told that there was plenty of jobs to go around in California, even though that was an absolute lie. The truth was that while there were jobs in California, there were way too many people competing for these jobs. There are also a lot of quotes in the novel that go along with the theme of lying:
"Goin' to California? Here's just what you need. Looks shot, by they's thousan's of miles in her." -Chapter Seven (Spoken by a cars salesman).
The worst of the deception starts to occur while the Joad family and Jim begin their journey to the promise land that is California. There were many people, just like the cars salesman, who made their money by decieving unknowing families that were too trusting and did not know any better. The cars might have looked solid and sturdy, but even if the physical appearance of the car was good, that did not mean the car would function well on the journey to California.
"That's what you think! Ever heard of the border patrol on the California line?...If you can't buy no real estate, we don't want you." -Chapter Twelve
This is the first real moment that the Joad family realizes that their California dream is really little more than a harsh reality and will most likely never come true. Their idea of what California will be like is quickly shattered when they figure out that people don't really want them there, the job market is not as good as they were told, and that they will most likely never find success living in California despite what the lying yellow flyers claimed.
The families headed to California were lied to from the start, and now they are possibly worse off than they had been before.
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