The Dust Bowl was a devastating time for the farmers in Oklahoma and the rest of the mid-western farming states. Muley Graves was the example John Steinbeck used to portray the importance of the farm to a farmer in the hard times of the 1930's. Muley is used to show how the farm was the farmer's "lifeline" and without it he felt as though he had died with the farm. Muley's actions throughout the chapters he appeared in were typical ways some of the farmers of the dust bowl acted when they had lost everything. Muley also helps develop the theme of family togetherness and fellowship. Although the Joads lose family members and encounter terrible hardships along their journey, they endure and persevere through it all as a family. Muley, however, is the opposite of this because he abandons his family and chooses to stay with his farm...