Summary: people started flooding out to the highways like a swarm of bugs in search of something to feed on. these people are agrarian people who too have been pushed off their land by "Moloch" and his machines. An agrarian society is based on agriculture as its main support and sustenance. The society acknowledges other means of livelihood and work habits but stresses on agriculture and farming, and was the main form of socio-economic organization for most of recorded human history. as they continued westward they became starved and broke. the people who live in the towns that the on coming settlers approach are frightened because they think that these settlers will do work for any food to feed their family, whereas these current towns people need work and have debts to pay off so they don't want these new settlers coming in and taking their jobs. These "great owners" are coming in and buying the canneries (factories that process fruit, fish, and vegetables) and underbids the small farmers forcing them to go broke and then join the rest of the people in the fight against starvation and death. These "great owners" think that they can just continue to take advantage of all these poorer folks but they don't realize that soon enough they are going to snap and a certain desperation is going to come over them and they are going to start acting on the anger that is being forced upon them.
Themes:
Machines vs. nature
people vs. "Moloch"
anger - the people are starting to get angry that they keep getting everything taken away from them by the rich or the "great owners.
Symbols
bugs
This is a "bigger picture" chapter so there are no specific characters.
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