GoW Travel Journal 3 - Chapters 1 - 10 Part G

The conflict of man v. machine is central to the plot of the novel. Whether it be the tractors plowing foreclosed fields, or broken down cars sold and exorbitant prices to tenant farmers who don't know better, machines are one of the main enemies of the characters in the book. Machines are large ugly pieces of metal that the farmers, who like to do hands on work, can not come to appreciate or use. 

Perhaps one of the most hated machines are the large impersonal tractors that plow abandoned fields. Steinbeck depicts tractors as large monsters without any emotions or ability to care for the land the way a farmer can. The tractors work is described as; "twelve curved iron penes erected in the foundry, orgasms set by gears, raping methodically, raping without passion." The ugliness and brutality of the tractor is evident in the quote, a beast that knows nothing about the land, or forming a connection to the ground you plow and seed. The tractor cannot fathom such intricacies of a farmers life, of how a man plows his field. All the tractor can do is take orders from the evil and faceless bank, and plow away, "raping" the fields without emotion, carrying on its duty without consideration to what it is really doing to the land.

The other form of machinery that is not necessarily evil but disgusting in the eyes of farmers and of Steinbeck is the car. Used cars in particular are ugly heaps of metal designed to do nothing but spew grease and the bad smell of gasoline and neglect.
"Piles of rusty ruins against the fence, rows of wrecks in back, fenders, grease-black wrecks, blocks lying on the ground and a pig weed growing up through the cylinders. Brake rods, exhausts, piled like snakes. Grease, gasoline."
The "rusty," "[greasy]," and the smell of "gasoline" all contribute to a sense of unease and disgust. The poor tenant farmers, unfamiliar with the vehicles, are taken in and given broken machines in exchange for a lot of the meager amounts of money they actually have. Although the cars are necessary to their survival, it is obvious that the farmers are not and never will be comfortable with the cars, or machines in general.