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He compares “the detailed description of nature that begins chapter 38 of 'Whose Names Are Unknown' with that of chapter 1 of 'The Grapes of Wrath,' along with the way both authors depict “the generosity and compassion of some humans, the disdain of the Okies for charity,” and in addition, how both texts show the horrendous effect being called an “Okie” had on the characters.

In the Vietnam War era, Merle Haggard sang “Okie from Muskogee” — an anti-progressive number in which he sings, “We don’t burn our draft cards down on Main Street.”

"It happened at a moment when the South was in search of a new identity," says Okie.

For Okie, who grew up in Georgia and whose father worked as a peach breeder for the USDA, the looming loss of the state's symbolic fruit evokes a sort of weariness.

Minutes later, police said the juveniles approached another victim in the 1300 block of Okie Street NE, but the victim drove off before their car could be stolen.