Steinbeck suggests that cotton pickers put rocks in their bags and that the owners had crooked what?

Steinbeck suggests that cotton pickers put rocks in their bags and that the owners had crooked what?

• A. Backs
• B. Rows
• C. Scales
• D. Laws

Answer: (C)

This item hinges on how Steinbeck shows exploitation through the way work is measured for pay. In the cotton fields, workers are paid by the weight of cotton they pick, so the scale—the device used to weigh the cotton—becomes a tool that can cheat them if it’s unfair. The image of cotton pickers putting rocks in their bags highlights the desperation to influence that measurement, while the owners’ crooked scales directly describe the method by which pay is manipulated to favor the labor owners. The combination of these ideas makes crooked scales the clearest way to express the exploitation at stake: the scales themselves are dishonest, not the workers, and that dishonesty is what keeps the workers shortchanged. The other options don’t fit because backs, rows, or laws don’t capture the idea of fraudulent weighing and payment.

This item hinges on how Steinbeck shows exploitation through the way work is measured for pay. In the cotton fields, workers are paid by the weight of cotton they pick, so the scale—the device used to weigh the cotton—becomes a tool that can cheat them if it’s unfair. The image of cotton pickers putting rocks in their bags highlights the desperation to influence that measurement, while the owners’ crooked scales directly describe the method by which pay is manipulated to favor the labor owners. The combination of these ideas makes crooked scales the clearest way to express the exploitation at stake: the scales themselves are dishonest, not the workers, and that dishonesty is what keeps the workers shortchanged. The other options don’t fit because backs, rows, or laws don’t capture the idea of fraudulent weighing and payment.