Can anyone please explain this quote from the Grapes of Wrath?

Question

Hi! I have a summer reading project and of course I'm waiting til like the last 2 weeks. So i have to find quotes from the book The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck and explain them. I know this is one of the most famous quotes from that book, but I'm having a really hard time trying to explain it. Thank you so much!!! =)

"Men who have created new fruits in the world cannot create a system whereby their fruits may be eaten. And the failure hangs over the State like a great sorrow. ...and in the eyes of the people there is the failure; and in the eyes of the hungry there is a growing wrath. In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage."

Answer 1

In this chapter, Steinbeck extends his metaphor of ripening and decay among the elite business class. The wealthy owners lavished great expense to ensure that the fruits grown on their farms were ripe and healthy, impervious to disease, yet were the engineers of the eventual rot. By accumulating too much and forcing the prices of the fruit too high when others had too little, they ensured that nobody would be able to buy the fruit. They have engineered their own demise. Yet there are more important victims in this tragedy. Children die from disease, for their parents cannot afford the fruit. They are literal victims of the profit margin.

Answer 2

The government has done nothing to help the destitute, and they are becoming more and more angry. Their hard work to support their families (new fruits) is not working. The ripening of the grapes means the ripening of boldness and the need to take action in their wrath.