they pick through their belongings deciding what few things can be taken and what must be left behind or sold In Chapter 9, the tenant people are forced to pick through their belongings. They must select only a few items to take with them on the journey out West. Everything else must be left behind or sold. The hagglers that come to purchase these items take the items at face value and do not realize that they are bartering for the tenant farmer's dignity, their family history, their most precious keepsakes, and in essence their former lives.