In chapter 16, the Joads and the Wilsons travel together as one family. When the Wilson's car breaks down, Tom and Casy volunteer to stay behind to fix it while the others move on. This angers Ma Joad. She wants the family to stay together, no matter what. She says that is all they have left - family. The family splits up anways and when the car is fixed, the family is reunited at a crowded camp. At the camp, a man tells Pa Joad that there is no work in California and that the employers in California are all liars.
In chapter 17, a macrocosm point of view is taken on instead of the microcosm view taken on in chapter 16. It talks about how the migrant farmers all lived together in camps as if they were family. And they were like one whole family with rules governing how one should behave and punishments for the misconducts.
The first chapter, 16, gives a personal sense of exactly what traveling on the road and living with others was like. Chapter 17 is just a generalized version of what most migrants went through. The personal account in 16 gives more detail is is a lot more vivid. Additionally, the Joad family encounters a person who tells them exactly what life is like in California. Most migrants would not have known and would have kept traveling towards their unattainable goal of making a living in the state.
Chapter 16 shows exactly what the Joads are facing. They faced the man who gave them the cold hard truth about California. They faced breaking up the family when the car broke down. There were intense moment, especially the moment in which Ma Joad opposed breaking up the family. There were actual feelings that had shown through the detailed events of each character.
These two types of chapters help bring the whole novel together. Not only do readers get "the big picture" from the macrocosm point of view, but also the thorough and comprehensive view of one family's journey into the unknown from the microcosm.
More detail and exploration of the connection between the two styles.
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