What is the symbolism in chapter 1 of The Grapes of Wrath?

There are many symbols in the first chapter of Steinbeck's work that will come back in different forms throughout the novel.  One of the most powerful symbols is the covering of the sky, blocking out the sun and the light.  Steinbeck uses this to reflect both the natural conditions in America at the time as well as the state of human connection to others.  Both are shrouded in darkness and a moment where individuals cannot see, both literally and figuratively, their connection to others, making social solidarity near impossible to achieve.  This feed the idea of the lack of agriculture, something that requires nurturing as well as balance of natural conditions in order to suvive and flourish.  Human societies are much the same way in the Great Depression and in the Dust Bowl, the subject of Steinbeck's book.  I think that one of the last symbols in the first chapter is the idea that the men do not capitulate to the natural conditions in front of them.  The wives see the anger and the emotion in their husbands.  They recognize this and Steinbeck uses this as a way to bring about the idea that while there is a condition of harshness and alienation, this does not have to be the norm.  This image helps to convey Steinbeck's belief that there can be a transformative notion of reality whereby individuals can help to change reality from what is into what should be.  It is here where such a symbolic moment can come to represent so much more in the work in that the transformative power of humans will become a central theme developed throughout the book.

What examples of imagery and symbolism can be found in chapters 27-30 of The Grapes of Wrath?

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With regard to imagery, one passage that speaks to Casy's new philosophy now that he has stopped preaching is recounted by Tom:

Says one time he went out in the wilderness to find his own soul, an’ he found’ he didn’ have no soul that was his’n. Says he foun’ he jus’ got a little piece of a great big soul. Says a wilderness ain’t no good, ‘cause his little piece of a soul wasn’t no good ‘less it was with the rest, an’ was whole.

This excerpt describes a sophisticated concept, perhaps surprising in that the Joads and their extended family do not seem very "deep," intellectually. Casy describes the difficulty of finding a place where he feels a part of something larger. After he leaves the Joads, when Tom is confronted with leaving rather than being arrested, he recalls this description; he believes that perhaps Casy's new philosophy will serve his as well: he is now dedicated to serving all people, who are all a part of the same soul, which includes Tom himself.

When Ma has to say goodbye to Tom and worries that she will never see him again,he comforts her with this beautiful and inspiring passage:

I’ll be ever’where—wherever you look. Wherever they’s a fight so hungry people can eat, I’ll be there. Wherever they’s a cop beatin’ up a guy, I’ll be there...I’ll be in the way guys yell when they’re mad an’—I’ll be in the way kids laugh when they’re hungry an’ they know supper’s ready. An’ when our folks eat the stuff they raise an’ live in the houses they build—why, I’ll be there….”

These words form the image in the reader's mind of a man who will transcend the circumstances that have almost beaten him down. Instead of feeling sorry for himself, he dedicates himself to improving the lives of others; unselfishly, unworried about what will happen to him (as others in the story have met with disaster for fighting the system), he knows that whatever happens to him, his spirit will be present in the struggles and triumphs his "universal" family experiences.

In The Grapes of Wrath, what is the significance of animal imagery?

In Steinbeck's wonderful novel The Grapes of Wrath, the author frequently uses animals as symbols for the state of well-being of the family members; there are many examples of this throughout the novel, and the animals more often than not symbolize struggle.

One example can be found in the cat that lives at the Joad farm. When Tom returns home from a stint in prison, he finds that the farm is almost entirely abandoned apart from the cat. The cat refuses to go near Tom, for it has become entirely independent in its means of survival. It can no longer rely on others—for it had surely stopped receiving food once the people left—and thus it's forced back to pursue its primal nature as it turns "directly to one of the little piles of rabbit entrails on the ground."

Another example of animals acting as symbolism for the Joad family's struggles is the dog that gets run over by the truck. After a gruesome and painful death, Pa admits that there was no true way to be able to feed the dog. The dog's death is cruel, unexpected, and wholly grotesque, yet the death ends the struggles that the dog would have faced. In a sense, the dog shows the desperation of the family while also symbolizing the cruel, dangerous nature of the outside world.