“An ache was on the top of his stomach, an apprehension that was like a sick thought. It was a Weltschmerz – which we used to call 'Welshrats' – the world sadness that rises into the soul like a gas and spreads despair so that you probe for the offending event and can find none.” (175)

This is a very unique emotion that I've never seen any other book describe. Yes. Weltschmerz. Sometimes, after an interaction with someone, or after doing something, I look up and I feel this sadness. It might be a sunny day, but the sun has lost its luster, and the houses in the neighborhood look ugly, grotesque even. Something isn't quite right, and I feel sad. Like there's no point to anything. But the core of this emotion is just like how Steinbeck describes it – there's no apparent reason why you feel that way. It kind of appears, moves through you, and then, before you know it, it's gone, and everything is alright again. It's really a hard emotion to describe, or to even understand. So it shows the skill of Steinbeck as a writer, being able to encompass so much of human nature and human emotion.