Grapes of Wrath/Death of a salesman

I actually like reading both of these pieces. I did find it a bit annoying though when Steinbeck would base a whole chapter on something not very significant in Grapes of Wrath; the chapter on the turtle crossing the road? I wasn't so sure why that was significant. For Death of a Salesman, I read the intro after I read the play because it helped me grasp the intro a bit more. I attempted the intro a few times at first and was not following it at all, so I figured that if I knew the characters, it would make more sense to me, which it did. Oh, and just to make sure, the rubber pipe that Willy uses is a gas line, correct? Other than these little complications I enjoyed both of these works and thought that the messages of the American identity and the American dream were portrayed quite evidently.