As in many of his other works, John Steinbeck investigates the relationship between humans and the world in which they live in the Tiflin ranch stories. He includes specific details about the Salinas Valley region, including plant and animal life. Many of his descriptions of nature include colors: “In the grey quiet mornings when the land and the brush and the houses and the trees were silver-gray and black like a photograph negative” (146). This time of day is also described as the “cool blue morning” (210). The early morning is an important element in another novel by Steinbeck called Cannery Row, which is set in Monterey. The Tiflin ranch is farther from the ocean than Monterey, in the “huge green Salinas Valley” (203). In the evenings, the valley becomes a “purpling ranch-cup” (205). Steinbeck highlights various colors in the environment to give the reader a sense of place.

In “The Leader of the People,” Grandfather represents a group of people who have been defeated by their environment. They traveled west for a long time: “It was westering and westering” (213). However, they eventually reached a point where there was no more land to the west. There’s “a line of old men along the shore hating the ocean because it stopped them” (213).