Who are refrred to as the dead in the poem?

The great depression, which lasted throughout the 1930s in the united states, affected many people, and it had a devastating impact on an entire subset of the u.s. population. modernist writer john steinbeck wrote about the toll the depression took on these families, many of whom were forced to leave their farms and find other sources of income.

Lens quotation: "character is what you are in the dark." -dwight lyman moody

Would the essay be more or less effective in explaining the concept of dead reckoning if you knew from the beginning that ahmed is an ant?