point of view

Throughout the book there chapters were switching points of views every now and then. I wanted to address this and the meaning of it. What do you guys think the point if this is? I'm pretty sure Steinbeck does this so the reader has a broader view of the situations at hand. If we only read the story in the migrants' point of view we would never understand why the local California's were so cruel. Steinbeck shows us their conversation in private and their thoughts to help us understand.