What does, “you’re buying a sorrow that can’t talk” mean?

Difficult times.

This line is taken from a part of the novel where Pa Joad is at a distress sale, which is a type of sale where people sell things (like the name suggests) when they are in distress and are in dire need of money.  The context of this line follows:  “you are buying years of work, toil in the sun; you’re buying a sorrow that can’t talk.”  With personification, it is communicated that what is being purchased represents difficult times.

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explanation:

who knows