Why do we need to own anything?

What strikes me is that John Steinbeck wrote The Grapes of Wrath in the 30s. He wrote about the event during the event. As I have been, in my own life, struggling with both spiritual and non-spiritual concepts of individualism and ownership, the reading of this book is coming at an ideal time.

"For the quality of owning freezes you forever into "I," and cuts you off forever from the "we.""
P. 194