Brief Summary of The Last Apprentice by Joseph Delaney

Tom went through a drastic change: from selfish, ignorant and unpurposeful, into a man that embodies every great idea and quality that Steinbeck wanted readers to take. Casy’s brilliant views on humanity were within Tom throughout the novel; Tom just needed time to put them together. What he learned translated into themes involving the value of others’ ideas, unifying mankind for its own improvement, and devoting life towards a better tomorrow for generations to

Tom is an immoral character. He is very unlikeable because of his uncivilized attitude. He is a very arrogant, dominating and boorish man who doesn’t cares about anyone focusing only on what he wants and looks down on poor, helpless people. Not only this, but he is also racist and a complete hypocrite.

(146) In order to emphasize his humility and goodness, Tom has been cast as a ?one-arm jackleg? (as he so eloquently puts it). He is a carpenter, ably fixing up the Crater property. He performs the miracles of reviving Mrs. Crater?s long-dead Ford (the religious connection reinforced by O?Connor?s characterization of his expression ?as if he had just raised the dead? [151]) and teaching deaf and mute daughter Lucynell to say the word ?bird?. He eschews modern man?s obsession with money and claims that he has a ?moral intelligence? despite his physical shortcomings. By emphasizing his focus on the spiritual nature of life, Tom succeeds in marrying the daughter and receiving money from Mrs. Crater.

Tom is the most important character, yet he is not a flawless figure. Tom is irritated and annoyed easily, impatient and ignorant. His anger is clearly displayed in scenes with Gwen who expresses illiterate and disrespectful comments towards Tom’s family. Tom develops to acquire his own appealing death, during the course of the play. He has been hesitant to speak about his death, as he ignores Meg’s attempt to begin a conversation on the matter: “Are you afraid? / You coming to the concert tonight?”. Gow signifies Tom’s acceptance by giving him King Lear’s lines about crawling towards death.

First, Tom has changed throughout the book. At the beginning of the book Tom was always telling some sort of lie. He lied about whitewashing the fence, his toe hurting, memorizing bible verses, taking the pills and much more. Towards the end of the book Tom is starting to realize he needs to be truthful. On the day of the murder trial Tom is asked to take the stand. He was as scared as a mouse getting chased by a cat. After a few minutes of talking and thinking Tom confesses the truth about the murder. Injun Joe was the one who killed Dr. Robinson! Another example of how Tom changed in the book is his kindness. After Tom brought up his old crush Amy, Becky was as mad as your mom when you don't clean your room. Tom tried to get her back but she didn't care. After awhile he didn't really care what she did. When Tom and Becky were stuck in the cave he confronted her and told her they would get out. He also took the blame for the ripped

Although Tom came from a wealth family, Tom lacks the proper intelligence for his social class. As shown in our first encounter with Tom was when Nick came over for the party, While having dinner, Tom tried to refer to a book he read to show his level of education. Although Tom tried to explain what the book was about, he could only reply with, “it’s all scientific stuff; it’s been proved”(13). Daisy, aware of Tom’s affair with another woman, passively made fun of his intelligence by saying, “he reads deep books with long words in them”(13). Tom tries to portray his intelligence by pretending to read and understand sophisticated books to fit into his class.

Tom continues his disloyal acts throughout the novel. Tom admits his own disloyalty when he confesses “Once in

As the novel progresses, Tom transforms from this selfish nature to become a caring person. Several examples of this transformation are seen throughout various chapters. When the Joads are traveling west to California with the Wilson’s, Tom offers to help them when their car breaks down. “Tom said nervously, ‘Look Al. I done my time, an’ now it’s done… Let’s jus’ try an’ get a con-rod an’ the hell with the res’ of it.’” Tom is showing a little more care for other people’s problems, however, he still has a selfish side because he still does not regret killing a man. He knew he had to pay for it by going to prison, but he still believes he did nothing wrong by taking a man’s life. By offering to help out with the Wilson’s’ car, he is on his way to becoming a less selfish person. As the book draws to a close, Tom stumbles upon Jim Casy again, who is murdered in front of his own eyes. As a result, he is thrown into a silent rage and kills another man which causes him to hide in the forest. He realizes that he is a danger to his family, so he sacrifices his safety in order for his family to be safe. ‘“Ya can’t do that, Ma. I tell you I’m jus’ a danger to ya,”’ (391). There is a clear transition from Tom acting selfish at the beginning of the book to him acting completely selfless at the end. This selflessness also contributed to him being a figure committed to bettering the

3. Nick states that Tom is enormously wealthy, arrogant, aggressive, and gruff. He says that Tom was leading an anticlimactic life and was constantly in search of something exciting.

The author’s diction intensifies Tom’s aggressive and arrogant persona through Nick’s hostile narration and Tom’s egotistical attitude. Nick describes Tom’s manner as “supercilious” and his body as “cruel”. Nick’s word choice indicates that although Nick has yet to have a conversation with Tom, Nick sees Tom as assertive and insensitive. Not only does Tom appear arrogant to Nick, but Tom also talks with a “gruff husky tenor” and a “harsh, defiant wistfulness.” Nick’s description of Tom’s voice further stresses Tom’s intimidating personality and his arrogant manner. Not only does Fitzgerald’s word choice show Nick’s impression of Tom,

Tom’s reading, along with his vast sense of imagination, is probably the greatest influence on his behavior. When prompted with a dilemma, he recalls to a similar situation

Through the book tom has a lot of changes and the changes are for the better. Tom used to be lazy and not responsible and over all bad. But he changed and became a better person.

The thing that you hear the most throughout both books is religion. That subject is a very important to both men. It was one Tom's dominant characteristics, even though he wasn't the best reader in the world he reads the Bible and leads prayer meeting. He did this so that everyone around him will

mom the narrator, and her sister Maggie who has been working with her mother. As Mrs.

himself that he is not mad, and will put the reader on edge as they