Sacrifice In Tom's Running Away

During the depression, he worked for his father’s shoe factory. It was a horrible time for Tom. He hated working there and felt that those three years were wasted time (Roudane).

With a weary grunt, Booker shifted the bag of groceries in his arms and kicked his apartment door closed with his foot. He had planned to be home early so he take Tom out to dinner as a birthday surprise, but as usual, work had ruined his plans. When he had rung Tom and explained that he would be home late, he had expected him to react moodily, but instead, he had received a sympathetic response. It was a sign that their relationship was now on stable footing. Tom was more open about his feelings, and they argued less about the trivialities of everyday life; they were moving forward.

As the novel begins, Tom has a completely independent outlook on life; concerned only with returning home from prison to indulge his own comforts and wants. It is only later after he has endured the hardships of the journey, in Jim Casy’s death, and his own exile, that he has time to think and realizes that it is united we stand, and divided we fall. He thus sacrifices his personal concerns and safety and leaves the family to go out into the larger community and help his people. He will go out and work to complete what Jim Casy had started. Whereas Jim Casy was too much of an idealist, Tom will try and put his plan into action: “Wherever they’s a fight so hungry people can eat, I’ll be there. Wherever they’s a cop beatin’ up a guy, I’ll be there.” (537)

One may not see the importance of change and growth, but throughout life, people must constantly develop themselves into a better person. These changes in life are made by a meaningful realization, which causes one to reevaluate his or her ways. In “Contents of a Dead Man’s Pocket” by Jack Finney, Tom Benecke is torn between his wife Clare and his career. At first, he is tunnel visioned and only focuses on his career, but then has a near-death experience that helps him understand that life can end abruptly and he must rethink his values. This sudden awareness causes Tom to truly begin his life that includes Clare, happiness, and love, rather than living a life preoccupied with by work.

Tom refusing to go to the movies with Clare and the ludicrous amount of free time he has put towards work indicate that Tom is giving up positive parts of his life to do unnecessary work. When Tom climbs out of the window to retrieve his sheet of research, the great danger he puts himself into and fear he receives because of the danger is exemplified. The sight of miles of the city many stories below finally makes Tom realize the incredible danger he is in while on the side of the building and strikes an intense fear into him. The danger and fear Tom bring upon himself point out the immense risk he is willing to take to advance in his workplace. While on the ledge, Tom finally recognizes that he needs to stop revolving his life around work, and needs to experience life to its full potential.

Although Tom is the protagonist of the novel, our first impressions of him are rather misleading. He seemed to be a rather manipulative individual at first due to the fact that he was guilt tripping the truck driver in the beginning of the novel. He also acts as if he does not care about anything like when he casually mentions, “‘Homicide … That’s a big word--means I killed a guy’” (Steinbeck). First impression-wise, the protagonist seemed to be incapable of compassion. This is definitely not whom Tom ends up becoming. In fact, he becomes a crucial member of the family that allows them to make the trip to California without fail. Although he is unable to make sure that everyone arrives safely, he is only human and he is hurt every time someone leaves. Noah’s decision to leave the family and live on the river has affected Tom in that Tom is unable to keep the family all together, but at the same time he respects Noah’s decision. When Tom tried to convince Noah to stay by saying, “How bout the fam’ly? How ‘bout Ma?”, Tom appealed to the idea of family and how they should stay as one. This contrasts early behaviors of Tom as in the beginning, he did not particularly care if his parents mailed him or not in jail. He talks about how they care about him, but he never revealed his own feelings towards them. He seems to be a stranger to his own family. To furthermore complete this newfound idea of family in Tom, he makes the ultimate sacrifice to leave the family. He knows that by staying, he will endanger the family and as much as he would want to stay with the family, he puts the family’s safety before his own. Tom had shown continued growth as a human throughout the novel and yet despite all of the sacrifices he has had to make, Tom still continued to

Tom was bequeathed the position of head of the house after his father, a former telephone man, “fell in love with long distances.” Nonetheless, Tom still craves “long distance.” He spends his daily life stuck in a shoe warehouse only to “[retire] to a cabinet of the washroom to work on poems.” Tom realizes that his family

Once joyful and passionate, Tom becomes a mere shadow of who he once was, completely shutting down with only his conscience to keep him company. Steinbeck describes him as “high and prim” (409) after Dessie’s funeral, demonstrating the extent to which he has removed himself from the world of the living. One would expect him to be hysterical after accidentally killing his sister, but his grief takes the form of dangerous dissociation and he is left unable to cope with the consequences of his well-intentioned actions. It is this dissociation that marks Tom’s transition from lively to brooding, his mental state deteriorating as he spends a short yet torturous time alone in his family’s ranch home. The suicide itself is scarcely described, leaving the reader only with the idea that Tom was a “gallant gentleman” (410). Steinbeck’s tacit explanation carries with it some irony, as most would consider running away from one’s problems neither gallant nor gentlemanly. Tom is so absorbed in his shortcomings that he sees fit to end his life as a means to end his suffering without regard to how suicide will affect his family and

Tom, a son of Amanda, a poet, with no backbone gets a job in a warehouse and does not have any plan for his career. He is trapped by his mother and has suffered from that. However, Tom is curious about how he

Tom had moved out, but due to the death of his friend Robert, the reverend's son, who he was extremely close to. He moved back home because he was going through a hard time coping with the events that took place after Robert’s accident which involved the death of a child. Tom felt like he needed a break. Hence he moved back home. He worked in the area his parents’ house was situated in.

Tom Joad lives his life with the “one foot before the other” type of attitude. The future does not concern him in the beginning of the novel. He does not think about the next day until the next day is there. He does this because he does not want to worry himself. He is afraid that if he becomes worried about his future, then he will become obsessed with it and will eventually be driven to insanity. As the novel went on, Tom realized that it was he that held his family together and provided the determination and support to keep going on. He possesses the skills and knowledge to make money on his own, but he decides to stay with his family and help them move along. The Joad family encounters many dilemmas where Tom has to make crucial decisions. Tom starts to realize what is best for his family’s future.

I will always be active and encourage others to take part to improve health care and provide help services to others. I will take part in organizations and plan events that will spread awareness and make people get involved. I will maintain a good social standing and make connections with people along the way. I will be an active member for donations and serve people with the best health care services. After my graduation, once I become a registered pharmacist, I want to get involved in helping patients in a community setting; for example measure blood pressure and advice them on how to maintain a healthy lifestyle. Along the way, I will also encourage students the importance of participation and leadership roles besides academics.

In accordance with Object Relations theory, Tom’s reaction can also be explained by reviewing his background. Tom is the eldest son, with two younger sisters to highly successful and educated parents. He climbs that he succeeded in in school and sports, felt independent, and had a couple close friends. Within this theory, the “relationships between people, in particular within a family. A basic tenet is that we are driven to form relationships with others and that failure to form successful early relationships leads to later problems.” (GoodTherapy) Young children internalize representations of their reality. Such as how when he would be left home alone or with a babysitter he would show signs of anger and crying. According to this theory,

My most treasured item is a box with a hole in it and a few extra dials, symbols, and buttons attached. The common misconception with photography is that more expensive your gear the higher quality your photographs and that’s what I believed too. However,that mindset quickly shifted after taking film IBSL; I was introduced to Adobe programs, color grading, and most importantly a visual education. Photographs told stories by looking at the world through the lens, not by the scale of the aperture managed by a dial. Soon, I focused less on those extra technical features and honed into to my “eye”. What first started out as a hobby became my newfound artistic form that provided a creative outlet for what stories I wanted to share. Photography began

Through ancient times and evolution of history ethics has always been viewed as a center of societies of mankind, embracing practical nature links it with many other areas of study, including anthropology, biology, economics, history, politics, sociology, and theology with the teaching of Western philosophers like Plato, Aristotle, or Asia with the view of Confucius, Lao-tzu or Meng Tzu etc. Yet, “ethics remains distinct from such disciplines because it is not a matter of factual knowledge in the way that the sciences and other branches of inquiry are. Rather, it has to do with determining the nature of normative theories