The Character of Tom Joad Essay

At the onset of the book, Young Tom has just been released from prison and is interested in making up for lost time and enjoying himself. He is a strong family support during the journey but is among the first to begin reaching out to a larger family. At the end he has focused on the plight and abuse of all the homeless farmers and recognizes that they must

At first, Tom only cared about himself and how he would succeed. Pretty soon, he has the same line of thinking as Preacher Jim Casy. “[sic] I’ll be ever’where-wherever you look. 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” (Steinbeck 537). Tom is talking about how he wants to organize a strike like what Casy did. He believes that if everyone joins together, then the cops can not touch them. He forgot about what is best for

Through Tom’s search for a higher social standing, it makes him the least moral character in the movie because his maturity and moral development is naively egoistic,

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

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)

The author continuously characterizes Tom Walker in a way that makes the readers pity and resent him to not want to follow the example of his life. For example, after Tom's wife takes all their valuables and tries to strike a bargain with the devil when Tom wouldn’t do it himself, he goes looking for her in the woods. Irving shows just how little Tom cared about his wife when he describes his reaction to her disappearance and death. He is more concerned about the safety of his silverware, which she had taken with her. "He leaped with joy; for he recognized his wife's apron, and supposed it to contain the household valuables.” That shows that he is really greedy and ruthless. However, Tom shows no remorse for his dead wife and has evidence that shows that his wife had beaten up even the

As Tom accepts assistance from the truck driver, this event foreshadows Tom eagerly assisting others that are in need of aid multiple times throughout the novel. Similarly to the truck driver, Tom will voluntarily go out of his way just so he can help others. The Wilsons were a family that Tom insisted on aiding, although the Wilsons may not have even had the capability to help the Joads on the way to California. Tom holds contempt for large corporations because they bully their workers. From the beginning, Tom dislikes the idea of powerful figures that hold authority enforcing meaningless policies that inhibit others from succeeding, which foreshadows Tom’s eventual struggles with the police. Like large corporations, the police disregard the lives of low class citizens, often imprisoning migrants in California despite the lack of evidence. Tom is fearless when he confronts the police because he perceives them as corrupt, eventually leading to violent conflicts with them. Tom’s philosophy of fighting back and resisting the adverse actions of the police foreshadow him selflessly deciding to become a leader for the migrant people, who are consistently discriminated against by the

Even though Tom is now aware of his origin it does not ultimately change all of his behavior and attitude or as it is described in the book “In several ways his opinions were totally changed,…, but the main structure of his character was not changed and could not be changed”. This condition only lasted for a certain period of time until he “dropped gradually back into his old frivolous and easy-going ways…” p.57 A similar thing happens to Chambers by the end of the story after Tom has gotten convicted to murder and Pudd’nhead Wilson has found out about the real identities of Tom and Chambers. Being a free man, the original Tom does not know how to deal with this situation because “his manners were the manners of a slave”. He did not learn how to write or to read, nor did he spend much time somewhere else but in the kitchen.

Grandpa Joad, an irrepressible symbol, in The Grapes of Wrath is a very emotionally connected character through his resilience with the land. While the family truck is returning to Sallisaw, a quote describing the family and the grandpa’s bitterness, “And now they were weary and frightened because they had gone against a system they did not understand and it had beaten them” (Steinbeck 97). As the family attempts to follow in the path that all migrants must take to make their lives in California, the effort comes with extreme ramifications. The Grandpa however stays to his old nature and begins to die as he is taken away from the land that was keeping his spirit alive. Grandpa is stuck in the idea that the way that life was is now the way life

John Steinbeck passionately describes a time of unfair poverty, unity, and the human spirit in the classic, The Grapes of Wrath. The novel tells of real, diverse characters who experience growth through turmoil and hardship. Jim Casy- a personal favorite character- is an ex-preacher that meets up with a former worshiper, Tom Joad. Casy continues a relationship with Tom and the rest of the Joads as they embark on a journey to California in the hopes of prosperity and possibly excess. Casy represents how the many situations in life impact the ever-changing souls of human- beings and the search within to discover one's true identity and beliefs. Casy, however, was much more complex than the average individual. His unpredjudiced, unified,

In the first few chapters of The Grapes of Wrath, the main character Tom Joad, and the events that have occurred in his life. Joad has made terrible choices in his life, including murdering a man

Tom, though, is a very complicated individual who turns out to be a tremendous asset and burden to the family. His parole causes the family an unneeded worry, but does get work that helps the family. He is the main protagonist for his family and the main follower of Jim Casy's philosophy on human nature. Jim is much more of a talker and idealist, and he actually puts what he preached into action. Jim Casy is frequently compared with Jesus Christ and his lifestyle of preaching and leading people. As well as sacrificing himself for Tom and the Joad family which upholds his common held belief. Tom carries Jim’s message after his death and aids others with it. The Joad family, along with Jim Casy, shows the benefit of people uniting in order to accomplish goals and this is a lesson that the reader can take away from this novel.

In the last chapter of the book, the family finds shelter from a storm in an old barn, where they find an old man dying of starvation and his young son beside him. Ma exchanges a look of meaning with Rosasharn, and she knows that Rosasharn understands what she must do. To save the old man from death, Rosasharn does something both brave and selfless, and has the old man suckles the milk that would have otherwise gone to her dead baby. This is where Rose of Sharon truly grows up, for when one is in need she is able to put others before herself and give life to someone in

In Steinbeck's novel, The Grapes of Wrath, he describes the struggle of the small farmer and farmworker. The principal characters define quiet dignity and courage in their struggle to survive and in the caring for their loved ones. Through this novel, Steinbeck displays his respect for all the poor and oppressed of our world.

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.