The Transformation Of Tom Joad In The Grapes Of Wrath

Through the roughest times in life, we come across crises that reveal the true character in those around us. Those who are strong are divided from the weak and the followers divide from the leaders. In the novel, The Grapes of Wrath, author John Steinbeck presents the character Ma Joad who serves an important role as the rock that keeps the family together. The Joad family, apart from many families in Oklahoma, is forced to leave their homes in search of work and better opportunities; California not only leaves them in poverty but despair. But through it all Ma Joad is the leader of the family that exhibits selflessness in order to protect and secure her family.

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

Tom never does anything without doing it to the fullest, good or bad. Tom has an overall extremely short temper, assertive,confident and aggressive nature. Tom’s wild, emotional, and uncaring attitude end up getting three people killed. Tom in the end is ultimately concerned with himself and his lavished ,intense, and high paced

Tom takes a big step forward in overcoming the adversities he’s faced with, showing that he’s maturing and making steady way through his journey of growing into the wider world.

Likewise, Tom Joad is another character from The Grapes of Wrath, by Steinbeck, who shows his dignity throughout the book through his actions, but also his past life. In Tom’s past life, he was arrested, having killed a man. However, Tom was stabbed, and was merely performing an act of self defense. He really had nothing against the man who attacked him, and thought of him to be a “nice fella” (Grapes 73). Many of the people Tom meets that find out that he has committed murder, assume that he isn’t an innocent man, and isn’t worth respecting. However, it is known by the reader that he had a legitimate purpose, and he doesn’t try to stress this fact. Due to this, his dignity shows, because he is allowing people to think what they want, even though he knows that he was only doing the last resort of things. Also, at the end of the book, Tom decides to live up to Jim Casy, a preacher who travelled with the Joad’s until his arrest and eventually his death, and spread the ideas that Casy was spreading throughout the entire book. “‘Tom,’ Ma repeated, ‘what you gonna do?’ ‘What Casy done,’ he said… ‘He wasn’ doing nothin’

In John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath, Tom Joad is the protagonist. After serving four years in jail for murder, he is finally out on parole. When Tom is first introduced, he is portrayed as a negative character. Tom is stubborn and likes things to go his way. In the beginning of the novel Tom lives his life day by day, the future does concern him. Throughout the novel Tom develops from a man only interested in his own independent personal needs and desires to someone who is devoted to his family, and is willing to sacrifice his own personal comfort for their benefit. By the end of the novel Tom Joad transformed from a negative character into a positive character who cares about the future of his nation and the families that are

“At the heart of every immigrant’s experience is a dream- a vision of hope that is embodied in his or her destination” (Gladstein 685). In the novel, The Grapes of Wrath the migrants imagined the absolute aspects of living care free to the west. However, everything changed once they traveled to the west, realizing the simple concept turned into hazardous problems. John Steinback emphasized the American dream of economic stability and truculent situations towards the Joads family's point of view. Throughout the immigration, the Joads family goes through constant and unpredictable changes in employment, and their eventual failure to find success in California. The novel has been called by critics "a celebration of the human spirit", in several ways it is true due to the aspects of human nature. Despite the hazardous actions people can do, it is important to realize everything around us.

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)

Tom Joad, in the early parts of the book especially, comes off as a coarse and gruff realist, by his actions and manner of speaking. When asked by his family about whether he was abused by the guards in McAlester, Tom remarks, “They [the guards] give ya hell if ya raise hell” (pg 56). Many people see cursing and swearing as a rude and uneducated manner of speaking. That is how Tom naturally speaks. A trait of Gruff people is that they are very stubborn and confrontational. Those two traits usually lead gruff people into fights and disagreements. Combine that with a very tense and loaded environment, Tom and the other Joads could be in for some problems. By not avoiding confrontation, which would be the normal for a parolee, Tom can let his emotions get the better of him.

     The book, Grapes of Wrath, follows the life of the Joad family, who live in Oklahoma during the Depression. The story begins with the return of Tom Joad from prison, where he has spent the last few years. He killed a boy in a bar fight and is now on parole. He is taken by surprise when he returns to Oklahoma only to find that his house is in ruins and his family is not there. He doesn’t know that, while he was gone, the banks forced his family and thousands of others off their land. Tom is accompanied by a former priest, Casey, who searches with Tom for his family. Tom and Casey find the Joad family at Tom’s uncle’s house. The family is preparing to move west to California in hopes that they

In understanding the complex nature of the American Dream, Tom is the most egotistical of them all. His family has enormous wealth. Tom represents “old money” and the intergeneration transfer of wealth; which he offensively exploits. He lives in East Egg where the old aristocrats live. Tom is also a hypocrite, and his constant use of racist comments towards other ethnic groups and those less fortunate than himself indicate to me the reader that he feels he is superior.

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.

After meeting Jim Casy and traveling to California with his family, Tom starts to change his idea of see others and the world. Well walking to his father’s house, Tom encounters Jim Casy a former preacher he knew. Tom takes a break and they catch up with what is going on with their lives. This is one of the first examples of how Tom is starting to be more social after being in prison for four years. During their talk Casy gives Tom the idea that,”Maybe all men got one big soul ever'body's a part of.”(Steinbeck 33) Casy tries to explain to Tom that he believes that everyone in the world are just one big family. This simple idea later makes Tom leave his family so he can go help others in need. Without meeting Casy Tom wouldn’t of become the man we see at the end of the novel. Another example of Tom changing as a character is in chapter 16 where he meets a one eyed mechanic. Tom feels bad for the guy and decides to

Tom was a loyal worker out in the fields. Whenever I saw him he’d been working hard as ever, working as hard as anyone else if not harder, despite being a cripple. Yet I’d see him picking cotton faster than many of the other workers, he never complained of what less he had compared to everyone, he excepted the fact that he was a Crip, and carried on with what needed to be done. Now this is what I truly admired of him.

Farmers are moving west and Tom Joad the main character must also travel to California. The author’s non glorified version of reality sets it apart from most other books. This book topped 1984 solely for the fact that the probability and real life applicability of The Grapes of Wrath was much higher. Steinbeck uses high level vocabulary to captivate the reader and give a clear picture of every event. By conveying his messages through his characters Steinbeck is able to teach readers about his personal views on life. One example is with the quote “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”, by using these words Steinbeck is conveying the message of unity and that people need to work together, one of the major themes in this book. Another example of his powerful words is when the family stumbles across a father and son in the barn and the boy says, “"Yeah! Says he wasn'