Development of Tom Joad throughout “The Grapes of Wrath” No house, no food, no money, no work, these are the basic problems that millions of families faced during the depression. What would you do if you are released from jail in the middle of a drought where there is no work for miles? In Steinbeck's novel The Grapes of Wrath, Tom Joad is one of the main characters in the “The Grapes of Wrath,” years ago Tom was taken into jail because he got into a drunken fight and killed his attacker with a shovel. He has served his time and is now getting a different outlook on the things in life and is realizing everything happens for a reason. After killing a man with a shovel Tom Joad has gone to jail. When the sentence is served he is released Tom is good natured and deals with what life throws at him, during the long trip towards work the family has realized the can count on Tom to help protect them. His past isn't going to define his future or change the way he feels about his family. As they arrive to California they get the devastating news that work is sparse and many people are dying of starvation, including Grampa who dies of a stroke. When the major change of losing a family member Tom realizes that life can be gone faster than you think and you see him changing into a more considerate person and a more sentimental person towards others. After they have buried Grampa, Tom comes across a “one eyed mechanic” who he helps fix his touring car. An act that he would probably never do in his past. Steinbeck shows Toms development into a more considerate person as the book He picks a small fight with one of the people in a camp they were staying at. Floyd Knowles was another character associated with Tom. At one point the police were after Floyd and Tom trips the policeman, resulting in him going to hide in the willows so they don’t find him and catch him. The Joads want to leave that camp sight soon after that happened, after one of the family members went missing Tom went to find him. The missing member was drunken by the river and Tom was forced to knock him out to get him back to truck so they could load up and leave. It’s hard for people to change from their old ways like Tom is doing and Steinbeck is showing us this, and showing that Tom is the protagonist in this novel. The family is starting to rely on Tom for most things, he is driving most of the way and helping people they meet and participating in all the things the family
Finally becoming convinced that life is unfair for his people, Tom decides to leave the family, find the union men, and work with them.
John Steinbeck once stated: “If he needs a million acres to make him feel rich, seems to me he needs it 'cause he feels awful poor inside hisself, and if he's poor in hisself, there ain't no million acres gonna make him feel rich, an' maybe he's disappointed that nothin' he can do 'll make him feel rich.” The classic text Grapes of Wrath contains several characters with a considerable amount of depth. Characters like Tom and Ma Joad are usually celebrated for their symbolism and dialogue. I feel as though Grandpa Joad is a highly underrated character in Steinbeck’s text Grapes of Wrath.
Al Joad is a fairly skinny guy of medium built who starts out being a
At the beginning, Tom is very self-centered and preoccupied with his work. He finds what he wants to do more important than what his wife wants to do that night. Once faced with the reality of death, he realizes how important his wife is to him. This forces him to be strong and stay alive, for her sake. The only reason he made it back into his house was because of how much he cared for her. Tom then decides to go find her at the movies, which shows that he has become less self-centered and more aware of his wife’s feelings.
Not in decency, anyways ... Sometimes a fella got to sift the law" (Steinbeck 179). As the seeds of change and defiance began to set in, both Huck and Tom decided to help free people from their bondage. After talking to Casy for the last time, Tom reached a realization that he can be a catalyst to change by bringing all the migrants together. He vows to free the migrants from their unjust treatment and use the festering "grapes of wrath" inside them all to produce their change. "I been thinkin' a hell of a lot, thinkin' about out people livin' like pigs, and the good rich lan' layin' fallow. An' I been wonderin' if all our folks got together an' yelled, like them fellas yelled –" (Steinbeck 536). Tom wants to save the starving kids and migrant workers from the hardships pushed onto them by the unspoken laws that are established to target them. He wants to overcome the legality of the situation by doing what he believes to be morally
This early characterization keeps readers interested in Tom and what he will do throughout the novel due to his intriguing early rebellious behavior and personality. To start analyzing Tom’s life one must start with the earliest mention of him as a child, this being a scene of Tom harassing young girls during his own baptism, ignoring those who tell him to stop. This shows early rebellion and an apt for trying societal rules, revealing that he does not care about the outcome of any situation as long as he is enjoying himself. This is backed up later in his life when Tom gets into a fight at a bar and ultimately kills a man, resulting in him going to jail for multiple years, in which he does not break maintaining sanity revealing his aptitude and strength in his ways of leading his life. This philosophy would follow him through his life, ultimately starting to take a new shape when he would later meet again with the preacher who baptized him, Jim
The armed and intoxicated group of men let the Joads know in no uncertain terms that they aren’t allowing any Okies in their town. Steinbeck shows the frustration and anger of Tom Joad as he deals with this internal struggle to strike out against the men, “Tom shivered all over…And Tom tried to restrain his hard smothered sobbing” (382). Furthermore Steinbeck expresses the Joads support of one another with the comforting actions of Ma Joad towards Tom as she tells Tom “You done good,” Ma said tenderly. “You done jus’ good’” (382). Steinbeck concluded this event with the prejudice men with a rather emphatic statement by Ma Joad proclaiming that “...people like us will go on livin’ when all them people is gone…they ain’t gonna wipe us out…” (383).
In John Steinbeck’s novel, The Grapes of Wrath, there are many characters who have major influential roles in the overall development of this dark and twisted story. Characters such as Tom Joad, Ma Joad, and Roasasharon Joad are big characters who in some way, shape, or form impact the plot of this novel. Perhaps one of Steinbeck’s most important characters is Jim Casy. This character influences the entire Joad family, but ends up leaving a huge impact on Tom as the end of the story draws near. Steinbeck cleverly describes Jim Casy’s appearance, uses him as a symbolic figure, and gives the Joad family an overwhelming peace.
Joads were the main family in John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath, a book which
The protagonist of this story is Tom Joad. Tom must overcome several conflicts when he is paroled from jail and let out into an economically depressed country. Tom's physical conflict throughout the novel is the task of surviving the horrible starving conditions of America's Great Depression. He also has physical conflicts with people who only wish to destroy the hopes of migrant workers such as the police and strikebreakers. Tom's emotional conflict deals with his inability to get good work and take care of his family. Tom had feelings of worthlessness until he decided to run away and attempt to organize the migrant workers against the wealthy California landowners with inspiration from his close friend Jim Casey. Tom becomes a character with much moral integrity, and devotes himself to the lives of his fellow migrant workers. The main conflict is basically shown in a battle of good vs. evil. As the novel progresses it becomes more evident that the migrant workers must band together in order to survive against the wealthy and greedy landowners. Ma Joad said that survival is the ultimate principal and it is also the ultimate conflict of Grapes of Wrath.
In literature as in life, people often find that they must make difficult choices in order to survive. The reasons behind their decisions and the results of their subsequent actions affect our opinion of them. In the Grapes of Wrath, written by John Steinbeck, the author portrayed situations where two main characters became involved. The nature of their choices, the reasons behind their decisions, and the results that followed affected them greatly. However, the choices that they made were surmounted successfully. Ma Joad and Tom Joad are two strong characters who overcame laborious predicaments. Their powerful characteristics helped to encourage those that were struggling.
We do not know much about Tom’s childhood; however it is clear that his life has progressed into a sociopathic lifestyle. We do know that, “[His] parents died when [he] was very small” and that “[He] was raised by [his] aunt in Boston.” (25) He disliked his aunt, hated her, and wanted to kill her.
Tom Joad experiences many struggles in The Grapes of Wrath. Due to his struggles, he undergoes an immense change that causes him from being unconcerned and impassive to being contemplative and expressive. The journey with Casy and his family affects how he achieves success to become a true, strong character. With his responsibility of taking care of the family, he carries great burden and doubtful decisions of leading them to California. Throughout the journey, he faces trials and sufferings that lead him to have an inner conflict with himself in order for his family to have the golden opportunity to live prosperously in the scarce but hopeful land. His moments of feeling helplessness and vulnerability in the position of a deterred migrant,
Mr. Tom is an elderly gentleman who lives in the country of England. He is quiet and keeps to himself. Throughout the novel Mr. Tom changes and becomes a new person. With the outbreak of war he is responsible for the care of a young evacuee, Will. He and Tom quickly grow to care for each other. Will is given into Tom's care with only the clothes on his back. Tom talks to Mrs. Henley, a local neighbor, and asks her if she would be kind enough to knit Will a jersey. She replied, "You ent gotta clothe em" but Mr. Tom was persistent and was able to get Will a new, thick jersey made (18). Tom takes real good care of William and does his best to look after the young child. While Will is around him, Mr. Tom isn't so deeply depressed about his wife and son, who have both departed. He is more social with the rest of the town and has a more happy expression. When the young evacuee is sent back home Tom worries, when he goes to check on him he finds him in startling health. He even breaks the law to get his frail body back into the country side with him. Mr. Tom is soon Will's adopted father, nearing the end of the novel Will notices something about Tom. "[He] noticed how old and vulnerable Tom looked" (317).
Set in the old Southwest in an almost poverty stricken shabby village called St. Petersburg. The whole town knows one another, and of course they know each other’s business. Sunday was the holy day when everyone would gather at the church to compare notes on the past weeks events. The children had to rely on making good clean fun from meager surroundings. Swimming, fishing, picnicking, and playing "Hide n' seek" in the long hot summer days were all good ways to pass the time. But Tom was more venturesome than that, and with his best friend Huckleberry Finn, he lived everyday to its fullest. Tom had a little more schooling than Huck, but Huck was growing up on the streets and surviving just fine considering that his father was a drunk. Tom had a good home, being raised by his Aunt Polly, (his mother died so her sister took him in). He also lived with his half-brother, Sid, whose main objective in life was to make Tom’s miserable by ratting him out all the time, and his quiet cousin Mary.