Tom Joad's Character Development In The Grapes Of Wrath

Character arcs, a primary method of keeping the reader’s emotions tied to the novel and its characters in order to maintain their interest. This method of character development is often implored by writers such as John Steinbeck; this can be observed in his novel The Grapes Of Wrath. An example of such a character arc is Tom Joad’s spiritual and emotional development, as he gradually becomes Jim Casy’s spiritual heir and student. Fully understanding this dramatic development is started by one analyzing three different stages that Tom undergoes throughout his life; starting with his philosophy and actions as a young child, when he finally meets Jim Casy and the acceptance of the new way of thinking, concluded by when he decides to act on the

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 final stage of Casy’s philosophy is a turn toward activism for the betterment of humanity, eventually leading to his death. This turn towards taking actions is paralleled by Tom when he, in the end of the novel, sacrifices his future and safety for the betterment of the Joad family as a whole. This occurs when he decides with Ma Joad that the best results would come of them leaving him behind and continuing on to find work, due to the fact that Tom being with them puts them at risk due to his history and criminal status. This also reveals that he cannot withstand the thought of people like the Joad family being hurt, that a turn toward activism could help their family and the whole human race as a single entity. This shows the final of many actions that reveal how Tom has grown closer to Casy’s beliefs, and also shows when Tom becomes the spiritual heir due to the fact that he has developed the exact same philosophy that Casy had worked