Analysis Of The Grapes Of Wrath

In the novel The Grapes of Wrath, by John Steinbeck, the life of a migrant family,who is forced off their land in Oklahoma and who is in search of employment in California, is portrayed. During the course of the novel, the Joads move from a concern

for themselves and their own personal welfare to a concern for all the people of the

world. This becomes one of the major themes in the novel. It is traceable through many

of the characters such as Jim Casey, Tom Joad, Ma Joad, and Rosa of Sharon. It is also

traceable through many different action taken by the Joad family on the whole.

The character of Jim Casy plays a strong role in bringing forth the theme in

discussion. Casey is a preacher like none other. He does not preach the orthodox ideas

of the Christian religion. Instead, he preaches the Emersonian doctrine of the Oversoul.

Tom Joad once recalls that “one time Casey went into the wilderness to find his own

soul, an’ he foun’ he didn’t have no soul that was his’n Says he foun’ he jus’ got a little

piece of a great big soul...his lilttle piece of a soul wasn’t no good ‘less it was with the

rest, an’ was whole.” This is part of Emerson’s views of the Oversoul; man’s soul is

breaking away from some larger soul and in death this individual soul is reunited with the

larger Oversoul. It is through Casy’s beliefs in the concept of the Oversoul and his prison

experience that reveals to Jim that only thr...