Sacrifice In The Grapes Of Wrath

The Grapes of Wrath and the Benefit of Sacrifice

Sacrifices, though often difficult to make, can be ultimately be beneficial. Whether that sacrifice be a job, a person, a lifestyle, or a way of thinking, it can better the lives of everyone involved. A great example of this fact lies in John Steinbeck’s novel The Grapes of Wrath when a preacher named Jim Casy sacrifices his position after he has self-proclaimed “sinful ideas”, which he soon discovers to be more sensible and even applicable to his life, and moreover the entire work. When Jim Casy sacrificed his position as a preacher, and, with that, his past values, he opened his mind to accept profound ideas regarding holiness, togetherness, and revolution which ultimately prove to be the themes of the novel as a whole.
It goes without saying that when Jim Casy

When Casy departed from the church, he escaped into nature to ponder his new radical ideas. While on this journey, he discovered the power of being one with nature. He says in a prayer, “There was the hills, an’ there was me, an’ we wasn’t separate no more more. We was one thing. An’ that thing was holy,” (Steinbeck 81). This time alone, or rather, accompanied by nature, allowed Casy’s discoveries to develop, and proved to be the holiest time in his life. Casy’s ideas on togetherness do not end with nature. He even regards the very ideas of working together and loving one another as holy. He explains, “‘But when they’re all workin’ together, not one fella for another fella, but one fella kind of harnessed the whole shebang- that’s right, that’s holy,’” (Steinbeck 81). Togetherness, to Casy, is the very definition of holiness and beauty. Just as a church and sermons are to a preacher, nature and the oneness of people are to Casy; the natural world and humanity as one is holiness to Jim