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Character Analysis Of Tom Joad In The Grapes Of Wrath

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A Man With Dreams
The dust bowl ruined people's lives in the early 1900s. Other than the great depression there was this major catastrophic event that affected the economy. In the story The Grapes of Wrath ,by John Steinbeck, he focuses on the Joads and on how they work themselves through this major epidemic , especially Tom Joad. Tom Joad is depicted as a caring yet selfish individual that dislikes being told what to do.
Tom is portrayed as a caring and friendly person after his meeting with Jim Casy. He follows Jim's way of living and the way Jim views the world. Stanley states that “through his actions, Casy helps Tom follow the same selfless path.”. Before Tom met Jim, he was very “wary” and “insensitive”(Stanley 9). He was like this because …show more content…

When Tom snuck out of detainment, that was on his own will and no one told him to do it and he would not have stopped if anyone told him to. The reason he is like this is because his “feelings heightened during his prison term” and he accumulated this “sensy” feeling (Hochenauer 4). In doing this he created this sensy feeling that just helps him throughout his journey. This sensy feeling is like a gut feeling that helps him tell if something bad is going to happen or not. This also helps him make his own decisions, which he does, and make him do tasks without thinking. The reader is first introduced to this in the beginning when he is coming home to the Joads. "Somepin's wrong," he said. "I can't put my finger on her. I got an itch that somepin's wronger'n hell. just this house pushed aroun' an' my folks gone"(Steinbeck 30).
Tom joad was a very complicated character throughout the story. He would be angry sometimes and happy the other. He was a very prideful person and took pride in what he did , good or bad. Tom was the man to be during the times of toughness within the story because he showed that no matter what everything will get better and that no one should give …show more content…

"The Rhetoric of American Protest: Thomas Paine and the Education of Tom Joad." The Midwest Quarterly 35.4 (1994): 392. Student Resources in Context. Web. 1 May 2017.
Steinbeck, John. The Grapes of Wrath. London: Penguin Classics, 2014. Print.
"The Grapes of Wrath." Novels for Students, edited by Deborah A. Stanley, vol. 7, Gale, 1999, pp. 103-124. Gale Virtual Reference

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