The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck The setting originates near Sallisaw, Oklahoma in the late 1930’s and throughout the novel passes through the southern states of Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona before concluding in Weedpatch, California. After the devastation of the Dust Bowl, Tom Joad hitches a ride to his hometown. Tom reveals to his company that he had killed a man in self-defense causing him to be imprisoned, but due to good behavior he has fortunately been provided parole.Tom reunites with a childhood acquaintance, Jim Casy. Casy reveals he no longer works as a preacher. Tom urges Casy to visit the family for his arrival and they discover that Tom’s home is abandoned and ravaged. Tom learns from another childhood acquaintance, Muley, …show more content…
Upon hearing about a government run facility, the Joads move to Weedpatch leaving behind Connie, who ran away, and Casy, who was arrested for Tom’s assault of a police officer harassing the migrants. Although Weedpatch does have accommodations such as toiletries and dances, they are unable to find work and the family dwindles down on the money and food they contain. The Joads move to a peach farm and begin to come to terms that their expectations were not realistic. Tom journeyed to the outer perimeter to be reunited with Casy, who was leading picketers against the peach farm. Casy urged Tom to relocate him and his family away from the farm because of the lowering wages. Casy suffers a blow to the cranium and is murdered by men who think he’s a communist. The incident triggers Tom to hit the attacker with a hard blow. Now unsafe for the family to stay in the peach farm, the Joads move to a cotton field where Tom hides and the rest live within a boxcar with the Wainwrights family who also works within the cotton fields. Tom’s sister Ruthie accidentally tells someone that he killed a man, and Tom decides that he desires to carry on Casy’s work as a representative for the working class. Al Joad marries Aggie Wainwright and decides to stay with her family.