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Steinbeck Use Jim Casy As A Christ Figure In The Grapes Of Wrath

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Jim Casy: The Second Coming of Christ Throughout John Steinbeck’s novel, The Grapes of Wrath, one of the main protagonists, Jim Casy, heavily resembles biblical figure Jesus Christ. Author John Steinbeck does this by taking advantage of biblical stories and by using and by relating Casy’s actions as well as his initials to Christ. To get the ball rolling, Steinbeck introduces Jim Casy as being an ex-preacher. So straight off the bat, the reader knows that Jim Casy has a religious background. Steinbeck does this to make sure that the upcoming references will be easily recognizable as those that resemble Christ, and not just some off-the-wall story. Steinbeck uses biblical stories to help exemplify Casy’s Christ-like past. “Prior to our …show more content…

“Casy does not merely want to preach God's word, but to experience life's hardship first hand alongside others--in a way Jesus did as well. To him, being just a preacher disconnects him from his parishioners; it locates him as superior, which only serves to disqualify his calling” (McCoppin). McCoppin states this as reason for Casy to drop his seemingly measly life to go on an adventure of helping the Joad family, and possibly others, survive the cruel journey to the promised land of California. Peter, author of part of the Bible, described Christ and his whereabouts throughout the New Testament. This can be observed by the line "Shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight,[a] not under compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you;[b] not for shameful gain, but eagerly;” (Peter 5:2). This is mentioning how Christ lived his life, and is how Casy lived his after planning on spending the a significant amount of time with the Joads and eventually the Wilsons. Christ helped lead many people to free themselves of sin, just as Casy expels his knowledge of what he believes is to be good and bad to the people he meets on his

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