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The Grapes Of Wrath Tom Joad Character Analysis

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Character Analysis of Tom Joad in The Grapes of Wrath Tom Joad is portrayed as a character of multiple dimensions and roles. Despite being viewed as a cynical, convicted killer who responds to stimuli or from impulse at the beginning, he takes both literal and metaphorical journey from Oklahoma to the green land of California with the migrants. Accordingly, he reveals a philosophical transformation inspired by Jim Casy. Essentially, Tom is a character who displays different qualities and roles and is portrayed as a leader, philosopher, a natural man, a hero, a dispossessed migrant and a visionary man. The Grapes of Wrath is a novel that represents the transition that American went through in the 1930s. During then, America shifted from agrarian rural-based economy to that of an urban-based industrial economy. The transformation brought with it two significant catastrophes: The Great Depression and the Dust Bowl. The former …show more content…

The circumstances like this call for deep thinking mainly on how men can leverage themselves and have a breakthrough. Tom immerses himself into such thinking and pondering options thus transforming his thinking philosophically. "After a while, the faces of the watching men lost their bemused perplexity and became hard and angry and resistant" (Steinbeck 7). John writes that it was the duty of men to think and find solutions to the problems that challenge the peaceful coexistence of the community. When Tom Joad appears in the novel after leaving the prison, the return suggests the inevitable accomplishment of his destiny to both acts and leads other men into action. On the same note, Joad’s leadership character is displayed when he returns from prison and takes charge of the family leadership. He makes major decisions including that of where to bury his grandpa in a manner that the late grandpa will not be disgraced. Besides, he emerges as the family

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During the great depression, the midwest underwent a long drought. Exposed dry earth swept away with the wind and caused huge dust storms that prolonged the dry weather. With the lowered selling prices and the lack of crops the farmers had some major economic trouble. In Black Blizzard and John Steinbeck 's Grapes of Wrath, the literature develops the ideas of the poor distribution of wealth within the populations and the social aspects of people of different economic class. Social differences arise in the wealthy, the employed, and the unemployed throughout this period of hardship.

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In chapter 8, pages 71-74, Tom Joad finally returns to his home after four years of imprisonment at McAlester, a state prison. Tom’s arrival causes his mother to react with happiness and surprise. Throughout the entire novel, Ma Joad is like a thread which holds the family together. She very rarely loses her composure, but her son’s arrival is one of the few occasions. In fact, “her hand sank slowly to her side and the fork clattered to the wooden floor” (Steinbeck 50), displaying her complete astonishment.

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The tone of chapter 11 in John Steinbeck's, “The Grapes of Wrath,” is sympathetic, sad and hopeless. His word choice and syntax show how the sad houses were left to decay in the weather. His use of descriptive words paints a picture in the reader's mind. As each paragraph unfolds, new details come to life and adds to the imagery. While it may seem unimportant, this intercalary chapter shows how the effects of the great depression affected common households.

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In chapter 8 of The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck, Tom Joad’s grandpa is introduced as a helpful, healthy, and proud Grandpa of Tom. First, when living on the farm, Grandpa Joad was helpful during the picking of the cotton. When Pa was talking about the farm he said that everyone was helping including Grandpa Joad. After that, Grandpa interrupted and said, “Sure did,” showing that Grandpa was not slowing down because of his age and helping out the family as much as he could (83). Next, Grandpa Joad is reasonably healthy.

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Tom's humanitarian acts remain subconscious but increase in frequency. Overall, he becomes less impulsive, due to Casy's influnce. Within, Tom becomes less self-centered. "Maybe all men got big soul

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In between each narrative chapter of The Grapes of Wrath, John Steinbeck wrote intercalary chapters to add to the narrative. These sixteen chapters were a very effective way for Steinbeck to make his points, and progress the theme of the novel. The intercalary chapters were a wise way to summarize the entire struggle of the suffering people during the dust bowl. They showed how Joad family was one example of the millions of families who migrated to California during the dust bowl, and the general rage and resistance felt in the innocent farmers, brought on by rich privileged men who gain their power from the unstoppable big banks. These chapters strengthen my knowledge of the struggles of the time, and give me more information of what is not seen from the Joad’s struggles alone.

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In The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck, the chapters alternate between two perspectives of a story. One chapter focuses on the tenants as a whole, while the other chapter focuses specifically of a family of tenants, the Joads, and their journey to California. Chapter 5 is the former and Steinbeck does an excellent job of omniscient third person point of view to describe the situation. Chapter 5’s main idea is to set the conflict and let the readers make connections between Steinbeck’s alternating chapters with foreshadowing. Steinbeck is effectual in letting readers make connections both to the world and the text itself with the use of exposition, and symbolism.

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Through John Steinbeck's plot in The Grapes of Wrath,  the struggle of the typical American dreamer is depicted in the Joad’s attempt to move to California for a better life. While attempting this dream, the Joad family had to make multiple sacrifices. The first sacrifice occurs early on in their journey, the abandoning of their property (Steinbeck 59). This was extremely difficult for the Joads because they had lived on this land for a long time and they had many memories that had been created there.

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