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.The second half of the story centers onthe novel s predominantly tragic theme.Mostthe family s struggle to survive in the Golden State important, unlike the two prior stories that com-as they are exploited by large landowners and per- prise the Labor Trilogy, The Grapes of Wrath endssecuted by small-town bourgeoisie.The novel takes on a note of optimism and hope for the continua-its title from the Battle Hymn of the Republic, tion of a boundless human spirit, no matter thewhich Steinbeck insisted be printed on the endpa- setting or circumstance. 92 The Grapes of Wrathdeliberate attempt by a truck driver to run over theCRITICAL SUMMARYcreature.The turtle stops and withdraws into hisThe opening chapter describes in colorful andshell in protection for a short while, but then con-poetic imagery the origins and effect of an ecologi-tinues on his steady way.Eventually, Tom Joad,cal disaster, the DUST BOWL.Part human-made, partafter being dropped off several miles from the Joadnatural, a product of poor farming practices and anhomestead, discovers the turtle on a dust road, andextended drought, the dust bowl phenomenonpicks up the tenacious reptile as a gift for hisswept away the rich but thin topsoil of family farmsyounger brother, Al.Placing it inside his rolled-upacross the Great Plains.It transformed yeomanjacket, Tom could feel it struggling and trying tofarmers into indigents, and indigent farmers intobreak free.The turtle, against all odds, in timesharecroppers with everyone s life and livelihoodregains his freedom, and continues his trek south-mortgaged to the bank.Both the farmers and thewest, just as the Okies, carrying all of their worldlylandscape in Steinbeck s introductory chapter alterpossessions on the back of dilapidated vehicles,from bright primary colors into gray and white,make their way successfully to California.underscoring the close ties of men to the land theyUnder a willow tree closer to his family s home,have plowed for generations.Tom encounters Jim Casy, a former evangelicalTom Joad, recently paroled from the Oklahomapreacher, who had baptized Tom years before.penitentiary after a conviction for the manslaughterCommenting on the turtle, Casy says, Nobodyof an acquaintance who had pulled a knife on Tomcan t keep a turtle, though, and compares himselfduring a minor disagreement, cajoles a truck driverto the animal as he describes his escape from theinto giving him a ride closer to his family homesteadrestrictions of traditional religion.In his glory days,despite a sign on the truck forbidding hitchhikers.during tent revival meetings, he would excite theTom establishes a bond with the driver based on apeople and arouse them with the Holy Sperit tomutual dislike of boss s orders, and an unwilling-the point that the women he saved would be soness to relinquish the last vestige of freedom fromfull of the Holy Sperit that they would offer theirauthority. Sometimes a guy ll be a good guy even ifbodies to him in sexual communion.Casy began tosome rich bastard makes him carry a sticker, Tomquestion the whole notion of sin, and came to thesays as he implores the truck driver for his assis-conclusion There ain t no sin, and there ain t notance, and with those words, he establishes anongoing theme throughout the novel.Working peo- virtue.There s just stuff people do. Here, Stein-beck introduces another central theme, derived inple need a kinship against the abuses and arbitrarypart from Carl Jung s construct of archetypes anddictates of employers.Moreover, Tom s success inconvincing the driver to give him a lift demon- universal unconsciousness.According to Casy, the Holy Sperit has nothing to do with Jesus or God.strates Tom s natural gift for manipulating people, Why do we got to hang it on God or Jesus? heeven to the point of going against their self-interest,as part of a larger collective.Tom Joad, despite his asks Tom. Maybe all men got one big soul, andaversion to standing out from the crowd and playing this universal soul derives its power from love.a leadership role after four years of imprisonment, Made somewhat uncomfortable by the clear heresy,must eventually employ his talents and volatile tem- Tom suggests that Casy will be persecuted if he pur-perament in the service of a larger whole.sues this doctrine.More important, the chanceSteinbeck then introduces the symbol of the meeting and Casy s unorthodox musings form theOkie migration to California in an interchapter.A beginnings of Tom s future role as a disciple to thelarge box turtle struggles over an embankment former minister.onto a concrete road, determined to travel south- Tom invites Casy to join him and become reac-west.Described in human terms with hands and quainted with the Joad family.As the two men cross fierce, humorous eyes, nothing deters the turtle s a ridge overlooking the Joad farm, they realize theslow but steady journey, not even the maliciously buildings have been partially destroyed and aban- The Grapes of Wrath 93doned.Like many tenant farmers during the depres- In the company of Casy, Tom finally reunitession, the Joad family had been evicted by the owner with his family at his uncle s farm.Before meetingany of his family members, Tom spots a truckof the property to implement a more efficient andparked in the middle of the yard, surrounded byprofitable agricultural method than sharecropping.furniture and other household items
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