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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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