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Tom Joad In John Steinbeck's Grapes Of Wrath

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John Steinbeck’s Grapes of Wrath illustrates the story of Tom Joad during the Great Depression on his journey to California to find work and to find himself. Two men, Patrick Shaw and Joseph Campbell, use different tactics to portray his different stages of life. Although their structure of his journey contrast, their overall ideas seem to align. Shaw’s idea of Tom Joad’s psychological development and Campbell’s idea of the monomyth both describe a journey of Tom from the time he is released from prison to the time he returns home from California in which he is struggling to find his purpose in the world. In the essay by Patrick W. Shaw, he elucidates the idea of Tom Joad’s psychological development from a “singular, self-centered individual to a …show more content…

Throughout this journey, the hero encounter challenges, helpers, magical weapons, struggles, and enemies being vanquished. Tom Joad’s separation transpired after he was released from prison and when he left his home to move to California. The initiation develops from the time he gets out of jail to the time he arrives in California. During this part Tom is exposed to his challenges and helpers. Some of his challenges include finding a job, his grandparent dying, his dog being killed, and losing Noah. His helper was mainly Casy who taught him everything about the world that he has missed since being in jail, but he also received help from the government camp and the friend atthe gas station. The main enemy throughout the novel was the banks, but the Joad family became an enemy to Tom because they restrain him from fulfilling his self purpose. Tom’s magical weapon of understanding that they need to fight the system allows him to help unite all the farmers and destroy the banks. Tom then enters a new journey; his journey revolving around others rather than

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