A Study of Tom Joad in The Grapes of Wrath

Abstract：The Grapes of Wrath is a realistic masterpiece in American literary history. This paper mainly analyzes the character of Tom Joad from three perspectives， Tom Joad at Oklahoma， long journey to California and the unforgettable experience in California. And it reveals the unique mental growing process of Tom Joad.

Key words：The Grapes of Wrath； Tom Joad； mental process

1. Tom Joad at Oklahoma

In The Grapes of Wrath， due to the industrialized machines， Joad family is expelled. They are forced to leave their hometown and go west to find their hopeful place. Past memories continuously occur during their immigrating journey， especially when they meet such difficulties.

The first appearance of Tom in the novel is in the conversation between Tom Joad and lorry driver. Tom Joad adopts the mode of coldness and sarcasm. He is an upright person and sometimes he has a violent temper. On the other hand， he is a sincerity， decency and benevolence man. He has no tolerance with the unfair governance. His anger signal is to break the “skull-like head” grasshopper in reply to the lorry driver who forces him to acknowledge that he is a criminal in the previous time. Tom tries to protect his self-esteem and his people.

2. Long journey to California

The Joads is forced to move to California because of the Oklahoma Dust Bowl， which has made it impossible for them to earn a livelihood through farming. Drought and depression has made it impossible for farmers to grow a substantial amount to live on. As inflation rises and wages drop， a gigantic worker migration heads west in search of Jobs. They have seen notices asking for workers in the western part of the United States， and thinking the meaning of moving which help them to find gainful employment. During the depression， thousands of people looked for work， and were cheated every step of the way. Many families were hurt by the depression.

California is fruitful and lush. Its orchards and fields grow fruit， nuts， cotton， and vegetables of every sort. Its the Promised Land， the land of milk and honey. Its paradise， except for the people trying madly to keep the migrants at bay. For hundreds of thousands of migrants， including the Joads， of course， California turns out to be a lost heaven. When describing California， Steinbeck used beautiful words to make great comparison to the situation in Oklahoma. They drove through Tehachapi in the morning glow， and the sun came up behind them， and then—suddenly they saw the great valley below them. Also California has great attraction to people in Oklahoma as Ma expresses her optimistic expectation for this migration. For the Okies， California is a “promised land” which could give them the comfortable life they desire .The attraction of California is another important factor to make the Okies have the motivation to immigrate.

The Joads start a migrating way for California. During the long journey， they experienced many things， such as troubles made by the sheriff， like prisoners in the orchard and so on. Tom begins to change gradually， but his fierce temper is not easy to change at first.

With the development of story plot， the attitude towards world and values of life have changed， he gradually learned to keep thinking of others and began to help others. For instance， he helped Wilson to fix cars in New Mexico. In Wild Town， he participated in a committee and stopped turmoil by crowds of hooliganism on the Saturday Dance Party and exiled this hooliganism out of camping ground. This experience helps Tom Joad to acknowledge that the power of unity and dignity are important and his family and fellows have the hopes to improve life. From then on， Tom begins to accept the mind of Casy and regard it as his principle.

Tom silents for a long time. His dark eyes looked slowly up at the proprietor. At Hubo farm， the Joad family find a job that is to picking up peaches and they dont realize that they become the strikebreakers. This orchard is actually a prison， the safeguards of orchard ban workers to go out of farm and break down the connections of outside world. If this thing happens in the past， Tom Joad must be turning a deaf ear to it. Nevertheless， his inner heart has changed a little at that time. Although he is not a completely altruism person， Tom Joad has not only limited his own interest. He wants to go out and explores the outside world， nobody wants to go together with him and he attempts to go by himself. On the road， he is stopped by the safeguards with handguns. However， he has made a decision and wants to find the reasons of workers on the entrance of farm. In the darkness， he is neglected the warning by the safeguard and slips out the fence with full of cables. He encounters Casy and has got knowledge of the strike thing.

3. Unforgettable experiences in California

Dust Bowl immigrants like the fictional Joads did not get a warm welcome from Californias farmers and politicians. The newcomers were herded into slum-like migrant camps， given low wages for back-breaking work and treated like criminals. Much of this was an effort by local farmers to take advantage of a cheap labor pool and to prevent labor organizing that would raise wages. Much of it was the result of fear on the part of Californians who were faced with a huge influx of ragged families. The people are migrants now. People in the west terrified of the migrants， worrying about safety and competition for jobs.

Steinbeck follows the Joads as they leave their farm to forge a new life in California where life is golden and jobs are abundant …… or so they think. They are met with distrust and dislike by the residents of the cities they pass through， and they have little success in finding jobs with salaries that they can survive on. Once the Joads reach California， they discover that the situation there is much the same. A whole migrant family working from sunrise to sunset earned hardly enough to buy food for that day. After the harvest season， they were out of work for several months and even the lowest paid jobs were not available. Many migrants survived through begging or scrounging garbage dumps. This situation becomes a great obstacle， not only for the Joads， but for the suffering people of the depression.

When they arrived the hope land—California， the Joads originally consider that they will live a happy life. But things go contrary to their wishes. They have undertaken unforgettable experience in California and Tom Joad has changed substantially.

Joad was quiet for a long time. As a fugitive， Tom Joad made an important decision to follow Casys belief and inherited Casys hope. At that time， his concern is not only on his own interest and his familys interest， but also extends to the all the oppressed people. He considered that the most upright is to revolt the oppression of exploiting class. Tom recognized that he should unite other people because unity is power.

From the words of Tom Joad， the readers can see that he changed greatly in his mind， and achieved the spiritual growth. Tom Joad went out from the limitation of selfish mind， gave up the view that originally intend to gain interests only for him and his family. He has changed from a selfish， aggressive person to selfless altruist and is contributed for revolting the unequal behaviors in politics and economy. However， at the last part of the novel， Tom Joad is also a fugitive； he has changed greatly and become a person who fights for social uprightness and the oppressed people. When arrived in California， Tom Joad changed significantly. He is very touched by Casys death. Then he becomes a follower of Casy and a selfless dedicator.

At the end of the novel， California is suffered from drought for a long time. Due to loss of water， the land is too dry and most of the plants are died of water and nutrition. At last， the Joads family is forced to stay in a wood house lying on the top of an earth mound. Outside the wood house， the heavy rain lasts for several days after the long drought days.The people only hope that the rain can stop as quickly as possible. Luckily， all the people in the wood house are survived. The Joads family can survive， because they stay in the wood house. From the special perspective， the author wants to tell the reader that they suffer much revenge from the nature due to the reckless behavior of human beings.

4. Conclusion

From the beginning to the end of the novel， Tom Joad changed a lot. In the state of Oklahoma， Tom Joad has just released from prison and is considered as an outsider for the family. At that moment， he is a person who is centered for his own interest. During the journey to California， Tom Joad has experienced many things. He gradually learns to help others and revolts the unjust things. When the Joads arrived in California， Tom Joad changes significantly. He is very touched by Casys death. Then he becomes a follower of Casy and a selfless dedicator. And it reveals the unique mental growing process of Tom Joad. The changes of Tom Joad are educating every reader. In the long journey to California， Tom Joad enriches his life experience and changes his narrow values through the many things. His mind and spirit are great and fights for the oppressed people. He changes from a common selfish person into a great man with great love mind.

The thought transformation of the center character named Tom Joad in the novel from disciple to leader was depicted. Tom Joad， who was an outsider for this family because he has been convicted of murder and just released from prison， led his 12 family members to cross mountains and deserts struggling to their ideal destination. Tom used to be the Lords Prayer. He was shocked by the death of Jim Casy and went through several struggles. The greatness of Jim Casy was realized through those struggles and Tom considered Jim as his soul leader. Like Jesus disciple， Tom finally decided to finish the unfinished grand strategy of Jim after a struggle against hesitation， oscillation and suffering. Only the way of solidarity and mutual support could give the hope to the poverty to survive.

The Grape of Wrath， one of the magnum opus of John Steinbeck. People from the bottom of the United State supported each other mutually under a very bad nature as well as humanities environment. All the above disasters were a baptism of the sprite. They obtained spiritual sublimation after suffering those disasters. In this way， The real aim of The Grape of Wrath is to reveal the education of the heart which Joad family earned and received during the westward journal by the way of describing a sad story of Joad family. In the struggle against the political oppression and the economic expression， the story-protagonist Tom Jim finally draw a conclusion that only the way of solidarity and mutual support could give the hope to the poverty to survive. From the special perspective， the author wants to tell the reader that they suffer much revenge from the nature due to the reckless behavior of human beings. Human beings should pay the price they ought to receive in the future. Human beings are now aware of their wrong behavior and would protect the nature systemically. The people should make endeavors to reach the hope that human and nature can reach a harmonious relationship in the future.

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【作者簡介】

胡光宇（1993—），女，安徽人，上海市松江區華東政法大學思想政治教育專業研究生。