Essay On The Joad Family In The Grapes Of Wrath

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Life of Crime of the Joad Family
In the story The Grapes of Wrath the Joad family is forced into a life of crime. John Steinbeck illustrates the conflicts the family had to endure in their journey to California. These conflicts lead the desperate Joad family into a life of crime.
Tom Joad was the first who lived the life of a criminal. Tom murdered a man in self-defense during a drunken bar fight. Tom did not want to kill Herb Turnbull but if Tom had not defended himself he would have been killed instead. Tom using self-defense is what helps show that he didn’t want to kill anyone. Later in the story the entire Joad family was involved in a criminal act that involved Grandpa that would affect the rest of the story.
The Joad family didn’t have
Casy was murdered right in front of Tom and he reacted just like most people would have: “Tom leaped silently. He wrenched the club free. The first time he knew he had missed and struck a shoulder, but the second time his crushing blow found the head” (Steinbeck 386) Tom killed the man out of fear for his own life and rage of the death of his friend Casy. Showing that Tom did want to kill again he was worried about his own wellbeing forcing him to use self-defense. Tom and the family were faced with many obstacles in The Grapes of Wrath forcing them into a life of crime.
Steinbeck included numerous examples of crime in The Grapes of Wrath, some dealing with Tom alone, and others involving the whole family. Tom was involved in two murders both in which he was forced to defend his family and himself. The whole family was involved in the decision to bury Grandpa and not notify the authorities. They did this because if they hadn’t the family would have been out of money and stuck where they were. This all reinforces the point that the Joad family was forced into a life of

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