Justice In John Steinbeck's The Grapes Of Wrath

When perusing The Grapes of Wrath, a reader is taken on an emotional roller coaster. Characters die left and right, to the point where their deaths become almost meaningless - but not quite. Steinbeck uses these deaths to highlight injustices against the migrants, and also uses his characters to explain justice by leading each one through the search for understanding. Each character has a different definition of justice, and a different significant role in Steinbeck’s passion play - one might even say it’s like The Passion of the Christ. Indeed, Biblical references and allusions permeate the story, weaving themselves into characters and plotlines. Each main character could be compared to a person from the Bible, so of course the question of

While fairly obvious to anyone looking for it (Jim Casy’s intials are J.C….), Casy’s search for justice and subsequent journey just reinforces the comparison. One might say, “But Casy was a preacher already! How is he Jesus?” Well, Jesus actually had a pretty good following before he was baptized by John, and traveled in the desert for forty days. Like Jesus, Casy wanders in the “wilderness” for a time, searching his soul for sin and trying to reconnect with God. During this time he is developing his philosophy on the world and returns to civilization with a new take on spirituality - the over-soul. (It’s interesting to note that Steinbeck incorporates transcendentalism into a novel so rife with Biblical imagery; one would normally see them as separate as grape jelly and grilled cheese. However, like those happy hearts who have tried the heaven that is jelly and grilled cheese, one can understand how transcendentalism is a wonderful combination with the Bible!) Commonly preached in Christianity is the idea of one bread, one body in Christ. This very easily translates into the One Soul which Casy now touts. Casy also concludes that no man has the right to judge another man, which echoes the biblical sentiment of Luke 6:37: “Do not judge, and you will not be judged.” This sense of what judgement, what justice is, guides Casy on his travels. Casy starts his journey when he collects his first disciple in the form of Tom Joad. Tom is Casy’s Simon Peter, his right hand man and brother in all but blood. Casy joins the Joad family naturally, with hardly a second thought. While traveling west, Casy is called on to be the spiritual leader multiple times: at grandpa’s funeral, Sarah Wilson’s deathbed, etc. Much like how Jesus sometimes reluctantly performed miracles, Casy has a hesitation before prayer, but bows to the request out of love for those asking. Once in