Tom Joad's Character Development In The Grapes Of Wrath

Character arcs, a primary method of keeping the reader’s emotions tied to the novel and its characters in order to maintain their interest. This method of character development is often implored by writers such as John Steinbeck; this can be observed in his novel The Grapes Of Wrath. An example of such a character arc is Tom Joad’s spiritual and emotional development, as he gradually becomes Jim Casy’s spiritual heir and student. Fully understanding this dramatic development is started by one analyzing three different stages that Tom undergoes throughout his life; starting with his philosophy and actions as a young child, when he finally meets Jim Casy and the acceptance of the new way of thinking, concluded by when he decides to act on the

new philosophy, leading to his departure and conclusion of his character within the end of the novel.
The early personality of Tom Joad is expressed well early in the novel and aided by the era in American history it takes place in.

This early characterization keeps readers interested in Tom and what he will do throughout the novel due to his intriguing early rebellious behavior and personality. To start analyzing Tom’s life one must start with the earliest mention of him as a child, this being a scene of Tom harassing young girls during his own baptism, ignoring those who tell him to stop. This shows early rebellion and an apt for trying societal rules, revealing that he does not care about the outcome of any situation as long as he is enjoying himself. This is backed up later in his life when Tom gets into a fight at a bar and ultimately kills a man, resulting in him going to jail for multiple years, in which he does not break maintaining sanity revealing his aptitude and strength in his ways of leading his life. This philosophy would follow him through his life, ultimately starting to take a new shape when he would later meet again with the preacher who baptized him, Jim

Casy.
This rebellious nature was eventually dropped by Tom, but not until years after its development. This shift occurs when he is released from prison and on his way back to his family in which he meets Jim Casy. Casy has a philosophy that all humans share one over soul and anything anyone does either harms or helps the soul, then affecting everyone else in the world because of the action. At this point Casy has not finished his philosophy, though, when he meets Tom it is at the state in which the best thing you can do is nothing; ultimately benefiting the over soul. So when Tom started to adopt this way of thinking he chooses not to take and drastic actions, much like Casy. Thus, Tom starts growing to become Casy’s spiritual heir almost unknowingly, but ultimately for the benefit of his character and family later in the novel.
After the death of Jim Casy his influence on Tom becomes evident.

The final stage of Casy’s philosophy is a turn toward activism for the betterment of humanity, eventually leading to his death. This turn towards taking actions is paralleled by Tom when he, in the end of the novel, sacrifices his future and safety for the betterment of the Joad family as a whole. This occurs when he decides with Ma Joad that the best results would come of them leaving him behind and continuing on to find work, due to the fact that Tom being with them puts them at risk due to his history and criminal status. This also reveals that he cannot withstand the thought of people like the Joad family being hurt, that a turn toward activism could help their family and the whole human race as a single entity. This shows the final of many actions that reveal how Tom has grown closer to Casy’s beliefs, and also shows when Tom becomes the spiritual heir due to the fact that he has developed the exact same philosophy that Casy had worked

on.
Steinbeck is prided upon his excellent characterization and arc of his characters, all of which are dramatic and unique, primarily in The Grapes of Wrath, which contains characters such as Jim Casy who throughout the novel formulates his philosophy on human life and order. To fully comprehend the evolution of Jim Casy’s philosophy one must trace and analyze his life positions to understand the stages of himself and what is going on in the world around him. This process can be started by inspecting his early life as a preacher, followed by his foundation of a new philosophy around the time he unites with Tom Joad, and finally by looking at the shift of activism his philosophy takes at the end of the novel. Once all of this is done, the reader is able to fully understand the deeper meaning and symbolism of the Jim Casy character arc.