“Hm-m,” he said. “Lookie, Ma. I been all day an’ all night hidin’ alone. Guess who I been thinkin’ about? Casy! He talked a lot. Used ta bother me. But now I been thinkin’ what he said, an’ I can remember- all of it. Says one time he went out in the wilderness to find his own soul, an’ he foun’ he didn’ have no soul that was his’n. Says he foun’ he jus’ got a little piece of a great big soul. Says a wilderness ain’t no good, cause his little piece of a soul wasn’t no good ‘less it was with the rest, an’ was whole. Funny how I remember. Didn’ think I was even listenin’. But I know now a fella ain’t no good alone.”
“He was a good man,” Ma said.
Tom went on, “He spouted out some Scripture once, an’ it didn’ soun’ like no hellfire Scripture. He tol’ it twicet, an’ I remember it. Says it’s from the Preacher.”
“How’s it go, Tom?”
“Goes, ‘Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their labor. For if they fall, the one will lif’ up his fellow, but woe to him that is alone when he falleth, for he hath not another to help him up.’ That’s part of her.”
“Go on,” Ma said. “Go on, Tom.”
“Jus’ a little bit more. ‘Again, if two lie together, then they have heat: but how can one be warm alone? And if one prevail against him, two shall withstand him, and a three-fold cord is not quickly broken.”
“An’ that’s Scripture??”
“Casy said it was. Called it the Preacher.”
“Hush — listen.”
“On’y the wind, Ma. I know the wind. An’ I got to thinkin’, Ma-most of the preachin’ is about the poor we shall have always with us, an’ if you got nothin’, why, jus’ fol’ your hands an’ to hell with it, you gonna git ice cream on gol’ plates when you’re dead. An’ then this here Preacher says two get a better reward for their work.”
“Tom,” she said. “What you aimin’ to do?”
He was quiet for a long time. “I been thinkin’ how it was in that gov’ment camp, how our folks took care a theirselves, an’ if they was a fight they fixed it theirself; an’ they wasn’t no cops wagglin’ their guns, but they was better order than them cops ever give. I been a-wonderin’ why we can’t do that all over. Throw out the cops that ain’t our people. All work together for our own thing—all farm our own lan’.”
“Tom,” Ma repeated, “what you gonna do?”
“What Casy done,” he said.
“But they killed him.”
“Yeah,” said Tom. “He didn’ duck quick enough. He wasn’ doing nothin’ against the law, Ma. I been thinkin’ a hell of a lot, thinkin’ about our people livin’ like pigs, an’ the good rich lan’ layin’ fallow, or maybe one fella with a million acres, while a hundred thousan’ good farmers is starvin’. An I been wonderin’ if all our folks got together an’ yelled, like them fellas yelled, only a few of ’em at the Hooper ranch-“
Ma said, “Tom, they’ll drive you, an’ cut you down like they done to young Floyd.”
“They gonna drive me anyways. They drivin’ all our people.”
“You don’t aim to kill nobody, Tom?”
“No. I been thinkin’, long as I’m a outlaw anyways, maybe I could-Hell, I ain’t thought it out clear, Ma. Don’ worry me now. Don’ worry me.”
I feel that this part of the story, found in chapter 28 of The Grapes of Wrath is the most significant, and compelling to the plot line and the development of the characters. In this part of the chapter, Ma Joad is delivering food to Tom Joad, who is living in the wilderness on account of having killed a cop, and is consequently being chased by the law. Ma tells him it isn’t safe to live around these parts anymore, and must move away in order to avoid being caught. Tom then goes on to tell Ma about how he was thinking about Jim Casy, a former preacher that was murdered by corrupt lawmen.
Casy served as somewhat of a mentor to Tom, often teaching him valuable lessons as well as acting as the moral voice for the story. Tom talks about some of the things Casy taught him, how he didn’t pay much attention to them before but now realizes just how important they are, and how he has come to learn that other people are just as important as he is. This is justified when Tom says “But I know now a fella ain’t no good alone.” because Tom used to be a more self centered person, and only thought about focusing on the present, instead of thinking ahead and planning for the future. Tom also comments on the corrupt nature of the rich land owners and the people who are oppressing and abusing the poor, starving families that barely make enough money to keep themselves alive.
The reason this part of the story is the most compelling is because it not only comments about the themes of selfishness and altruism that are present in the characters, but it also fully demonstrates Tom Joad’s growth and change as a character, how he is inspired by Jim Casy’s death, and begins to change the way he sees the world and the people in it.
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