Grapes of Wrath Essay- Philosophies
Jim Casy’s moral philosophy guides the novel by the transformation he sparks in Tom Joad, the personal affect he has on the other characters, and the personal affect people have on him. His morals slowly altar the novel’s direction, inspiring many characters to take action towards improving themselves and their situations, in order to repair the damage the depression has caused them and their families.
Casy was a vocal person. When we met Jim Casy in chapter four, he immediately voiced his opinions on several things such as sin, faith, and the human spirit during a conversation with Tom Joad. “Ain’t got the call no more. Got a lot of sinful idears –but they seem kinda sensible.” Page 20. When we first began to read, I had mainly negative opinions of him. He first spoke about how after his sermons, he would always take a woman out into the grass and “lay with them”. The image of a pedophile former priest came to mind whenever I would read his name. However, as I continued to read and dissect his words, ideas and beliefs, I began to relate with a lot of them. “I love people so much I’m fit to bust, sometimes. An’ I says, ‘Don’t you love Jesus?’ Well, I thought an’ thought, an’ finally I says, ‘No, I don’t know nobody name’ Jesus.” Page 23. As the novel continues, outsiders Jim Casy and Tom Joad become close. As they traveled, Jim’s words began to register with Tom, a former felon with a bad attitude. Jim Casy spoke about the love he saw in people, and how there are people who do good in the world, and people who do bad, but we all are connected together as a bigger soul. Towards the end of the book, the transformation is visible after the death of Jim Casy hits Tom hard emotionally. His emotions all come together in a burst of inspiration to fight for what Jim Casy spoke of. “Then I'll be all around in the dark - I'll be ever'where—wherever you look. Wherever they's a fight so hungry people can eat, I'll be there. Wherever they's a cop beatin' up a guy, I'll be there... I'll be in the way guys yell when they're mad an'—I'll be in the way kids laugh when they're hungry and they know supper's ready. An' when our folk eat the stuff they raise an' live in the houses they build—why, I'll be there.” In the end, Casy’s words and beliefs helped Tom realize the good in humans, and encouraged him to promote kindness. He also helped Tom see the power of people coming together as a group. Casy believed, and Tom went on later to quote that two men together are always better than one man alone. "When they're all workin' together, not one fella for another fell, but one fella kind of harnessed to the whole shebang -- that's right, that's holy"
Jim Casy was once a preacher. He would travel from house to house, door to door, sharing beliefs that would soon leave him. He felt that, if he had trouble finding a reason to believe the laws and rules put down by structured religion, why should he be preaching that message to people. "Before I knowed it, I was sayin' out loud, 'The hell with it! There ain't no sin and there ain't no virtue. There's just stuff people do. It's all part of the same thing.” Along his travels, and throughout his life, he never asked for payment from another person, only a meal. These acts of kindness helped people get through the things they were facing easier with help and advice from Casy without payment. Without him, things probably would have been a lot harder to bare. "I brang Jesus to your folks for a long time, an' I never took up a collection nor nothin' but a bite to eat."
Jim Casy was affected by people, just as much as he positively affected people. Both him and Tom Joad were almost outsiders, not understood by many people. As he began traveling and working in various places, he discovered his love for humanity, something he was willing to give his life in order to defend. His sacrifices and words are often biblical. His last words "You don't know what you're a' doin'" is an almost exact reflection of Jesus' last words, "Forgive them father, they know not what they do." The characters inspire him to help the workers being used by the companies and corporations controlling the farming industry. He attempts to gather them, but fails when he is killed during a riot. His martyrdom steered the novel in a huge way, impacting the Joad family as well as all the people that knew him.
Jim Casy gave the novel a figure that people could take advice and inspiration from. He brought love to the people, and sacrificed his life in an attempt to save the people being used wrongly. His moral beliefs guided the novel's direction, and without him, the book would be even more depressing then it already is.
