In John Steinbeck's Grapes of Wrath, the most notably interesting charcter would have to be Jim Casy. No, he is not my favorite character, yet Jim Casy has the most intriguing qualities. It is an interesting note to see that Jim Casy was once a preacher, yet left that profession because of his beliefs on sins and what was qualified as one, or what one was not qualified as. Jim Casy, a preacher, liked to sleep around with women; lots of women. Jim did not want to give this luxury up. So, taking actions into his own hands, he employed that sleeping around was basically not sinful. He was essentially supposed to be celibate as a preacher, right? I bet that surprised the people of his teachings. His thoughts amuse me and his characteristics make me laugh. He is definitely a go getter and has a mind of his own. Casy ends up being a really great man, applying his beliefs to save many migrant workers. Yet, helping the workers breaks many laws. Jim Casy is the revolutionizer of the character Tom Joad at the end of the novel; social activist and man of the people. Tom takes over for Jim Casy when Jim dies(Steinbeck 491). He is responsible for this great character development within Tom. Tom, I believe, thinks he owes it to Jim Casy, like it is his duty to help these migrant workers. Regardless, the work they did for the migrants was great. This caused Tom to have to leave the family again. It is just the sacrifice he had to make for himself and his family. It was Tom's dream to follow through with this deed for his best friend, his family, the people, and most importantly, Tom needed to follow through with this dream for himself. He searched for hope with his family the entire novel, bu it turns out that he finally learned he needed to make his own hope.
Steinbeck, John. The Grapes of Wrath. New York: Penguin, 2002. Print.
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