GOW - Tom Joad

Tom Joad is the main character or protagonist in John Steinbeck’s Grapes of Wrath. Though is not my favorite character, Ma Joad would win that award. Tom Joad is still an interesting character and possesses enough good qualities that should deem him a good protagonist.  Tom was put in prison for four years of his life, that was four years away from his family which I could imagine would be a very long time for them considering their entire family was so close to each other regardless of all their ages throughout the years.  Tom Joad spent four years thinking about the things he did.  He came up with a good outcome.  When you are gone for so long, things can change so much to a drastic point.  Tom Joad did not want to regret anything in his past and just decided to focus on the present which I personally think is great advice because there are so many people in this world that focus on the future too much to a point where there they are not focusing on the present for one second of their entire day.  He had time to think about everything in prison was more glamorous I guess you could say than real life. "Oh, awright. You eat regular, an' get clean clothes, and there's places to take a bath. It's pretty nice some ways. Makes it hard not havin' no women. They was a guy paroled," he said. "'Bout a month he's back for breakin' parole. A guy ast him why he bust this parole. 'Well, hell,' he says. 'They got no conveniences at my old man's place. Got no 'lectric lights, got no shower baths. There ain't no books, an' the food's lousy. (Steinbeck 67)"  By this quote, we can percieve that prison life had more perks than average life at the farm. Prison was no fun, i am sure, but they had day to day items that were so called luxuries back in the day at these state prisons that they did not have at their home.  Reasons for high crime? i think so.

Steinbeck, John. The Grapes of Wrath. New York: Penguin, 2002. Print.