Thursday, August 12, 2010

Heroes in "The Grapes of Wrath"

There were many heroes in The Grapes of Wrath. Tom was a hero, Al was a hero, Ma, Pa, and even Rose of Sharon were all heroes. But perhaps the biggest hero of all was Casy. Casy had previously been a preacher, but determined that he was not sure religion was the right thing to follow. He decided that he would just wander around until he knew the answer. He did not figure it out, but he was in the process of doing so when he ran into Tom. Tom guided him to a few places, where they eventually met Tom's family, the Joads. The Joads are going to California, and they agree to let Casy tag along with them. They get to California, and try to find work so they can all earn enough money to eat and buy the supplies that they desperately need. They all end up finding a Hooversville to live in, but just until they find work or a better place to live that they can afford. Soon, there was a sheriff that came and told everyone living in that Hooversville needed to pack up, because if they did not, all of their belongings would be burnt that night. Tom and another guy became angry and knocked the sheriff out, but neither of them could go to jail. Casy had done nothing wrong previously, so he volunteered to take their spot, saying he had done it himself, keeping Tom with the rest of his family. Casy went to jail to prevent others from having to go, and that is very heroic. He could have sat back and watched it all happen and not even done anything, but he decided to try to keep the Joad family together, so he took their place. 297 While there were a great number of heroic people in The Grapes of Wrath, Casy stands out as the most heroic person in the book because of all the incredible things that he did for others.

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