Jim Casey: a Hero in Death Essay Example

Jim Casy’s mindset. He was a preacher who felt that he could not lead his congregation. Once Jim joins the Joad family on their journey to California, his mindset changes.

He begins to see the good in the “common man” and decides that together people can create change. “I got thinkin’ how we were holy when we were one thing, an’ mankin’ was holy when it was one thing. An’ it only got unholy when one miserable little fella got the bit in his teeth an’ run off his own way, kickin’ an’ draggin’ an’ fightin’. Fella likes that bust the holiness. But when they’re all workin’ together, not one fella for another fella, but one fella kind of harnessed to the whole shebang—that’s right, that’s holy (Steinbeck, 81). Even though this prayer was said before they left for California it is exactly what Jim Casy realizes. He realizes that man is more divine as a whole than religious. This realization leads him to unite workers for their cause. In his example of leading others, Jim also leads Tom to follow in his footsteps. This is shown in chapter 28 when Tom is discussing Jim and his death with Ma. “Wherever they’re a fight so hungry people can eat, I’ll be there. Wherever they’s a cop beatin’ up a guy, I’ll be there.

If Casy knew, why, 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 n’ they know supper’s ready. An’ when our folks eat the stuff they raise an’ live in the houses they build—why, I’ll be there. See? God, I’m talkin’ like Casy.

Comes of thinkin’ about him so much. Seems like I can see him sometimes” (Steinbeck, 419). This change in Tom was also noted by Robert DeMott in the introduction to The Grapes Of Wrath, where he states “Tom is indebted to ex-preacher Casy for guiding him toward social awareness and political action. This only further proves that Jim Casy did in fact lead people to find their fate. Although Jim Casy begins the novel questioning whether or not he can lead, throughout the course of the novel he finds that it truly is his calling. Tom Joad follows Casy’s example, giving the reader the satisfaction of knowing that Jim’s death was not in vain. It also gives the reader comfort in knowing that even in death, Jim Casy was an influential character.

Works Cited

1. Steinbeck, John. The Grapes of Wrath. New York: Penguin, 2006.