How does tom joad change throughout the book

He shows his kills of the day, and Tom gets excited to see fresh meat for the first time in four years.

Muley somewhat Chapter 8. Tom has been awoken early by Muley, who Grampa Joad, disheveled and mischievous, appears to greet Tom ; Grampa is followed by his wife, Granma Joad. Finally, Tom inquires about the other members of his family. Uncle John has gone into town with Chapter Ma Joad tells Tom about her hopes for California.

She remembers seeing handbills advertising high wages and bountiful harvests Ma quickly The attendant explains that most of the people who Tom snaps at the fat man for speaking unsympathetically of the migrants. Then Tom notices the Tom , Al, and Casy volunteer to stay with the car while the group continues on. Tom and Al work on fixing the car. Al tries to bring up personal topics, but To find the replacement part they need, Tom and Al go to a junkyard in town.

They find the part, and hang around The camp proprietor, a local, attempts to charge Tom for sleeping on his property. Tom refuses defiantly, and goes to sleep down the road. At the river, Pa and Tom encounter a boy and his father, who are returning from California after being unable to Noah tells Tom that he can no longer go on. He is entranced by the water of the The Joads prepare to leave quickly, fearing the cops.

Tom tells Pa that Noah has left on his own, and Pa blames himself for the Tom meets another young man, Floyd Knowles. Floyd tells Tom that the large farms operate by As the Seeing Casy give himself up to protect Tom causes Uncle John anguish, and John needs to get drunk to cope with it.

Tom returns to his family. Tom is introduced as selfish from the very moment he is described. We was drunk at a dance. Tom Joad was not reluctant at all when he was telling his story of how he got into prison. The fact that he does not care that he killed a man, and even offered to do it again shows that he is a selfish person. He did not care for another mans life, and did not bother to look for an alternate solution to the situation he was in. He only cared about himself when it came to killing, and showed no mercy.

If given the decision to take back what he had done, Tom Joad would have kept things the way they were, proving his egotism. As the novel progresses, Tom transforms from this selfish nature to become a caring person. Several examples of this transformation are seen throughout various chapters. As the book draws to a close, Tom stumbles upon Jim Casy again, who is murdered in front of his own eyes.

As a result, he is thrown into a silent rage and kills another man which causes him to hide in the forest. He realizes that he is a danger to his family, so he sacrifices his safety in order for his family to be safe.

There is a clear transition from Tom acting selfish at the beginning of the book to him acting completely selfless at the end. This selflessness also contributed to him being a figure committed to bettering the future. As Tom Joad becomes more selfless, this particular quality helps him to become a person who has the future in mind. The main ideals that influence him are the philosophies of Jim Casy as the Joad family is traveling west to California.

This idea gradually begins to dwell on Tom, and it results in him becoming less selfish over time. He begins to be more helpful towards his family and towards others in general, and becomes valuable to the family.

The ideals Casy invoked in Tom clearly made him committed towards the future by the end of the book. As Tom was hiding in the woods, he told Ma his thoughts that were inspired by Jim Casy.

If we have helped you, please help us fix his smile with your old essays A character is an elaborate blend of emotions and characteristics.

Even though the character's emotions…. Tutor and Freelance Writer. Science Teacher and Lover of Essays. Article last reviewed: St. Did you happen to notice that Tom is really good at giving advice? He's like a dustbowl Dan Savage.

For example, he tells the one-eyed mechanic who cries about how lonely he is to get an eye-patch and to take a bath. That's pretty practical advice. And when his little brother, Al, gets all defensive about having broken the touring car, Tom tells him to chill and stop being so self-conscious. When Noah tells Tom that he's going to leave the family, Tom tries to tell him it's a bad idea.

When Winfield gets sick from eating too many peaches off of the tree, Tom knows exactly what is wrong with him. All of that time spent in prison really taught Tom a thing or two about life, liberty, and the pursuit of bacon. He's got his feet on the ground, and, like his mother, he can strategize and problem solve better than a chess prodigy. But there's something a little off about our Tom. He's not like his family. He's a little different, almost a stranger.

Maybe it has something to do with the fact that he spent four years in the state penitentiary. Even though he's our hero, we sometimes feel like Tom is a mystery, and we wish we knew more about him. Tom begins the novel as a rough and tough convict who's hell-bent on heading home and relaxing at the family farm for a while.