Semester Two; Blog Six

Tom Joad Jr.

"...But sometimes a guy'll be a good guy even if some rich bastard makes him carry a sticker."

This line immedietley gave me a sense of who Tom Joad was. He seemed to purposely, (and easily) manipulate the truck driver. To me, I started to think that Tom Joad was either good at taking advantage of people, or really enjoyed taking advantage of people.

"Homicide,' he said quickly. 'That's a big word--means I killed a guy. Seven years. I'm sprung in four for keepin' my nose clean."

This quote said a lot about Tom Joad. When he first arrived in the story, I thought that he was probably a successful young man that found a clever way to make it through the depression, since he was wearing a suit and new shoes. This line explained a lot about Tom's real personality and why it was that he had this nice outfit in such hard times.

"An old turtle,' he said. 'Picked it up on the road. An old bulldozer. Thought I'd take it to my little brother. Kids like turtles."

This line actually threw me off a little bit. When I read that he was actually doing something nice for his little brother, I was a bit surprised. When he was first introduced, he tricked a man into giving him a ride. After that, he admitted to having committed homicide. All of a sudden, it says that he is bringing his little brother a turtle just to make him happy. I think this seems slightly out of character, which is why I was a bit surprised.

"It ain't the same,' he said. 'Looka that house. Somepin's happened. They ain't nobody there."

This line told me a lot about Tom's family and the situation Tom is now going to have to deal with. This isn't just a, "Oh it looks like they're out" line, this is a, "Oh nobody lives here anymore" type line. Obviously, his family must have been affected by the depression, and now he will probably have to find work elsewhere since he was planning on just working for his family.