Jim Casey's moral philosophies guide the Joad family and the rest of the characters throughout the entire novel. His philosophies on sin and virtue being non-existent continue throughout the novel. His beliefs that all people are connected through one single human spirit seems to guide all of the characters to each other no matter what roadblocks may get in their way.
In the forth chapter, Tom Joad is walking home after being away for over four years. He sees a tree that will give him shade and heads to it. Along with the shade, he finds Jim Casey. If the novel follows Jim Casey's moral beliefs, then their meeting wouldn't just be coincidence. The spirit that attached the two of them together would want them to meet so it guided them together. There could have never been a tree there, or Tom could have gone past without saying a word, or when Tom sat down Casey could have left. But nothing like that happened because their spirits wanted them to meet.
As for sin and virtue, towards the middle of the novel a highly religious woman told Rose of Sharon that if she went to the dance party being held at the camp they were staying at, that Rose of Sharon would lose her baby because she would have sinned. In the final chapter of the story, Rose of Sharon goes into labor and gives birth to a still born child. But if what Casey said about sin was true, then dancing couldn't have been the reason that the baby didn't make it. At the end of the final chapter, Rose of Sharon meets a starving old man and gives her the milk produced for her baby, saving his life. Rose of Sharon and the old man were connected through one spirit. Her child died so that an old man's life could be saved because human spirit guided them together. It wasn't a time to feel sinful and morn for the loss of the child, it was a time to feel grateful towards human spirit for guiding too unlikely people to one place.
Lastly, Jim Casey didn't believe in God or the Bible because he didn't believe in stories, he just believed in people. In the story "The Grapes of Wrath" Jim Casey was proven right, there was no God. If God had existed, the Joads' wouldn't have been put through so much suffering. Like everyone from that era, they probably would have lost their farm with or without a God, they probably would have had to move out west and pick fruit. Tom being arrested, Rose of Sharon's baby dying, Jim Casey dying, not once were the Joads' given a break. However, all of these events did occur because of human spirit. The spirit between Tom and the man he killed was angry and spiteful, and Tom went to prison because of it. Human spirit led Rose of Sharon to a dying man, and she saved his life because of it. And human spirit caused Tom to go after Casey's killer because he loved Casey's spirit so much.
The entire book followed Casey's beliefs, but more than that it followed Steinbeck's beliefs. Steinbeck channeled himself through Casey, which led to the entire book being based around his religious and moral philosophies and beliefs. Human spirit connected all of the people in this book together, no matter how small a part they may have played. Tom was released from prison, left the state while on parole and still wasn't arrested which proved that there was no sin, so there was nothing to be punished for. The entire novel is based on these three beliefs/moral values:
1) There is no sin
2) There is no virtue
3) There is no higher power, just the spirit that connects all people.
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