By far, the most involved example of symbolism is found in the character of the preacher, Jim Casy. Casy not only is a Christ figure but also embodies the belief of Transcendentalism. These are supported by many examples throughout the story. Some of these examples are easily noticed, others require more thought to be understood. The symbolism found in Jim Casy does a great deal to bring together the events that make up the story.
That Casy is a Christ figure can be shown in several ways. One obvious (or perhaps not as obvious as it may seem) similarity between Casy and Christ is that they share the same initials, J.C. It was not merely coincidence that Steinbeck chose the name Jim Casy. Initials, however, are not the only thing that Casy and Christ share. Another similarity is that both men went into the wilderness before coming back to the public life. Christ went into the desert for a period of forty days of intense prayer with the Father before coming into his public life of preaching. Casy follows a slightly different, but on the whole, similar pattern. Casy tells the reader that he had been a preacher, but had become unsure of what holy really means. He spent four years away from society, and after spending some time with the Joad family, has fully developed his religious beliefs and transforms his words into action.
These words that Casy preaches toward the end of the story are those of Transcendentalism, a belief begun by several prominent American writers in the 19th Century. The Transcendentalists, including such names as Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau, believed "in the essential unity of all creation, the innate goodness of man, and the supremacy of insight over logic aand experience for the revelation of the deepest truths" (Encyclopaedia Britannica, Vol 11, 894). Casy, by comparison, says in the story, "All that lives is holy" (Steinbeck 157), tying in the belief of the natural goodness found in man. As his beliefs develop, Casy begins to see that all of creation and humankind is united, and that he must not work for the improvement of the souls of individuals, but for the improvement of the total human condition. Transcendentalism differs greatly from mainstream Christianity, but Steinbeck chose to incorporate this belief into the character of Casy for a very important reason. In the time period when this book was written, the Great Depression, the worship of some distant God was not the first thing on the minds of the millions of people who were starving, barely earning enough to keep alive. Transcendentalism, however, was something with which these people could relate. If all humanity was united, then people should work together for the common good. If there was anything they needed, the poor of that era needed the rich to work toward the common good, by giving to the poor what they had in surplus. This is what Casy is working toward in the story just before he dies.
In death too Casy bore a similarity to Christ. Christ was willing to give himself up to save mankind from its sins. Casy gives up himself to save the life of Tom Joad, who trips a police officer trying to break up a camp of the vagrant farmers, dispossessed from their lands. Also,just before he had his head bashed in by a club-weilding cop, Jim Casy had told him, "You don' know what you're a-doin'" (Steinbeck 426). This bears a striking resemblance to a few of the last words uttered by Jesus Christ as he hung on the cross: "Forgive them, Father, they know not what they do" (Bible, Jn. 23:34). So Casy was like Christ in life and in death.
Besides the symbolism in the character of Casy, there are a few other examples of symbolism. One such symbol is the farmland of the Joads and the other tenant farmers. This land symbolized the life of these farmers. Originally, this land had been settled on by their fathers or their grandfathers. For many of these people, this land was the only thing that they had ever known, the only constant in their lives.
When the depression hit and they were told by representatives of "the Bank" that they must leave this land, it was as if they had just been told they were going to die. Many of them do die, spiritually if not physically. One of the casualties was Grampa Joad. After the Joads left the land, Grampa was not the same, and after a few days on the road, he dies. The land was Grampa's life; when he was taken from it, he ceased to live. Even more encompassing, though, is that the land symbolizes all things living. Thus when the people are taken away and replaced by machinery to do the farming, something is lost, more than a job, more than a farmer's life. According to Transcendentalism, all living things are united, and are part of a whole. Thus when the people are taken from the land, part of this whole is lost. The whole can no longer fuction as it once did, not until the missing parts are replaced. Thus the symbol of the land ties in with the symbol found in Casy.
Yet another symbol in The Grapes of Wrath is the turtle which appears in one of Steinbeck's intercalary chapters, and which later is picked up by Tom on the roadside shortly after he was paroled from McAlester prison. At first a woman driving a car swerves to avoid the turtle as it crosses the highway, then a man in a truck swerves to try and hit the turtle. The truck just touches the edge of the turtle's shell, and "flipped the turtle like a tiddly-wink...off the highway" (Steinbeck 16).11 In this instance the turtle symbolizes the tenacity of the vagrant farmers in California. The farmers, although homeless, jobless, and out of money, do not give up their struggle.
The turtle appears in a later chapter, when Tom finds it and is planning to give this turtle to his younger brother and sister; however, he later decided to let the turtle go. As the turtle walked away, Tom and Casy watched it as it moved slowly and steadily toward the southwest. Watching it, Tom comments that turtles alwaysss seem to be going someplace and are trying to get there. In this case, the turtle symbolizes the dispossessed farmers and their movement to the southwestern part of the United States, specifically California, where they believed they would find jobs in abundance and would have total happiness. In addition to this, the turtle also foreshadows the eventual movement of the Joads to California. So through the turtle Steinbeck helps to show the plight of the vagrant farmers.
Throughout The Grapes of Wrath, Steinbeck utilizes symbolism many times to emphasize different ideas. Casy is a Christ figure and also symbolizes the belief of Transcendentalism. The land of the tenant farmers like the Joads symbolizes the life of them, and even more the life of all things. The turtle represents the struggle of the vagrants as the keep moving, trying to find that ideal that drew them to California, looking for something better than what they had, which was essentially nothing, other than each other. The theme Steinbeck is trying to relate through the story is this: united, mankind can advance; divided, mankind will fall, but only half, never a full step back.
French, Warren. John Steinbeck. Boston: Twayne Publishers, 1975.
Levant, Howard. "The Fully Matured Art: The Grapes of Wrath." John Steinbeck, Modern Critical Views. New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 1987. 35-62.
Lojek, Helen. "Jim Casy: Politico of the New Jerusalem." Steinbeck Quarterly, Winter-Spring 1982. 30-37.
Steinbeck, John. The Grapes of Wrath. New York: Penguin Books, 1978.
Wallsten, Robert and Steinbeck, Elaine. Steinbeck: A Life in Letters. New York: The Viking Press, 1975.
The New American Bible, Gospel of John. 23:34. New York: The Catholic Press, 1976.
Goetz, Philip (Editor in Chief). Encyclopaedia Britannica. Chicago: Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc., 1987. Vol 11, 894.