Chapter 26

Many of the characters in the book, The Grapes of Wrath, by John Steinbeck, are dynamic characters. Yet one of the more dynamic characters is the reverend Jim Casy. Jim Casy was a retired preacher who met up with Tom Joad and who had traveled with the Joad family all the way into California. One night, as the Joad's and Jim Casy were camped in a Hooverville, a deputy and work contractor started to cause some trouble. There was a fight in the camp, and Jim Casy took the blame, saving young Tom Joad from going back to prison. Later when Casy and Tom met up at the Hooper Ranch, Casy explained to Tom the strike he was planning, and how it was affecting his life. "'Well, sir, then we all got yellin'. And we all got on the same tone, an' I tell ya, it jus' seemed like that tank bulged an' give and swelled up. By God! Then sompin happened! They come a-runnin', and they give us some other stuff to eat—give it to us.Ya see?'" Next Casy explains the power of the strike and the desperation and necessity behind it; however, as they talk they are overcome by angry men there to end the strike. "Casy stared blindly at the light. He breathed heavily. 'Listen,' he said. 'You fellas don' know what you're doin'. You're helpin' to starve kids.' 'Shut up, you red…' Casy went on, 'You don' know what you're a-doin'.' The heavy man swung with the pick handle. Casy dodged down into the swing. The heavy club crashed into the side of his head with a dull crunch of bone, and Casy fell down sideways out of the light."

Casy died for his cause, to help people in their time of need, in their time of sorrow, desperation, and darkness. Earlier in the book, he wanted to help people, but his mind was not set; he was always thinking, and he was unsure of what he should do. But as the book went on, he took more responsibility and protected people even with his own life. Steinbeck creates him this way to add support to the idea that staying together in numbers and protecting each other and helping one another helps the migrant families survive and find hope.