Grapes of Wrath Character Analysis: Tom Joad

The character Tom Joad in the novel, "The Grapes of Wrath" by John Steinbeck is first presented to readers in the opening pages of the novel. Recently out of prison, Joad is presented as a working-man, with "The space between thumb and forefinger and the hams of his hands... shiny with callus" (Steinbeck 6). Through his dialogue with the truck driver whom he hitches a ride with in Chapter 2, readers can also see that Joad is not a huge fan of "the man" or the established order of things in the U.S. as is shown when he asks the truck driver for a ride, and then says, "but sometimes a guy'll be a good guy even if some rich bastard makes him carry a sticker," in response to the trucker asking him if he saw the "no riders" sticker on the windshield (Steinbeck 6). Finally, readers catch an air of a "rebel-without-a-cause" attitude in Joad when he asks the preacher in Chapter 4 if he's "too damn holy to take a drink" (Steinbeck 14). In all, readers are supposed to take a liking to Tom Joad throughout the course of the first few chapters of the book because of his "bad-boy charm" and his honest principles that guide him through life.