In John Steinbeck's novel The Grapes of Wrath, who is Jim Rawley and what is the primary source of his strength?

In Chapter Twenty-One of John Steinbeck’s novel
The Grapes of Wrath, Jim Rawley is the manager of a federal relief
camp set up to help travelers during the Great Depression. The Joad family stop at the
camp on their trip west, and Rawley comes to greet them the next morning and see if they
have any unmet needs.

During the course of his discussion
with Ma Joad, Rawley reveals a number of strengths, both as a person and as a literary
character.  Rawley’s strengths as a person include the
following:

• He is courteous, as when he greets
  Ma.


• He is respectful, as when he addresses Ma as “Mrs.
  Joad.”


• He is thoughtful and concerned, as when he asks Ma
  if the Joads have everything they need.


• He appreciates
  beauty and a sense of community, as when he praises the singing of the women who worked
  together while washing.


• He is modest, as when he denies
  being the “boss” of the camp.


• He is generous in his
  praise, as when he extols the hard work of the camp’s
  inhabitants:

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They keep the camp clean, they keep order, they
do everything. I never saw such
people.

• He is
  subtly aware of the needs of others, as when he asks Ma for a cup of coffee so that she
  can show him her own courtesy and demonstrate her own kindness toward
  others.


• He is accommodating, as when claims that he
  always drinks his coffee without sugar. (Ma has no sugar and is
  apologetic.)


• He is attentive and available, as when he
  tells Ma (but not in a boastful way) that he is in his office all the
  time.


• In short, the source of Jim Rawley’s general
  strength is his concern for others.

As a
literary character, Rawley is strong for some additional reasons, including the
following:

• He is
  plain-spoken.


• He seems to be the kind of “boss” or
  neighbor whom almost anyone would like to have.


• He is an
  effective foil to some of the other, less attractive characters Steinbeck has
  presented.

If Rawley has any flaw as a literary
character, it may be, perhaps, that he seems almost too good to be true. He is obviously
a character designed to illustrate various virtues, and he is so entirely virtuous that
he runs the risk of seem stereotypical and lacking in full human complexity. He runs the
risk of seeming a stick figure, a plastic saint. Fortunately, his appearance in the
novel is brief. Otherwise he might seem too saccharine a figure – too
“sugary.”