In Chapter Four of John Steinbeck's The Grapes
of Wrath, Tom Joad, who has been paroled from prison and is returning home,
runs across Jim Casy and recognizes him as the preacher. Casy replies that he no longer
is a preacher because he now has "a lot of sinful idears--but they seem kinda
sensible." Whenever he would preach, for instance, Casy always went out in the grass
with a woman afterwards, then felt like a hypocrite. His action worried him because the
women should have been filled with the Holy Spirit, but Casy now decides that "there
ain't no sin, and there ain't no virtue." There are only the actions of human beings:
"There's just stuff people do. It's all part of the same
thing."
Obviously, Casy is not offended by Tom Joad's use
of vulgarity and cursing because he makes no comment to Tom. With no sin, Casy's view is
that the Holy Spirit is in everybody: "'maybe it's all men and women we love." This
concept is much like that of the Over-Soul of Emerson, and is in harmony with the
socialistic ideals of Steinbeck. The holiness of fellowship is certainly a motif
that of The Grapes of Wrath.
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