Tom Joad Quotes

For a moment he was about to walk on down the road, but instead he sat on the running board on the side away from the restaurant.

– John Steinbeck

The Grapes of Wrath, Chapter 2. Hitchhiker Tom Joad shows from the beginning his independent spirit and willingness to break rules. Ignoring the "No Riders" stick on the truck’s windshield, he takes a seat on the running board with the intention of hitching a lift

He was not over thirty. His eyes were very dark brown and there was a hint of brown pigment in his eyeballs. His cheek bones were high and wide, and strong deep lines cut down his cheeks, in curves beside his mouth. His upper lip was long, and since his teeth protruded, the lips stretched to cover them, for this man kept his lips closed. His hands were hard, with broad fingers and nails as thick and ridged as little clam shells. The space between thumb and forefinger and the hams of his hands were shiny with callus.

– John Steinbeck

The Grapes of Wrath, Chapter 2. This is a physical description of the hitchhiker, Tom Joad, the protagonist of the novel. He is at the prime of his life and has just been released from serving a four-year prison sentence for homicide. He is portrayed as strong and intense and a hard-working man.

The man’s clothes were new – all of them, cheap and new. His gray cap was so new that the visor was still stiff and the button still on, not shapeless and bulged as it would be when it had served for a while all the various purposes of a cap – carrying sack, towel, handkerchief. His suit was of cheap gray hardcloth and so new that there were creases in the trousers. His blue chambray shirt was stiff and smooth with filler. The coat was too big, the trousers too short, for he was a tall man.

– John Steinbeck

The Grapes of Wrath, Chapter 2. Tom Joad’s clothes are described as cheaply made, new, well pressed and badly fitting. He was given the clothes on being freed from prison.

"Sometimes a guy’ll be a good guy even if some rich bastard makes him carry a sticker."

– John Steinbeck

The Grapes of Wrath, Chapter 2. Tom Joad cleverly attempts to guilt the truck driver into giving him a ride. He challenges him to be the "good guy" and defy his "rich bastard" employer’s "No Riders" sticker instruction on the truck’s windshield. In other words the driver will be a bad guy if he doesn’t. Tom is appealing to the driver’s sense of humanity and decency. He is also suggesting that working class "good guys" like them should stand together against the rich and powerful "bad guys."

The questions of the driver had the tone of a subtle examination. He seemed to spread nets, to set traps, with his questions.

– John Steinbeck

The Grapes of Wrath, Chapter 2. The truck driver asks persistent question of Tom – about his new shoes, if is he going far, and if he has been doing a job. Tom is reluctant to share too much information with the driver. This passage speaks to the theme of the isolation of Tom Joad. Tom is an ex-con who has just been released from prison, having served time for killing a man in a fight, and is trying to adjust to the outside world.

"Now don’t get sore. I just like to notice things. Makes the time pass."
"I’ll tell you anything. Name’s Joad, Tom Joad. Old man is ol’ Tom Joad." His eyes rested broodingly on the driver.
"Don’t get sore. I didn’t mean nothin’."
"I don’t mean nothin’ neither," said Joad. "I’m just tryin’ to get along without shovin’ nobody around."

– John Steinbeck

The Grapes of Wrath, Chapter 2. Tom Joad, who is just released from prison, is irritated at the truck driver’s constant questions about him. Tom being an honest person discloses who he is and who is father is and says that he is just trying to get along without getting into trouble. The driver explains that he means no harm, but merely wants to chat to make the time pass. This chapter shows how lonely and isolated both characters feel. Tom is a private person and reacts defensively to the driver’s interrogation.

"I ain’t a nosy guy."
"The hell you ain’t," said Joad. "That big old nose of yours been stickin’ out eight miles ahead of your face. You had that big nose goin’ over me like a sheep in a vegetable patch."

– John Steinbeck

The Grapes of Wrath, Chapter 2. Tom Joad is frustrated and annoyed at what he sees as the truck driver’s nosiness. He uses a simile to compare the driver’s big nose going all over him to a sheep in a vegetable patch. Freshly paroled Tom, affected by the isolation of prison, is touchy about a stranger’s repeated attempts to elicit information about him.

"You can tell about it in every joint from here to Texola." He smiled. "So long, fella. You been a good guy. But look, when you been in stir a little while, you can smell a question comin’ from hell to breakfast. You telegraphed yours the first time you opened your trap."

– John Steinbeck

The Grapes of Wrath, Chapter 2. Tom Joad makes this comment after telling the driver that he was given a seven-year prison sentence for killing a man, but was sprung in four for good behavior. Tom tells him that he knew from the moment the driver started asking questions, he wanted to know where Tom was coming from wearing brand new cheap clothing and carrying no belongings.

"You’re bound to get idears if you go thinkin’ about stuff."

– John Steinbeck

The Grapes of Wrath, Chapter 4. Tom Joad says this to Casy after the ex-preacher speaks about his spiritual re-birth since his days of being an evangelist. Tom is very practical and straight-thinking, in contrast to the complex Casy, who is a deep and questioning religious thinker.

Joad rolled the coat up more tightly. "An old turtle," he said. "Picked him up on the road. An old bulldozer. Thought I’d take ‘im to my little brother. Kids like turtles."

– John Steinbeck

The Grapes of Wrath, Chapter 4. Tom Joad tells Jim Casy what he has moving around in his bundled-up coat. In using a metaphor to compare the turtle to a bulldozer, Steinbeck is calling attention to the animal’s determination and tenacity.

"What the hell you want to lead ’em someplace for? Jus’ lead ’em."

– John Steinbeck

The Grapes of Wrath, Chapter 4. When Jim Casy says that he still has a spiritual calling, but has nowhere to lead people since he abandoned organized Christianity, Tom Joad encourages him to just lead the people. Tom is more a man of action, rather than one who spends time thinking about things.

"I ain’t got no present for the kids," he said. "Nothin’ but this ol’ turtle."

– John Steinbeck

The Grapes of Wrath, Chapter 4. Newly released from prison, Tom Joad feels a little guilty about having no presents for his younger siblings. But he is happy that he found a land turtle which he plans to give to his little brother.

"I’d do what I done – again," said Joad. "I killed a guy in a fight. We was drunk at a dance. He got a knife in me, an’ I killed him with a shovel that was layin’ there. Knocked his head plumb to squash."

– John Steinbeck

The Grapes of Wrath, Chapter 4. Here we learn new details about the homicide that put Tom Joad in prison. It turns out that he killed in self-defense. While not a cold blooded murderer, Tom is nevertheless no innocent and has no regret over what he did.

"Oh, awright. You eat regular, an’ get clean clothes, and there’s places to take a bath. It’s pretty nice some ways. Makes it hard not havin’ no women…They was a guy paroled," he said. "’Bout a month he’s back for breakin’ parole. A guy ast him why he bust this parole. ‘Well, hell,’ he says. ‘They got no conveniences at my old man’s place. Got no ‘lectric lights, got no shower baths. There ain’t no books, an’ the food’s lousy.’"

– John Steinbeck

The Grapes of Wrath, Chapter 4. Tom Joad tells Casy about life in prison, which he describes as "pretty nice." So bad is life for the poor during the Great Depression, that Joad tells of one prisoner who breaks his parole to get back to prison. Conditions were better in prison than in his family home. There is irony in the fact that men commit crimes deliberately just to come back to prison.

"Says he come back where they got a few conveniences an’ he eats regular. He says it makes him feel lonesome out there in the open havin’ to think what to do next. So he stole a car an’ come back."

– John Steinbeck

The Grapes of Wrath, Chapter 4. Tom Joad tells Casy about a released prisoner who steals a car to get back into prison, because conditions are worse at his father’s place – no electic light, shower baths, books and bad food. To add to the irony, the man also finds freedom more lonely than prison life.

"Come along," said Joad. "Pa’ll be glad to see you."

– John Steinbeck

The Grapes of Wrath, Chapter 4. This is an early example in the novel of people people banding together as a community. Tom Joad, who is on his way to visit his family, invites Jim Casy to join him and the Joads. Family, community and the power of unity are very important themes in Steinbeck’s classic work.

"Looka that house. Somepin’s happened. They ain’t nobody there." The two stood and stared at the little cluster of buildings.

– John Steinbeck

The Grapes of Wrath, Chapter 4. The final words of the chapter leave the reader in suspense as it ends on a cliffhanger. Having traveled from prison to visit his family home, Tom Joad is shocked to discover the place deserted.

"Hell, I forgot the turtle. I ain’t gonna pack it all over hell."

– John Steinbeck

The Grapes of Wrath, Chapter 6. Tom Joad remembers that he has the turtle for his little brother wrapped up in his jacket. He pushes it under the house.

"Where the hell you s’pose he’s goin’?" said Joad. "I seen turtles all my life. They’re always goin’ someplace. They always seem to want to get there."

– John Steinbeck

The Grapes of Wrath, Chapter 6. When Tom unwraps the turtle from his jacket and puts it on the ground, it continues to head southward in the same direction it was going when he picked it up. Here he is comparing the animal’s wandering to his. The turtle is a metaphor and a foreshadowing of the journey that migrant farmers such as the Joads will make in search of a better life.

"We was drunk," Joad said softly. "Drunk at a dance. I don’ know how she started. An’ then I felt that knife go in me, an’ that sobered me up. Fust thing I see is Herb comin’ for me again with his knife. They was this here shovel leanin’ against the school house, so I grabbed it an’ smacked ‘im over the head. I never had nothing against Herb. He was a nice fella."

– John Steinbeck

The Grapes of Wrath, Chapter 6. Tom Joad tells Muley Graves about the fight that got him a prison sentence for manslaughter. He says that he killed in self-defense.

"’Course you get goddamn good an’ sick a-doin’ the same thing day after day for four years. If you done somepin you was ashamed of, you might think about that. But, hell, if I seen Herb Turnbull comin’ for me with a knife right now, I’d squash him down with a shovel again."

– John Steinbeck

The Grapes of Wrath, Chapter 6. Tom Joan talking to Muley Graves. Tom feels no guilt or regrets about killing Herb Turnbull, despite serving four years in prison for it. He would do the same thing again, if faced with the same situation.

"It didn’ make no sense. You don’t look for no sense when lightnin’ kills a cow, or it comes up a flood. That’s jus’ the way things is. But when a bunch of men take an’ lock you up four years, it ought to have some meaning."

– John Steinbeck

The Grapes of Wrath, Chapter 6. Tom Joad didn’t learn any lessons from his four years in prison for killing a man in self-defense. He can see no sense or meaning in serving time. Steinbeck is criticizing the justice and prison system here.

Joad settled himself on the clean sand. "I ain’t gonna sleep in no cave," he said. "I’m gonna sleep right here." He rolled his coat and put it under his head. Muley pulled at the covering brush and crawled into his cave. "I like it in here," he called. "I feel like nobody can come at me."
…"I ain’t sleepin," said Casy. "I got too much to puzzle with." He drew up his feet and clasped his legs. He threw back his head and looked at the sharp stars. Joad yawned and brought one hand back under his head. They were silent, and gradually the skittering life of the ground, of holes and burrows, of the brush, began again; the gophers moved, and the rabbits crept to green things, the mice scampered over clods, and the winged hunters moved soundlessly overhead.

– John Steinbeck

The Grapes of Wrath, Chapter 6. In the chapter’s last lines, Tom Joad, Muley Graves and Jim Casy hide from a police car to avoid being arrested for trespassing. Ironically this is on the property that the Joad family had occupied for generations. Tom shows his instinct to fight and resist the powers that be by refusing to hide in a cave with Muley. The thinker of the trio Casy opts for the open air and stares at the stars searching for inspiration on what direction he should take next with his life.

"You ain’t poisoned mad? You don’t hate nobody? They didn’ do nothin’ in that jail to rot you out with crazy mad?" He looked sidewise at her, studied her, and his eyes seemed to ask how she could know such things.

– John Steinbeck

The Grapes of Wrath, Chapter 8. Ma Joad is concerned how life in prison may have affected her son Tom. She is afraid that it may have turned his mind mad. But when she looks into his eyes she sees that he is still the same Tom.

Tom turned his head and grinned. "Granma finally heard I’m home. Ma," he said, "you never was like this before!"
"I never had my house pushed over," she said. "I never had my fambly stuck out on the road. I never had to sell – ever’thing – Here they come now."

– John Steinbeck

The Grapes of Wrath, Chapter 8. Tom Joad notices a change in his mother after the experience of the family’s home being taken away from them. This is foreshadowing of the many more changes that will come about during and after their migration to California. It also shows us a glimpse into Ma Joad’s great inner strength and calm that will get them through those difficult times.

"I’m a-gonna tell you somepin about bein’ in the pen. You can’t go thinkin’ when you’re gonna be out. You’d go nuts. You got to think about that day, an’ then the nex’ day, about the ball game Sat’dy. That’s what you got to do. Ol’ timers does that. A new young fella gets buttin’ his head on the cell door. He’s thinkin’ how long it’s gonna be. Whyn’t you do that? Jus’ take ever’day."

– John Steinbeck

The Grapes of Wrath, Chapter 10. Tom Joad says this to Ma Joad, who is worrying about how far it is to California and how long it will take them to get there. Tom has learned some valuable life lessons in prison about how to cope. He has learned not to think too far ahead and just concentrate on getting through that day and then the next.

"I knowed a fella from California. He didn’t talk like us. You’d of knowed he come from some far-off place jus’ the way he talked. But he says they’s too many folks lookin’ for work right there now. An’ he says the folks that pick the fruit live in dirty ol’ camps an’ don’t hardly get enough to eat. He says wages is low an’ hard to get any."

– John Steinbeck

The Grapes of Wrath, Chapter 10. Tom Joad tells his mother what he heard about the migrant situation in California. It turns out not to be good news for the huge numbers crowding into the state in search of work. There isn’t enough work to go round, pay is poor, camp living conditions are bad and people are huntry. This foreshadows that the California dream will not be what it’s cracked up to be for families like the Joads.

"Pa, some fellas was talkin’ about Tom, an’ they says he’s parole’. An’ they says that means he can’t go outside the State, or if he goes, an’ they catch him, they send ‘im back for three years."

– John Steinbeck

The Grapes of Wrath, Chapter 10. Al Joad has overheard some men talking about his brother Tom. They are saying that he has been paroled, which means he cannot travel outside the state, and if he does he will be send back to prison for three years. With the family migrating to California, Tom has an important choice to make – does he go with them and risk going back to jail.

"The gov’ment’s got more interest in a dead man than a live one. They’ll go hell-scrapin’ tryin’ to fin’ out who he was and how he died."

– John Steinbeck

The Grapes of Wrath, Chapter 13. Tom Joad’s makes this ironic comment about the Government being more concerned for a man after he dies, than with the people who killed him. Tom is no great respecter of the law, because it works against migrant families. Grampa Joad died because the law forced him off the land. Yet the law forbids the family burying him at the side of the road, which they do anyway.

"This here is William James Joad, dyed of a stroke, old old man. His fokes bured him becaws they got no money to pay for funerls. Nobody kilt him. Jus a stroke and he dyed."

– John Steinbeck

The Grapes of Wrath, Chapter 13. When the Joads bury Grampa Joad in the woods near the campsite, as they can’t afford a funeral, they leave this note with the body. The note is written by Tom and he reads it to Ma, who gives her approval. It makes for a rather sad epitaph, explaining the financial reason for the unusual buriel. It’s placed in a fruit jar with Grampa.

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