Grapes of Wrath by John Steinback - Book Report/Review Example

Jim Casey represents Jesus, who made the supreme sacrifice. Jim thinks that the farmers are taking advantage of the workers. Knowing that they need the money they could offer them a pittance for their labor, and the workers would accept it because they are hungry. The police know who Jim is, and represent the landowners, Despite the danger, Jim continues to defend the cause he believes in, and eventually lost his life trying to rescue the migrants from the big farm owners. This chapter (chapter 20) marks the moment Casy stops talking and begins acting.

His giving up of himself for Tom is immediately foreshadowed when he tells Tom, "I ain't doing nobody no good." Within hours, he will have the opportunity to begin doing good, carrying out his theoretical ideals by kicking the deputy and sacrificing himself for Tom (Sparksnote).The difference between the government-run camps and the privately owned camps is; the government-owned camps cater to the needs of the workers; the occupants are treated as people. The police cannot walk in and harass the workers without cause, the way they do on the privately owned farms.

In the privately-owned camps, the police work for the landowners, and they can do whatever they want to the dwellers, even if they are unable to prove the charge they conjure up against them.