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Lights in the Darkness
(In class essay)
Survival of the fittest. This statement does not only apply to the animal kingdom but also to ourselves - humans. Those who have learned how to take advantage of the game will prosper, and those who were content with the simple ways are shoved aside. John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath is a powerful novel illustrating the turmoils faced by families during the 1930s. Large land-owning companies found ways to make the profit, no matter how many little families it had to crush to get that profit. And thus the little families are left to make their own way, many times taking whatever low-paying jobs they can find, simply to buy food. And the big companies are able to take more advantage of them. But even in this corrupt society of desperation, good men will see the wrongs, arise, and fight.
Society is corrupt. Steinbeck shows a harsh world, which is much different than the happy-perfect world many people like to think it is. He shows reality. Big corporations roll over the small local businesses those men with jobs look down on those who do not have them and shun and condemn them. This is how society is. How it is, how it has been. People may say, "Oh that's how it was, once, but times have changed." I tell you, they have not. Oh we like to think of ourselves as fair, but do we not shun and condemn those who are different? We still separate ourselves from others, by money, by class, by our cars. It sickens me. And yet, I often find myself committing these acts I hate, because it is what I see, and I unconsciously turn around and repeat them. We must change scoiety. We must try to become "good men."
Tom Joad is a good man. Although we meet him as he is returning home from prison for having killed a man, and this would seemingly automatically identify him with "bad" in our minds, this is not Tom. Yes, to murder is a crime, and I do not condone it. But we must look past this right now. The real Tom is the man who broke his parole to help his family in their time of need. The man who didn't want anyone to tell his mother about the parole because it would worry her. The man who puts down another who pities himself for a physical blemish and did not think of anyone else. The man who held the family together. The man who defends the hungry, the needy, the desperat, against those who would take what little they possessed away. When Casy is struck down, Tom attacks his murderer. Is this an actoin we all would hae taken? Probably not. We tend to turn a blind eye and pretend things did'nt happen, that we did not witness it, we were not there. But Tom did not. He acted on his feelings when this man, this good man, should be killed like an insignificant insect - it is wrong. Wrong.Was it right that he attacked the man who killed Casy? Or would it have been right if he had not done anything?
The man who is the very illustration of a "good man" to me is Jum Casy, the ex-preacher introduced in the beginning. He gave up preaching to find his own beliefs and views on life and the world, instead of merely accepting ideas and morals from other people and religions. I believe that this is something that we all must do at some point as a necessary milestone in psychological maturity. Whether or not it leads us back to religion or atheism or whatever it is we had believed in, we will end up with our own strong personal convictoins and a better understanding of the world. Casy formulated his own beliefs of what is right and wrong and doesn't really give a damn of what others may think of them. He is a desireless man. He did not have to go to California with the Joads; he just tagged along for the ride. And when there was the fight at the campground, Casy fearlessly stepped up and took the blame, leaving Tom free to continue on with the family. This, it seems, was his purpose in acompanying the family on this trip. But I am not trying to give the impression that Casy was perfect. No, he was not. He admitted that he swore, he liked women. But this is of no regard when compared with his final action. A group of men had camped out by the orchards, protesting the low wages. Casy is among them. When officials came to break up the protest, Casy steps out and defends his stand. He tells them children are starving, which is one of the greatest crimes that our society can think of. The man strikes him down with a blow to the head. In one quick motion, this man - this righteous, just, defender of the people - is struck down as though he is worth nothing.
Our world is hard. It is, as some say, "a tough neighborhood," where only the strong survive. The strong get to the top by crushing others underfoot, and they ae infected by the disease of status. The weak are often drowned in desperation because the strong have trodden over them without so much as a glance. But in this contaminated world, always, always, there will be some who rise up for the rights of the people, and they shine as a light in the dark.
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