Family/Unity (D)

The family in the beginning of their journey after Tom had been released out of jail and reunited with his family the family felt whole again. Also, Tom brought Jim Casey with him who had previously been a preacher and their strong faith became even stronger with a "preacher" by their side. The Joads rely on Casey whenever something goes wrong they asked him at their first meal together to say grace and if someone isn't feeling well they ask him to pray. They rely on Jim Casey for religious guidance.

 The idea of the family being unified has changed since embarking on their journey because in the beginning when Tom proposes that half of the family should go on forward to have some sort of money by the time the second half of the family arrives in California and Ma' gets hysterical. She can't imagine the family being separated again. Since the Joads have left California a lot of people have been left behind but in chapter 20 the Joads family is just a continuation of the family losing the need to be together. Toms hits an officer over the head and Casey takes the blame for it and gets arrested, the family loses their sense of religion. Connecting this back to biblical illusions, JC representing Jesus Christ being crucified and then being resurrected, te reader can make the prediction that Casey might come back. The person who seemed the most affected by JC's leaving is Uncle John, he starts drinking heavily to numb himself from losing that religious security, “when I'd get to hurtin’ inside so I got to get drunk” (269). As the Joads get closer to California and farther from Oklahoma, they don't feel as strongly about keeping the family together as they did in the beginning because Connie also is left behind in this chapter and with family and religious security gone the Joads begin to rely on themselves more, turning point for the rest of the Joads journey.