Preacher

The character that stands out most prominently to me in this first section of The Grapes of Wrath is Jim Casy, the former preacher who, in the eyes of the Joads and the rest of his former flock, will always be “the preacher.” He is disillusioned with his former status as a man of god, in part because of his own tendency to sleep with women after getting them riled up with his sermons. His guilt and inquisitiveness make Casy out to be one of the most well-rounded characters early on in the story. He’s introduced to us as someone without much in his life anymore, so we’re not so surprised when he’s so willing to pick up and head west with the Joad family. Casy is confused about himself and his , and is searching for a greater purpose that spreading the word of god could no longer provide him, unlike Tom, who, after being released from prison, is confused about the change in his surroundings. Early exchanges between Tom and Casy are blunt and honest, with Casy asking a great many rhetorical questions, looking for concrete solutions to problems that don’t have them. He says during a long talk with Tom shortly after they meet, “’What’s gnawin’ you? is it the screwin’?’ An’ I says, ‘No, it’s the sin.’ An’ I says, ‘Why is it that when a fella ought to be just about mule-ass proof against sin, an’ all full up of Jesus, why is it that’s the time a fella gets fingerin’ his pants buttons?’…I says, ‘Maybe it ain’t a sin. Maybe it’s just the way folks is’.” Tom has trouble giving Casy any aide with his grief, but he always seems interested enough and encourages him to go on. Casy’s explanations of his new philosophy, saying “I don’t know nobody named Jesus. I know a bunch of stories, but I only love people,” and “Maybe it’s all men an’ all women we love; maybe that’s the Holy Sperit – the human sperit,” reflect my own views, and brought a skeptical aspect to the novel that I wasn’t expecting. Later insistences by Granma Joad that Casy preach – before the Joads embark on their journey; as Grampa dies of a stroke – are met with hesitation, but Casy overcomes his anxiety about not knowing “what to pray for or who to pray to” anymore by recognizing his basic desires to express himself and to help others. Casy’s rejection of his status in the church and his musings on religion and humanity reminded me of the late 1990s comic book series Preacher, by Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon. The book is the story of Jesse Custer, a Texan pastor who, after becoming one with a supernatural entity that leaves him with a power equal to that of god, sets off on a road trip (accompanied by his ex and a centenarian vampire) across the country to find god himself with the intention of making him answer for abandoning his creations. Not very Grapes of Wrath-esque in its subject matter, but the approach and attitudes of the characters are similar in a handful of respects.