Exploration 6

The character I'm most invested in at this point is Tom Joad. He definitely knows the right time to set his pride aside when it's for the greater good of his family. I feel from the start, he was thrown into a situation that he had absolutely no idea what was going on but he still kept his composure and held his head high. I empathize with him because during this time, every family needed a protector, and he fulfills that role.

I think the fight scene with the cops shows what kind of challenges the Okies had to face during the Great Depression. In my book on page 359-360, the deputy said in regards to seeing Floyd before and when Tom stood up for him, "Hmm, seems like I have, Las' week when that used-car lot was busted into. Seems like I seen this fella hangin' aroun'. Yep! I'd swear it's the same fella." Tom said, "You got nothin' on him". The deputy swung around. "F you'd like to go in too, you jus' open your trap once more. They was two fellas hangin' around that lot". This is just a prime example of the corruption of the elite they were dealing with. The deputy was going to take Tom in on some bogus charge that he didn't/couldn't have even committed because he wasn't in the state at the time. Regardless if they were innocent or not, it was word against word and Tom's word was never going to beat the deputy's.

As I noted above, I think a common theme is the corruption of the elite. In this case, it's the police officers and the land owners. It's still a common theme today. The top 1% of Americans owns 40% of our nation's wealth and this has been occurring since the 1920's. As far as law enforcement officers, most of us have heard of cops going rogue. They get into the career for the perks and not for the right reasons of helping citizens.