The Metamorphosis of Tom Joad in The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck :: The Grapes of Wrath

The Metamorphosis of tomcat Joad in The Grapes of Wrath tom turkey Joad from Steinbecks Grapes of Wrath is a prime type of a person whose ethics and spiritual growth cannot be curtail by the law or any other limiting instrument for long. Throughout the novel he develops from a man only arouse in his own independent individual(prenominal) desires and unavoidably to one who is habituated to his family and sacrifices his own personal comfort for the benefit of the family. At the novels end Tom is continuing Jim Casys generous drop dead of uniting the poor hand laborers against the plentiful oppressive lan smoothers who are starving the poor with low wages. Toms concept of family grows with his work uniting the poor to encompass all of humanity. Maslows Humanistic psychological power structure of Human Needs can be used to track Toms personal development. Humanists believe that adult male are constantly striving to be the better person that their present conditions allow t hem to be. The Hierarchy of Needs lists the needs that humans need to satisfy to reach the nigh level of development. One cannot shine to a higher level of development without first satisfying the more(prenominal) basic levels. The first level includes the physiological needs food water, and sleep. The next level is safety and security, then lie with and belonging. Next of the list is a healthy self-esteem and finally self-actualization. One who is self actualized has efficient perceptions of reality, autonomy, rearhold with hum ity, strong and loving interpersonal relationships, and is task centered. At the fountain of the novel Tom has just been paroled from prison serving time for cleanup a man in a fight. Tom feels he was exactly defending himself. He feels no guilt or shame intimately killing the man and would do it again under the same conditions. Toms morals allowed him to justify the killing. These morals were instilled in him by his family especially from the str ength and love of his mother. Tom is looking forward to laying one foot down in front of another. At this point in he tier Tom has his physiological needs met and is going home to his family to meet his needs of safety and security love belonging. In chapter 6 Tom finds his house abandoned and meets Muley, an old neighbor that stayed behind after his family moved to atomic number 20 for work.