Sunday, September 30, 2007

Chapters 20-22

After Connie and Rose were done talking, Connie ran off and nobody has seen him since. Where did he go and why did he leave? I think that the purpose of Connie within the novel was to show that sometimes women are stronger than men because Connie ran away from the problem. I don't think that was the true purpose of Connie, but I can't figure out what it is.
Also, I don't understand why exactly Jim Casy "took the wrap" for something that he didn't do. Did he just feel like he had to because they took him along and fed him? Or did he really feel that he was no use and it would be better for the family if he was the one to go? Personally, I think that Casy, being a preacher at one time, knew the right to do and was compelled to do it, even though he may not have wanted to. I think that since Casy was a preacher, it shaped him into the man he is now, and even though he says that he doesn't know who he is praying to, deep down I think he knows exactly who he is praying to. He just may have been mislead at one time because he felt that sin was weighing him down like he was talking about at the beginning of the book.
Now Uncle John is a different story. Ever since Uncle John's wife died, he feels like his sins will never go aways because he think that it was his fault. So even when the children are all crowded around the campfire hoping that they will get some food, he can't eat because he feels bad for them. And then after Casy turned himself in for something that he didn't do, Uncle John felt like he had to tell the family his sin of keeping five dollars to himself so he could get drunk. Pa told him that it wasn't anymore sin than anything that they'd done. So Uncle John gave Pa the five dollars and told Pa to give him back two dollars because he said that it would be enough. So Uncle John went across the street and bought some whiskey and walked down the river while drinking. Tom had to go find him, so they could move to the nicer government place because the camp that they were at was going to get burned.

3 comments:

gonefishin said...

I would have do definitely disagree with your comment about what you think the purpose of connie is. First of all, the author is John Steinbeck, who is a male, so why would he imply that females are stronger than males? And I think Connie left and is at a better spot in California with a better job.

Anonymous said...

I'm not sure where in the wild world Connie went. I thought it was poor of him to just run off when Rosasharn was pregnant. Maybe he did go study, or maybe he just could't handle it anymore, I'm not sure. I wouldn't say that this necessarily makes women stronger than men because all she did after he left was whine. Ma is a strong woman. Tom is a strong man. It just depends on the person; I wouldn't say a certain sex is better or stronger than the other.

Kenzie said...

I have to agree with heather maybe he did go to study and get things straightened out. And the parts about him whining when she was gone proved that maybe women are stronger.