At the beginning of the book the Grapes of Wrath, the protagonist, Tom Joad seemed to have one goal which was to reunite with his family. Since he was in jail for four years, he didn't know much about what was going on. When the family began to pack you could notice that he didn't have much to bring. As their journey took off, the he, along with the rest of the Joad's seemed very optimistic about moving to California to find work. Even when Grampa Joad died, Tom's mood seemed to be unaffected. Even after Granma's death and Noah's disappearance, we didn't hear much about Tom being worried in any way.
His entire mood changed when he went to the Hooverville camp. Even though he killed a man, he wasn't necessarily a violent person. However, when he went to the Hooverville camp, the injustice of the officers to the so called “Okies” irritated him deeply. One example includes the confrontation with the officer. The conflict began when Knowles, another “Okie”, demanded to know how much the workers would be getting paid, and a deputy fires wildly into a crowd as Knowles runs to avoid getting arrested. The deputy accidentally shot a woman in the hand which irritated Tom and caused him to take action. Then tripped the deputy and Casey knocked him unconscious and later on took the blame for the whole thing.
Another event that makes Tom a little uneasy is when Connie, Rose of Sharon's husband, runs off and abandons his wife and the baby. This event shows the inhumanity of man towards man. Although Tom doesn't seem to be bothered by many events, these to events in the last few chapters take a toll on him. He is nowhere near as bad as Ma Joad though. Ma Joad has basically given up and we don't really hear from the rest of the family. The family will continue to get smaller until there is no one left.
