John Steinbeck was one of the greatest American authors and had written several extraordinary novels during his time. His novels always seem to be about men who have committed crimes that are considered unforgivable and immediately brand a person as evil. In his text Of Mice and Men, Lennie was a big boy but a little special in the head, he was sweet but had no control over the strength of his body. He always ended up doing sinful things, but not because he was simply a bad person. In Steinbeck's other text, Grapes of Wrath, there was another character who had committed unforgivable crimes. The character was Tom Joade who killed a man in a bar. At the beginning of the novel they follow Tom as he gets out of prison and continue to follow his family once they find him. The family is one of many who must travel to California to start their lives over, the setting takes place during the Great Depression. Tom Joade is one of the most memorable characters involved in the plot. The best qualities that Tom Joade encompasses is his passion towards his family, the way he treats his mother, and his passion for helping others. When Tom is first introduced in the novel, he is returning home from prison to find his family, and even though his family was not at his house, he dared to look for them. Joade always took care of his family on the journey west, he helped take care of his elderly grandparents, children and pregnant sister; even Connie who she had never met before her time in prison protected her from any threat. When Connie ran away in the middle of the night, leaving Tom's sister alone and pregnant, he wanted to chase him because he had hurt his little sister. Tom left the instant he knew he was going to get… middle of paper… bumped and his anger is uncontrollable. The novel Grapes of Wrath was one of the first monumental American short stories because of the setting, which is the Great Depression. It followed the American working class, which at the time it came out was when the working class was becoming more common than the upper class. The central purpose of the novel was to show that people who worked in the American economy struggled deeply. Readers of the text appreciated the realistic elements of the novel, and Tom Joade was a great example for those who wanted to help others. He was someone who only cared about the safety of others, and even though he had done some bad things in the past, he was still a caring man. The moral behind Tom's character is that even if someone has a troubled past, it's not their past that matters, but instead their actions in the present...