A)+Jim+Casy

**Jim Casey is sometimes called a "Christ Figure." Think about the initials of his name, his time in wilderness, his feelings for the people, and his maturity as a philosopher while in jail ("Maybe all men got one big soul ever'body's a part of"), and his acts of sacrifice and martyrdom. Explain how these help create such a symbol of Casey. Why do you think Steinbeck may have portrayed him this way?**

**Initials of his name:** Jim Casy's initials are J.C., which can be portrayed as Jesus Christ. In the story, many events portray Casy as being a figure of Christ. Being a preacher in his hometown, while also aiding those in need added to how people viewed him. Just as Christ had sacrificed himself for the people, Casy sacrifices himself for the people throughout the story. People of the town looked up to him, while also being guided by him.
 * **J.C. represents Jesus Christ **
 * **Aids people in need **
 * **Ends up sacrificing himself **

**Time in the Wilderness:** Jim Casy elaborates on his time in the wilderness throughout the story, making him seem even more closely related to a Christ like figure. Both Christ and Casy go into the wilderness before they return to the public life. Christ goes into the desert for forty days, praying and reflecting, to the Father, before coming back to the public life of preaching. Even though Casy's journey is not the same, it follows the same pattern. Casy goes away to find out the true meaning of "holy." Going away from society for four years, he figures out his full religious beliefs with the help of the Joad family, and turns his words into actions.
 * **Christ and Casy go into the wilderness before returning to public life **
 * **Christ goes to the desert and preaches to the Father **
 * **Casy goes into the wilderness to find the true meaning of "holy" **

**His feelings for the people: **Throughout the story, Jim Casy is seen as a natural leader, always protecting his people. Casy feels that it is his duty to share his knowledge with those around him, being the main reason for him becoming a preacher. He becomes involved in a labor strike, fighting for better rights for himself and the people. In the labor strike he sacrificed his life, being killed by an officer, resulting from him fighting for the people. Casy's death was similar to the death of Christ, also. Christ was willing to give up his life in order to save mankind, whereas Casy also gives up his life mainly for Tom Joad, who tripped a police officer in trying to break up a camp of angry farmers, dispossessed from their land. In Casy's last words before having his head bashed in, Jim Casy tells the cop, **"You don' know what you're a-doin'" (Steinbeck 426).** This resembles and is very similar to the last words of Christ as he was hung on the cross: "**Forgive them, Father, they know not what they do" (Bible, Jn. 23:34).** This shows that Casy and Christ were not only similar in life, but also in death.
 * **Fights for better rights for himself and the people **
 * **Casy and Christ both sacrifice their lives for the people and to save mankind **
 * **Both Casy and Christ's last words resemble similarities **

**Maturity as a Philosopher:** While Jim Casy spends time in jail, he starts to believe that **"Maybe all men got one big soul ever'body's a part of".** Casy feels that everyone is one, and people can achieve greater things by coming together (we), instead of trying to accomplish things by yourself (I). When Casy preaches towards the end of the story, it is words of a Transcendentalism (a belief begun by American writers in the 19th century). The Transcendentalists believed **"in the essential unity of all creation, the innate goodness of man, and the supremacy of insight over logic aand experience for the revelation of the deepest truths" (Encyclopaedia Britannica, Vol 11, 894). **<span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 140%;">In the story, Casy says <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 140%;">**"All that lives is holy" (Steinbeck 157),** which ties in his belief of the natural goodness found in man. Once Casy's beliefs develop, he begins to see that together, the creation of humankind is united, and he must work for the improvement of the total human condition, not the improvement of conditions of individuals. Although Transcendentalism is greatly different from that of mainstream Christianity, Steinbeck choses to incorporate this belief into the character of Jim Casy. Throughout this time period of the Great Depression, people did not worship a distant God, but could often relate to the beliefs of Transcendentalism. People related to this belief that, if all humanity was united, then they should work towards a common good. For example, if there was something the poor era needed, the poor themselves needed the rich to work toward the common good, which was to give to the poor what they had in surplus. In the end of the story, this itself is what Casy was working towards.
 * **<span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 140%;">Casy feels people can achieve greater things if they all work together **
 * **<span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 140%;">Belief of Transcendentalism ties the belief of humans being united **
 * **<span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 140%;">In the era, people could relate to Transcendentalism, and felt they should work towards a common good if they are all united **

<span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 140%;">**"Maybe I can preach again. Folks out lonely on ... to. They got to have some kind of home." (108)** <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 140%;">This quote shows one of Casy's main objective: to bring religious influence into the small town. He feels that due to The Great Depression, people are mainly focused on fending for themselves, and trying to earn enough money to feed themselves, that they had lost their true insight in their religion and beliefs. Casy wanted to bring some sort of religion back to the people, which shows his feelings towards the people and views as a mature philosopher.

<span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 140%;">**Why do you think Steinbeck may have portrayed him this way?** <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 140%;">I feel that Steinbeck portrayed Jim Casy as a Christ like figure, because in Steinbeck's novel, sacrifice is a recuring event that people have to go through, and Casy makes the biggest sacrifice of them all, relating to the sacrifice Christ made. Throughout the story, people often lost hope in themselves and their conditions. Jim Casy can be portrayed as a Christ like figure because people looked up to him as he guided the people, and was often there when the people had nothing left, often believing in him like a Christ figure. In the story, there was a major amount of struggle, and Steinbeck wanted to add a small amount of hope to the setting through the character of Jim Casy.