Tom Joad is the central character of the book. Tom has just gotten out of McAlster prison after serving 4 years of the 7 years that he was sentenced. He was imprisoned for murder. He came home to find that his family has lost their farm and is moving west to California. He still has some of this violent tendencies. Muley Graves is a crazy old man. His wife and family left Oklahoma for California after loosing …showed first 75 words of 1263 total…

…showed last 75 words of 1263 total…and the grasshopper. Tom crushing the grasshopper symbolizes the banks crushing the farms with bulldozers and cutting up the land. The turtle getting ran over was also a good symbol. The turtle getting ran over only on the edge and pulling itself to the side symbolizes the Joads struggling to reach California but never giving up. This was a very good book. I myself enjoyed reading the book a lot more than watching the movie.