Jim Casy Quotes

"I ain’t gonna baptize. I’m gonna work in the fiel’s, the green fiel’s, an’ I’m gonna be near to folks. I ain’t gonna try and teach em’ nothin’. I’m gonna try to learn. Gonna learn why the folks walks in the grass, gonna hear ’em talk, gonna hear ’em sing. Gonna listen to kids eatin’ mush. Gonna hear husban’ and wife a-poundin’ the mattress in the night. Gonna eat with ’em and learn." His eyes were wet and shining. "Gonna lay in the grass, open an’ honest, with anybody that’ll have me. Gonna cuss an’ swear an’ hear the poetry of folks talkin’. All that’s holy, all that’s what I didn’ understan’. All them things is the good things".

– John Steinbeck

The Grapes of Wrath, Chapter 10. Casy may have lost his religion as a follower of organized Christianity. But he has found another one, in this humanist view of the world. To Casy all the everyday details of life are what’s holy. Married couples making love, Casy laying with a girl on the grass, cursing and swearing, talking with people, singing and working in the fields. These are all holy to Casy, who believes sex to be a spiritual experience. He decides that he will no longer be a preacher or baptize people. He will be be one of the people, the community of migrants, and learn from them.

She stopped her work then and inspected him oddly, as though he suggested a curious thing. And her hands were crusted with salt, pink with fluid from the fresh pork. "It’s women’s work," she said finally.
"It’s all work," the preacher replied. "They’s too much of it to split it up to men’s or women’s work. You got stuff to do. Leave me salt the meat."

– John Steinbeck

The Grapes of Wrath, Chapter 10. We see traditional gender roles at play here, when Jim Casy suggests that Ma Joad leave him to salt down the pork bones for breakfast. Ma shows how much she is influenced by the family patriarchal system when she says that it is women’s work. But the authoritative tone of Casy prevails and Ma allows him to do the salting.

"Here’s me that used to give all my fight against the devil ’cause I figgered the devil was the enemy. But they’s somepin worse’n the devil got hold a the country, an’ it ain’t gonna let go till it’s chopped loose."

– John Steinbeck

The Grapes of Wrath, Chapter 13. When he was a preacher Jim Casy’s fight used to be with the devil. But now he acknowledges that his fight is with something worse than the devil – the evil of the corruption of society. This is the beginning of Casy’s rebellion against the capitalist system that is inflicting so much harm and suffering on people.

"Ever see one a them Gila monsters take hold, mister? Grabs hold, an’ you chop him in two an’ his head hangs on. Chop him at the neck an’ his head hangs on. Got to take a screw-driver an’ pry his head apart to git him loose. An’ while he’s layin’ there, poison is drippin’ an’ drippin’ into the hole he’s made with his teeth."

– John Steinbeck

The Grapes of Wrath, Chapter 13. Figurative language is used to describe what is happening in the country during the migration to California at the time of the Great Depression. Jim Casy uses a metaphor to compare the inhumanity of the banks and big companies in destroying people’s homes and lives to a relentless Gila monster. Even if you cut his head off it still hangs on, dripping its poison. The only way to defeat the system is to destroy its head, like using the screwdriver to pry the Gila monster’s head apart.

"This here ol’ man jus’ lived a life an’ jus’ died out of it. I don’t know whether he was good or bad, but that don’t matter much. He was alive, an’ that’s what matters. An’ now he’s dead, an’ that don’t matter. Heard a fella tell a poem one time, an’ he says, ‘All that lives is holy.’ Got to thinkin’, an’ purty soon it means more than the words says. An’ I wouldn’ pray for a ol’ fella that’s dead. He’s awright. He got a job to do, but it’s all laid out for ‘im an’ there’s on’y one way to do it. But us, we got a job to do, an’ they’s a thousan’ ways, an’ we don’ know which one to take. An’ if I was to pray, it’d be for the folks that don’ know which way to turn. Grampa here, he got the easy straight. An’ now cover ‘im up and let ‘im get to his work."

– John Steinbeck

The Grapes of Wrath, Chapter 13. Jim Casy is asked to say a few words on the death of Grampa. It is not the usual eulogy you hear from a former Christian preacher. But then Casy is not your usual ex-minister. He doesn’t know whether Grampa was a good or bad man, but sums up Grampa’s existence by quoting from a William Blake poem, which declares: "All that lives is holy." This is the essence of Casy’s humanism, which is a criticism of traditional Christianity. He says that there is no need to pray for the dead, for they already have the one path laid out for them. Instead we should pray for the living, because they have a thousand ways to go and they don’t know which path to take. There is a certain irony in Casy’s words, since migrants like the Joads don’t have a thousand paths to choose. They are left with little choices after being evicted their home, accepting any low paid work that is available, and having to move on whenever they are forced to. Their odyssey to California is not a matter of choice, but is driven by necessity.

"They’s gonna come somepin outa all these folks goin’ wes’ – outa all their farms lef’ lonely. They’s gonna come a thing that’s gonna change the whole country."

– John Steinbeck

The Grapes of Wrath, Chapter 16. Jim Casy being the philosopher looks at the bigger picture regarding the movement of so many migrants from their tenant farms towards California and the West. He prophecies that major changes will come about that will affect the entire country. He turns out to be right, as hundreds of thousands of people are displaced by the Dust Bowl, which prompts the largest migration in American history. Homelessness and poverty soar, unemployment increases, and relief measures have to brought in relief measures to help the suffering people.

"I got no God," he said.
"You got a God. Don’t make no difference if you don’ know what he looks like." The preacher bowed his head. She watched him apprehensively. And when he raised his head again she looked relieved. "That’s good," she said. "That’s what I needed. Somebody close enough – to pray."

– John Steinbeck

The Grapes of Wrath, Chapter 18. Sairy Wilson, whose health is deteriorating, has asked Casy for a prayer. He tells her that his prayers are no good and he has no god. But she knows that while Casy is not traditionally religious, he is very spiritual. After he says a silent prayer Sairy reveals that what she wanted was human closeness. Her desire to share a prayful moment with another human being while near the point of death echoes what Emerson called the "Over-Soul." This is the idea that all human beings are united as part of the one universal soul.

Uncle John said, "I got a feelin’ I’m bringin’ bad luck to my own folks. I got a feelin’ I oughta go away an’ let ’em be. I ain’t comf’table bein’ like this."
"I know this – a man got to do what he got to do. I can’t tell you. I can’t tell you. I don’t think they’s luck or bad luck. On’y one thing in this worl’ I’m sure of, an’ that’s I’m sure nobody got a right to mess with a fella’s life. He got to do it all hisself. Help him, maybe, but not tell him what to do."

– John Steinbeck

The Grapes of Wrath, Chapter 18. Uncle John believes that he has brought back luck on the family because of his sin in failing to get a doctor for his wife. Casy says that a man has to make his own decisions and he doesn’t believe in good or bad luck.

"They’s a army of us without no harness…Ever’ place we stopped I seen it. Folks hungry for side-meat, an’ when they get it, they ain’t fed. An’ when they’d get so hungry they couldn’ stan’ it no more, why, they’d ast me to pray for ’em, an’ sometimes I done it…Use’ ta rip off a prayer an’ all the troubles’d stick to that prayer like flies on flypaper, an’ the prayer’d go a-sailin’ off, a-takin’ them troubles along. But don’ work no more."

– John Steinbeck

The Grapes of Wrath, Chapter 20. Jim Casy speaks about the army of migrants hungry for food and for justice. Once he was able to pray for them and prayer would take away their troubles. But now that no longer works, says Casy, highlighting how conventional prayers and religion are not effective against mass starvation and injustice.

"An’ Almighty God never raised no wages. These here folks want to live decent and bring up their kids decent. An’ when they’re old they wanta set in the door an’ watch the downing sun. An’ when they’re young they wanta dance an’ sing an’ lay together. They wanta eat an’ get drunk and work. An’ that’s it – they wanta jus’ fling their goddamn muscles aroun’ an’ get tired. Christ! What’m I talkin’ about?"

– John Steinbeck

The Grapes of Wrath, Chapter 20. Jim Casy speaks of the dispossessed migrants’ wish list. It is simply to live a normal and contented life, fulfilling their natural rights and urges. He has no faith that the God of conventional religion can raise the migrants’ wages to enable this.

"I ain’t doin’ nobody no good," he said. "Me or nobody else. I was thinkin’ I’d go off alone by myself. I’m a-eatin’ your food an’ a-takin’ up room. An’ I ain’t give you nothin’. Maybe I could get a steady job an’ maybe pay back some a the stuff you’ve give me."

– John Steinbeck

The Grapes of Wrath, Chapter 20. Tom Joad finds a preoccupied Jim Casy sitting on the ground at the side of the tent. Casy feels that he has been eating the Joads’ food and contributing nothing and speaks of getting a job to pay them back. This is foreshadowing of when Casy later pays the Joads back by sactificing himself to protect Tom from arrest by police.

"Well, one day they give us some beans that was sour. One fella started yellin’, an’ nothin’ happened. He yelled his head off…Then another fella yelled. Well, sir, then we all got yellin’. And we all got on the same tone, an’ I tell ya, it jus’ seems like that tank bulged an’ give and swelled up. By God! Then somepin happened! They come a-runnin’, and they give us some other stuff to eat."

– John Steinbeck

The Grapes of Wrath, Chapter 26. Jim Casy tells a story about his time in jail, how one prisoner protesting about the food failed to achieve any success. But when a group of prisoners protested together they got better food, proving the power of organized resistance.

"We come to work there. They says it’s gonna be fi’ cents. They was a hell of a lot of us. We got there an’ they says they’re payin’ two an’ a half cents. A fella can’t even eat on that, an’ if he got kids – So we says we won’t take it. So they druv us off. An’ all the cops in the worl’ come down on us. Now they’re payin’ you five. When they bust this here strike – ya think they’ll pay five?"

– John Steinbeck

The Grapes of Wrath, Chapter 26. Jim Casy, who has become a labor activist, tells Tom Joad that he is part of a group of striking workers refusing to work until wages are raised. He reveals the deceit of the Hooper Ranch owners. Workers were promised they would be paid five cents for each box of peaches collected. But when they arrived they were paid two and a half cents. The Joads are getting five cents because they are strikebreakers, but Casy foreshadows that this will soon be cut. His comments also highlight the corruption of the police, who serve the interests of ranch owners by coming down hard on striking workers.

"Folks is their own cops."
…Casy’s eyes shone with excitement. He turned to the other men. "Ya see?" he cried. "I tol’ you. Cops cause more trouble than they stop."

– John Steinbeck

The Grapes of Wrath, Chapter 26. Tom Joad explains that in the government migrant camp, instead of people being kept in order by police offices, the migrants act as a community and police themselves. Jim Casy reacts excitedly, offering the ironic comment that California police cause more trouble than they prevent.

"You fellas don’ know what you’re doin’. You’re helpin’ to starve kids."
"Shut up, you red son-of-a-bitch."
A short heavy man stepped into the light. He carried a new white pick handle.
Casy went on, "You don’t know what you’re a-doin’."
The heavy man swung with the pick handle. The heavy club crashed into the side of his head with a dull crunch of bone, and Casy fell sideways out of the light.

– John Steinbeck

The Grapes of Wrath, Chapter 26. As Jim Casy leads the workers’ strike for decent wages, he gets murdered for his troubles. Two police officers approach and recognize Casy as the worker’s leader and call him a communist. As Casy pleads that the officers are helping to starve children, one of them smashes his skull with a pick handle. In a Biblical allusion, Casy forgives the corrupt officer before he dies, using the same language Christ did when he forgave his crucifiers. In sacrificing his life in the cause of workers’ rights, the former preacher is presented as a Christ-like figure.

"I been thinkin’ what he said, an’ I can remember – all of it. Says one time he went out in the wilderness to find his own soul, an’ he foun’ he didn’t have no soul that was his’n. Says he foun’ he jus’ got a little piece of a great big soul. Says a wilderness ain’t no good, ’cause his little piece of a soul wasn’t no good ‘less it was with the rest, an’ was whole. Funny how I remember. Didn’ think I was even listenin’. But I know now a fella ain’t no good alone."

– John Steinbeck

The Grapes of Wrath, Chapter 28. Tom Joad is talking to Ma in the darkness of his cave during his self-enforce exile there to evade the law. He speaks of Jim Casy’s revelation when he went into the wilderness to discover his own soul. What he learned was that the answer is not in the wilderness, but in uniting with all other souls. In Casy’s religion we are all part of the one great soul, a universal spirit. Tom is about to leave his wilderness and join with the other migrant worker souls in the fight for equality and justice.

Tom laughed uneasily, "Well, maybe like Casy says, a fella ain’t got a soul of his own, but on’y a piece of a big one – an’ then – "
"Then what, Tom?"
"Then it don’ matter. Then I’ll be aroun’ in the dark. I’ll be ever’where – wherever you look. Wherever they’s a fight so hungry people can eat, I’ll be there. Wherever they’s a cop beatin’ up a guy, I’ll be there. If Casy knowed, why, I’ll be in the way guys yell when they’re mad an’ – I’ll be in the way kids laugh when they’re hungry an’ they know supper’s ready. An’ when our folks eat the stuff they raise an’ live in the houses they build – why, I’ll be there. See? God, I’m talkin’ like Casy. Comes of thinkin’ about him so much. Seems like I can see him sometimes."

– John Steinbeck

The Grapes of Wrath, Chapter 28. As Tom Joad prepares to leave his family, he takes time to bid goodbye to his mother, delivering the novel’s most famous speech. From the dark isolation of his cave, he reveals how he has seen the light and humanity of Casy’s "one soul" philosophy. In his final appearance of the novel, he pledges to devote his life to fighting for justice for poor people oppressed by a corrupt system. His message is one that offers hope and leadership to hungry migrant workers searching for a just deal. Fully committed to Casy’s idea that we are all part of the one community of humanity, Tom has become Casy. He even admits that he speaks like him. And like Casy also, Tom went into a wilderness of his own, the cave, and discovered his true calling.
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