"Lonest goddamn man in the world," said Joad. "Crazy kind of son-of-a-bitch, too – somepin like Muley, on’y worse in some ways. Might see ‘im anywheres – at Shawnee, drunk, or visitin’ a widow twenty miles away, or workin’ his place with a lantern."
– John Steinbeck
The Grapes of Wrath, Chapter 8. Tom Joad speaks about the loneliness of his Uncle John. He paints a picture of him being a bit of a recluse. Isolation is an important theme in The Grapes of Wrath.