Grapes of Wrath Chapters 2 and 4

Chapter 2 and 4 are told from Tom Joad's point of view. Tom is out of jail and on parole trying to go home. The prison gave him new clothes to wear (Steinbeck 6) which was done with good intentions, but an ex-convict wearing fancy new clothes and shoes during a Depression just has to end up badly. A thug, burglar, and/or person hiding in a dark alley tries to take the new clothes or shoes from the ex-convict, the ex-convict defends himself, the ex-convict breaks his parole, then he ends up back in jail. That is just setting the ex-con up for failure. At the end of the forth chapter Tom finds his house abandoned. By one of the many rules of writing a book (I have determined that almost all of the books that I have read were written according to some secret author code that has rules that authors have to follow, because it can't be a ridiculously large coincidence that crappy stuff always happens to the protagonist or if one good thing happens, imaginary dominoes fall and a bunch of bad events are in the protagonist's future), the main character cannot leave a bad place (jail) and go to a good place (childhood home with whole family at the residence) without some sort of hitch. Tom got a ride, therefore his family can't be at home waiting for Tom. No protagonist's journey is easy. If that were the case, The Odyssey would have been a short tale of a man who goes off to war, becomes a hero, and returns home to his loving wife and son, as opposed to a really long tale that involves a ten year detour, then when he makes it home he has to fight for his wife, and then finally lives happily ever after. No one would read a story with no conflict. That wouldn't be very entertaining. Which is why all authors have unfortunate things happen to their protagonist, whose lives are never easy.

Also in chapter 4, the turtle from the previous chapter makes an appearance! Tom picks him up and is going to give the turtle to his brother as a present (Steinbeck 21). The turtle tries to escape the cloth cage, but fails. That has to be a symbol for something. From what I have read so far, I believe it is either a symbol of suppression of people by the banks (the banks kicking people off their land and not caring if they die) or the hard times that people have to endure before they escape to their freedom.

Steinbeck, John. The Grapes of Wrath. New York: Penguin, 2006. Print.