re: Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck

“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 all aroun’ in the dark. I’ll be everywhere — 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?”


It doesn't really matter... Tom lives on as part of the collective human organism. I actually wrote my Master's Thesis (which was a piece of shite) on this theme in Steinbeck's writing of humanity as a collective organism, influenced by his work with Ed Rickett's in marine biology as well as his early socialist leanings (which he sort of abandoned later in life). Also called the "phalanx theory" in some of the literature.