The leader of the strike is a preacher named Jim Casy who Tom knows. The police arrest Jim and kill him. Angered by the death of his friend, Tom murders a police officer and runs away. When the picking season is over a rain storm destroys the Joad's possessions. At the end of the story the Joad's, now fewer in number, have no possessions, no money and no job. .
The characters in the novel are all farmers with varied beliefs and behaviors. There is no main character or first person perspectives, but rather third person perspectives, highlighting certain characters at certain points throughout the book. Tom Joad is a straightforward, strong willed and direct character, but he still retains some of his violent tendencies which he assimilated in prison. Tom's mother referred to as "Ma" is a forceful woman who is determined to keep the family together at all costs. "Pa" is the head of the household but has little enforcements in his decisions due to "Ma" being forceful. The Reverend Jim Casy is a previous preacher who starts an insurrection in a labor camp.
The novel takes place in the 1930's during the Great Depression. In connection with history an evaluation as to why the Great Depression occurred must be made. The Great Depression is mainly a result of the stock market in the 1920's and the U.S. Federal Reserve's reaction to it. The U.S. Federal Reserve is the central bank of the United States and was founded in 1913 to provide the nation with a safer, more flexible financial system. In the 1920's the stock market was booming was booming as a general result of optimism. Businessmen and economists believed that the Federal Reserve would stabilize the economy and that the current progression of technology would raise living standards that would support an expanding market. The economy was active. The market peak in September 1929 was forty percent higher than ever before. The reason the stock market was elevated was because a wide range of investors figured that the stock market would continue to go up because it had been going up.
