Grapes of Wrath 17 Uncle John

Uncle John is a character who has gone through a change and become lonely before the story has even begun. He was married at one time. One day his wife said her stomach hurt, and Uncle John needed to call a doctor. He said she probably just ate too much, and refused to call a doctor. Uncle John says “she groaned all night, an’ she died next afternoon” (Steinbeck, 224.) He thinks that he killed her, and now he is bad luck. Uncle John then says “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” (Steinbeck, 224.) Uncle John feels so bad he can’t even live with himself. He says that he tries to make up for it by being good, but he always ends up getting drunk. He just numbs the pain he feels. He goes to Casy for help because he does not know what to do. Casy tells him that it is only a sin if he thinks it is. He says nobody else can interfere with a man’s life, and that he knows this “a man got to do what he got to do” (Steinbeck, 224.) Uncle John listens to Casy, and tells him that he has to think about what he told him. Uncle John was probably a carefree man before his wife died. He owned his own land; he was married; and he lived for himself. He changes when his wife died, and now he wants to help people, mostly children he says. He probably took in the rest of the family when they were kicked off their land because he wanted to make up for his sin. This is really the only act of kindness he appears to show in the story, but he appears to really want to help people. He used to be a “sinful” man, but he is changing.

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