Tom Joad is an ex-convict who was only interested in his own self-interest and lived by the mantra of living life day by day and not worrying about the future, until he becomes a man forward thinking and someone with morals and an obligation to help others. But Joad is a typical woman of the early 1900s whose primary role was that of a mother with only a caring and nurturing role. Later in the novel, he becomes an important figure for the family and is responsible for making decisions to keep the family together and emphasizes the importance of unity. Another important transition in the book is the family starting out as one close-knit unit and depending on other families to survive. This common interest and struggle tied the community of individual families into one. Steinbeck wrote this novel very well, having great character dynamics and development that shows the characters' strengths as well as their