Chapter Chunks 11-15, Assignment D*

True Life Connections

In the novel, the Joads question Casy's motives in possibly knowing that Grampa was going to die eventually on the way to California. In his defense, Casy maintains, "He was foolin', all the time. I think he knowed it. He knowed it. You fellas can make some kinda new life, but Grampa, his life was over an' he knowed it. An' Grampa didn' die tonight. He died the minute you took 'im off the place" (146). He is indicating that the overdose with the cough syrup, the heat, or any other physical factors was not the actual cause of Grampa's death, but that he had already died from being taken off the land that he dearly loves. 

Casy's statement about Grampa's death hugely impacted my views about home and one's land because I know what it feels to have to pack up and go without any choice, and move to a completely different place than where I have lived most of my life. Since Grampa grew up in Oklahoma, on the farmland that even his father grazed, he knows that this is where he belongs. He has lived most of his life on this land, working and forming his new family, which makes him feel as if there is no other place he can call home. Although California presents new opportunities for him and his family, he refuses to leave because he does not want to leave behind a place that has lots of sentimental value towards him. Because of old age, he does not want to leave behind the memories that he has made with this land, knowing that he will surely forget them because he is leaving behind the actual objects and the environment in which those memories occurred in. 

In relation to Grampa's feelings and situation, I too, have had to leave behind my own country (The Philippines) to move to California, which will supposedly provide a more successful life for my family and I. Similar to Grampa, I had feelings of fear knowing that I will be surrounded with completely different people in a completely different environment. I remember feeling angry, since I was not given the choice of moving, just like the Joads automatically assumed that Grampa would love to go to California. The Phillipines is my home country, and I was very devastated to find out that I had to leave behind the places and the many people that I loved the most. I felt as if a little part of me had died when I left, which made me realize that if I had lived up to Grampa's age in the Philippines, I may have just died completely, the same exact way Grampa did when he was taken off the land.