Grapes of Wrath- Character Analysis-Jim Casy

One of the main characters in the story is a man named Jim Casy. He first comes into the story in the beginning when Tom Joad is walking down the road and sees him sitting there. They begin to talk about how Jim was a preacher. They went on to talk about how Tom's father was huge fan of Jim and how he preached. Tom really wanted to bring Jim back to see his Pa and family because they know how excited they would be to see him. Then Jim told Tom that he was no longer a preacher. Tom was very surprised by this because of how much of a spiritual man Jim was. Jim explained that he was still religious but didn't feel like a good one. His words were ""I says to myself,'What's gnawin' you? Is it the screwing'? An' i says, "No, it's the sin." An' I says, " Why is it that when a fella ought to e just about mule-ass proof against sin, an' all full up of Jesus, why is it that's the time a fella gets a fingerin' in his pants buttons?" (Steinbeck, John pg. 23) Jim is pretty much describing here why he didn't feel like he should be a preacher. He was constantly fooling around with younger women and was thinking of sexual thoughts often. Although he knew this was wrong he couldn't stop it and felt like he was being a hypocrite, which he was. This made him take time away to get his thoughts straight before he went back to actually preaching in a church. Since he was on a journey himself he ended up joining Tom in his as well. The two became very close friends and were pretty much together most the book. Near the end Jim Casey gets shot by a sheriff in California. This was such a tragic event for Tom that he shot the sheriff for revenge of his dear friend Tom.