In John Steinbeck's novel, The Grapes of Wrath, a family migrates from Oklahoma to California in hopes of a better life. Some of the most prominent characters "seem to have been the forebears of the rebels who have gathered in centers of protest from Greenwich Village to Haight-Ashberry...dropouts from society who have the same reasons for rejecting old patterns of belief." Tom Joad and Jim Casy were the most prominent characters in revealing this character trait.

As the main character in the novel, Tom begins as the most evident rebel. Just coming out of McAlester jail for murdering a man, he admits that "[he'd] do what [he] done again." Tom does not mind telling anyone from the truck driver to Jim Casy, the former preacher, about what he did because he has no shame. His time in jail has made him a person who devotes his time...