The Grapes of Wrath ~ The Bible (Chapters 1-10, I)

The Bible and The Grapes of Wrath share many similarities. Events that take place in the latter have allusions to those that occur in the former, and allow for deeper understanding of the text as a whole because there is another piece of literature that shares the same underlying events as the novel. These biblical allusions include, but are not limited to:

• Jim Casy and Jesus Christ share the same initials of JC (in my opinion the most important and prominent)
• Jesus Christ selected 12 ordinary disciples to spread his gospel to the world, similar to how Jim Casy and 12 other ordinary people (Tom Joad, Pa Joad, Ma Joad, Uncle John Joad, Al Joad, Noah Joad, Grampa Joad, Granma Joad, Winfield Joad, Ruthie Joad, Rose of Sharon Joad Rivers, Connie Rivers) are to embark on a journey west with Casy as a former preacher
• Noah Joad represents the biblical version of Noah (of Noah's Ark)
• Rose of Sharon Joad Rivers represents Rosasharn (Rose of Sharon - the flower), and both encapsulate the image of the young woman, as the rose represents youth
• Uncle John Joad's killing of the pig (shoat) for a feast and Jim Casy's prediction of John's killing of a fatted calf alludes to Luke 15: 11-31, which states the biblical story of the killing of a fatted calf for a large feast
• The serpent that Tom encounters represents the snake present in the Garden of Eden that deceives Adam and Eve

These connections that The Grapes of Wrath shares with the Bible help to further understand the importance and reasoning behind the naming of the characters, the manner in which events took place, the role/background of the characters, etc. For example, the fact that Jim Casy is a preacher, and that he represents Jesus Christ of the Bible, highlights that a preacher (former preacher, to be precise) will lead a group of people to the west (the "promised land" so to speak). The number of people totaling these 2 groups is 13 too – no coincidence, but purposely done in order to allude the novel to the Bible. The most interesting event that happened in Chapters 1-10 that alluded to the Bible and its events was the crossing of paths of the serpent and Tom Joad. This serpent is symbolic of the snake that Adam and Eve meet in the Garden of Eden. In this biblical story, the snake deceives Adam and Eve into eating forbidden fruit that led to remorse. Thus, based on the trend of biblical similarities, it can be predicted and foreshadowed that as California is the idyllic land like the Garden of Eden and contains "forbidden fruit," so to speak, such as oranges, the serpent that Tom encounters is tricking the Joads into coming to California, but will leave them in despair afterwards.The snake betrayed Adam and Even in the Bible, and is portrayed in such a manner that it seems to be betraying the Joads on their journey to the idyllic land as well.