Tom Joad

Tom Joad is the protagonist of John Steinbeck's novel *The Grapes of Wrath* (1939), an Oklahoma tenant farmer who becomes a symbol of Depression-era dispossession and working-class resistance.

After the Dust Bowl forces his family westward to California, Tom transforms from paroled convict to labor activist.

His name evokes solidarity with the downtrodden: I'll be there wherever there's a fight so hungry people can eat.

Bruce Springsteen's "The Ghost of Tom Joad" extended the figure into contemporary discussions of poverty and migration.