Al Joad

Al Joad is one of the crucial characters from the novel for the need of the family. Al is a sixteen year old boy obsessed with cars and girls. Al plays a huge role in the transportation of the family, in some cases families, from Oklahoma to California. Al's expertise proves a vital role in the novel of The Grapes of Wrath.

Al starts off in the novel as a young boy who idolizes Tom Joad (Al's older brother). As of my perspective, I don't think Al was much of a family guy. All he cared about were cars and girls. He was the only one in the family that knew about cars. I don't think the family would have made it to California without Al. He played a vital role in the trip from Oklahoma to California. His job was to drive the family and take complete care of the truck that he was driving. Al took his job very seriously and got upset when anything happened to the truck or the car. Emotionally I would say Al has become very strong throughout the novel.

The story clearly shows the weakening of bonds between Al and the family. As soon as the family got to California, Al wanted to go on his own ways. He wasn't really much in to staying with the family. Al's life changed when the family moved to cotton plantation, where he met a girl named Agnes Wainwright. When he fell in love with Agnes Wainwright at the cotton plantation, he decided to stay with her rather than leaving with the family. He wanted to create his own family. Al became his own man by the end of the novel.

Al changed a lot throughout the novel. He started off as a sixteen year old boy obsessed with cars and girls who idolized Tom Joad, and ended up as his own man by the end of the novel. He was one of the crucial characters in the novel. Without Al, the family would have starved to death during their journey to California.