in front of another." At this point in the story Tom has his physiological needs met and is going home to his family to meet his needs of safety, security, love, belonging. In chapter 6 Tom finds his house abandoned and meets Muley, an old neighbor that stayed behind after his family moved to California for work. Tom's morals insist that he be a straightforward person that will face problems head on instead of hiding from them. This is shown when he, along with Muley and Casey are forced to hide from a deputy searching for trespassers. Tom despises having to hide from the deputy on his father's land. In this same chapter Muley shows them to a cave where they can sleep for the night. Tom refuses to sleep in the concealed cave, preferring to be out in the open. The cave symbolically represents change as a Freudian womb image. The cave is the womb of rebirth or developmental change in Tom's character. At that stage of the story Tom is not ready for the change that he will later undertake. Tom is forced to hide from the deputy that is looking for trespassers because if here were to be arrested he could have his parole privileges revoked. Tom realizes that he cannot act as a totally free person. With the threat of losing parole privileges, Tom must make his morals even stricter and resist the urge to lash out at oppressors like the abusive deputies and hostile California landowners. In chapter 8 Tom is reunited with his family who are on the verge of migrating west to California to find work. Ma Joad takes Tom aside and asks him if he's mad. Ma knew a man, Purty Boy Floyd that went to prison and became "mean" because of it. Ma expresses the importance that he not be mad because she needs his strength to keep the family together. Tom assures her that he is all right. He tells her that he kept his sanity by taking one day at a time. This seems to be his philosophy from the beginning of the novel when he says he is "just going to lay one dog d...
