As the truck returns to the highway, Tom walks down the road toward his family’s farm. The hot sun beats down on him, so he takes off his shoes and wraps them in his coat. Spying the horned turtle from the previous chapter, he picks it up and wraps it in the coat as well. Continuing down the road, he sees a man lying under the tree, singing to Jesus. Tom recognizes him as the preacher, Jim Casy, but Casy is quick to tell him that he has been filled with sinful thoughts and is no longer a preacher.
Bothered by his need to have sex with a young girl after a meeting, Casy has been wandering about, trying to figure out how men can be “sinful” when they are full of the Holy Spirit. He has lost faith in organized religion, finally deciding that what it’s really all about is love: not love of Jesus or God, but love of all men. He has come to the conclusion that no one has an individual soul, but that everyone’s soul is a part of a larger soul that includes all people. With thoughts like these, he feels he should no longer be a preacher. Tom agrees, and Casy decides to walk to the Joad farm with Tom. When they reach the Joad place, it is deserted, and Tom realizes that something is wrong.
