While Tom is in the cave, he experiences a re-birth: The completion of his spiritual conversion from an independent, self-centered individual to someone who must take action to share his morality with all persons. Confined to the cave, Tom is forced into silence and inactivity and is finally able to reflect on the words of Casy. He understands, for the first time, Casy's theory of human love and survival, the concept that all persons share one soul and cannot exist alone. With this understanding comes a new awareness that Tom has a social responsibility to help all those in need. In keeping with his symbolic position of discipleship, it is important to note that only after Casy's death does Tom reach a point in his conversion that he might emerge from hiding to carry Casy's message to the masses.
The symbolism of the cave in which Tom hides is suggestive of the theme of re-birth and recalls his refusal to sleep in the cave with Muley Graves. The cave is symbolic of the womb, implying that Tom is preparing to be spiritually re-born, leaving his current family to embrace all of humankind. Ma must go down a narrow passage to reach him, and darkness is pervasive. Reminiscent of her reaction to Tom's homecoming in the beginning of the novel, Ma feels Tom's face in the dark. Her actions are a form of farewell and signify the break with his immediate family, a break that is necessary for him to begin ministering to the needs of the larger world family.
