One-Eyed Advice

(Note that this post, chronologically, takes place before the post "Selfless Preacher", which is below this one. This is because this was written before "Selfless Preacher", but it was also in desperate need of editing. Editing it caused the order to go out of sync. Blame Blogger!)

Tom appears to have a pretty impressive power. In Chapter 16, he shows he has the power to make someone feel better by getting angry at them. This become evident when he and Al go to town to get used car parts, encountering a one-eyed man who worked at the car lot.

The man (who we shall refer to as Oem to avoid ambiguity) talks about how much he hates his boss, and how he plans on killing his boss (who we shall refer to as Boss for the same reason) because of this. Ironically, Boss doesn't seem like that bad of a guy: if I'm interpreting the writing correctly, Boss offered his attractive daughter's hand in marriage to Oem. He also appears to have invited Oem to a dance and to ride on Boss's yacht. It's possible that Boss is saying all this to taunt Oem, but it doesn't seem that way. Instead, it seems like Boss is a pretty nice guy whose only fault was hiring an especially sensitive one-eyed man.

However, Oem is very sensitive about his one eye (he hasn't been out with a woman since he lost it), and the fact that Boss looks at his socket whenever he talks to him enrages him. Oem tells Tom that he plans on killing Boss with a pipe wrench.

About the point that Oem tells Tom that it isn't "so easy to get a job--not for a one-eye' man," is when he loses his temper. He tells him that he has his "eye wide open," and that he's dirty and stinks; he goes on to suggest that he must like the abuse, that it lets him feel sorry for himself. He goes on for several paragraphs, finally telling him to cover it up.

Everything he says is true, though still harsh. However, instead of having any form of anger in response (I know if someone told me I'm dirty, smell bad and enjoy abuse I wouldn't immediately accept what they say), Oem effectively asks if he can tag along with Tom and Al to California (Tom says no in his usual fashion).

I remember wondering if I will be able to learning anything from reading Grapes of Wrath. Granted, this book isn't really a fable, though I can at least jokingly say this much: Getting mad is an excellent way to make people stop kvetching.