Grapes of Wrath- Hitchhiking Home

Tom had killed somebody once in his life, and was in a state penitentiary for that. We did not get to see how it was in prison for him, we just saw him on his way back from the penitentiary. He had to hitchhike all the way home. I thought it was kind of sad how he had to walk so far, but he really had no other choice. His family would have loved to pick him up, but they had no idea when he would even be getting home. His only choice was to walk. He did get one ride on his way, and got a little farther down the road, but the guy had to go a different way so he got off then. As he was hitchhiking home though, he ran into someone he knew from his childhood. The man he ran into was Jim Casy, a preacher from his childhood. As they go to walking and talking, Tom found out that Casy was actually no longer a preacher. I think Tom hearing this, just showed him how much things can change while you are gone and also how much people can change too. Tom Joad and Jim Casy really got to know each other on their walk. They told each other a bunch of things, and Jim caught Tom up on what had happen lately, and everything that had changed while Tom was gone in prison. Casy ended up just walking with him everywhere. They were headed to Tom's home, but they were really dissapointed when they got there. Tom's old home was abonded. Muley Graves, a neighbor of the Joad's, shared with Tom and Casy that the Joad family had moved to Tom's uncle Joad's house. Tom and Casy began walking again, and walked all the way to the Uncle's house, and they found his family. I know Tom was very happy then, but he was probably sad that so much had changed, and he could not even live in the house that he grew up in.