faith (religion) and guilt

Question 1

‘ g - - a l - - of s - - - - - i - - - - - b - - t - - - s - - - k - - - of s - - - - - - - ‘

Answer 1

‘got a lot of sinful idears but they seem kind of sensible

although the ideas are sinful from the churches point of view they seem to make sense. questions if sex is truly a sin? or is it just the way people are - is it natural? and what is sinful? casy doesn’t believe or agree with what Christianity dictates as a sin

Question 2

‘ i’d b - - - - - - to b - - - - em to. an’ t - - - … i’d t - - - o - - of t - - - g - - - - o - - in t - - g - - - - , an i’d l - - w - - - h - - ‘

Answer 2

‘i’d baptise to bring em to. an’ then i’d take one of them girls out in the grass, an’ i’d lay with her’

they are so full of the holy spirit that they are in a state of euphoria. to release this, he sleeps with girls and Casy believes this to be a natural compulsion, a concept which is at odds with the religious philosophy teaching sex to be a sin. how could he justify being a preacher?

Question 3

‘ t - - m - - - g - - - - a g - - - g - - in h - - t - - q - - - - - - s - - w - - - - to go o - - in t - - g - - - - ‘

Answer 3

‘the more grace a girl got in her the quicker she wants to go out in the grass’

the more holy spirit a girl seems to have, the more sexually excited she becomes. there is a disconnection here between natural instincts and Casy’s intrinsic emotions and the bible, its incongruous

Question 4

‘ i d - - - k - - - n - - - - - n - - - J - - - - i k - - - a b - - - - of s - - - - - - , b - - i o - - - l - - - p - - - - - ‘

Answer 4

‘ i dont know nobody name Jesus I know a bunch of stories, but I only love people’

about the love of people, not the love of a deity. casy takes religion which is something distant, ethereal, out of touch and puts it into something tangible, people

Question 5

‘ m - - - - a - - m - - g - - o - - b - - s - - - e - - - - - - - - a - - - - of’

Answer 5

‘ maybe all men got one big soul everbodys apart of’

theory of the oversoul stating that every individual is eternally connected to every other living thing in the universe. it contains and unites all souls and acts as the animating force behind them. through casy, steinbeck seems to steer the reader towards the idea of a communal spirit - a large group of people who come together to make up one body, or spirit, that is more powerful than the sum of its parts