Tom's Parents

When Tom finally reaches the house of his uncle John, he arrived to his father, Pa Joad, outside. He tells his father that he has come home and his dad’s first question is if he busted out of jail and needed a place to hide. Tom then tells him that he is free and he has come home to the family. Pa Joad tells him about how they are leaving for California and now that he is here that he can come with them. They then go into the house to surprise Ma Joad by saying there are just some people passing by. She tells them to come in and then realizes that it is Tom. She seems really happy and then asks if he busted out of prison just as his father did and again he says that he has his papers with him. I think it’s quite bizarre that the first thing his parents asked is if he was actually supposed to be out of prison. I would think that after being gone for many years that a child’s parents would just be happy to see their son. It also seems strange that they didn’t really recognize Tom at first. It took Tom’s mother a while to realize that the stranger coming in for breakfast was actually her son. I hope that if I was gone for years that right as I came in to see my family everyone would at least recognize me. I guess maybe Tom could have changed quite a bit during his time in prison, but I just cannot understand the idea that a mother can for get the face of her son. This kind of makes me question the kind of relationship that Tom had with his parents before he went to prison and the type of relationship that he will have with them now that he is back. This part of the story seems to suggest that Tom did have an odd relationship with his parents or that he was in prison for quite some time.