The men in the tent chuckled. A wizened little man with a wrinkled face slapped his knee. "Talks all the time," he said. "Folks kinda likes to hear 'im though."
"Use' ta be a preacher," said Tom. "Did he tell that?"
"Sure, he told."
Casy grinned. "Well, sir," he went on, "I begin gettin' at things. Some a them fellas in the tank was drunks, bur mostly they was there 'cause they stole stuff; an' mostly it was stuff they needed an' couldn' get no other way. Ya see?" he asked.
"No," said Tom.
"Well, they was nice fellas, ya see. What made 'em bad was they needed stuff. An' I begin to see, then. It's need that makes all the trouble. I ain't got it worked out. Well, one day they give us some beans that was sour. One fella started yellin', an' nothin' happened. He yelled his head off. Trusty come along an' looked in an' went on. Then another fella yelled. Well, sir, then we all got yellin'. And we all got on the same tone. an' I tell ya, it jus' seemed like that tank bulged an' give and swelled up. By God! Then somepin happened! They come a-runnin', and they give us some other stuff to eat - give it to us. Ya see?"
"No," said Tom.
Casy put his chin down on his hands. "Maybe I can't tell you," he said. "Maybe you got to find out."
In this conversation between Casy and Tom, we can see that being jailed has taught the preacher a life lesson. Tom is unable to piece Casy's epiphany together, but we may be able to come to understand what Casy learned.
In this post, please share the big idea that Casy realized and it's importance to a larger idea depicted in the novel.
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