The Oversoul - Chapters 11-15 - letter H *

One of the key tenets of the transcendentalist movement is the concept of the oversoul – the idea that all of humanity is bonded in a singular soul that takes the place of God. Steinbeck offers a less literal interpretation of this idea. Steinbeck presents the opinion that there is solid proof that Humanity is as one; While our opinions may differ and what we fight and die for may be strange and foreign to others of our species, Steinbeck writes that it is the very will to fight and die that unites us. When Grandpa Joad dies in Chapter 13, his dream of moving west outlives him, Steinbeck's way of proving to the reader the existence of the transcendental oversoul. After His death, Casy tells the company that the whole time Grandpa Joad was with them, he knew he was going to die. Even so, Grandpa continued to tell the family about his wild dreams for California, reflecting the hopes of everyone around him. Grandpa's dreams live on in the thoughts of the other family members. Steinbeck orchestrates this event in order to draw a parallel to humanity as a whole. Although our lives might be too short to achieve the things we want for the world, we can expect our desires to be fulfilled by future generations who have been inspired by our efforts. According to Steinbeck, this is evidence enough that these desires are not simply individual wants, but rather the aspirations of the whole of humanity. A living thing, a "soul" in this case, desires things for its benefit. When an individual knows that they will die before the fulfillment of their desires, yet continues to strive for them anyway, there must be a larger driving force, a bigger "soul" that that individual is part of. By this logic, humans are simply the cells of the larger organism called Humanity.