The Ghosts of Ma’ & Tom Joad

Tom laughed uneasily. “Well, maybe like Casy says, a fella ain’t got a soul of his own, but on’y a piece of a big one—an’ then—”

“Then what, Tom?”

“Then it don’ matter. Then I’ll be all aroun’ in the dark. I’ll be ever’where—where you look. Wherever they’s a fight so hungry people can eat. I’ll be there. Wherever they’s a cop beatin up a guy, I’ll be there. If Casy knowed, why, I’ll be in the way guys yell when they’re mad an’—I’ll be in the way kids laugh when they’re hungry an’ they know supper’s ready. An’ when our folks eat the stuff they raise an’ live in the house they build, why I’ll be there. See?”

From The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck