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1. Chapter 14, pgs. 204 - 205 - "To build a wall, to build a house, a dam, and in the wall and house and dam to put something of Manself, and to Manself take back something of the wall, the house, the dam; to take hard muscles from the lifting, to take clear lines and form from conceiving. For man, unlike any other thing organicor inorganic in the universe, grows beyond his work, walks up the stairs of his concepts, emerges ahead of his accomplishments. This you may say of man - whwn theories change and crash, when schools, philosophies, when narrow dark allies of thought, national, religious, economic, grow and disintegrate, man reaches, stumbles forward, painfully, mistakenly somethimes. Having stepped foward, he may slip back, but only half a step, never the full step back. This you may say and know it and know it. This you may know when the bombsplummet out of the black planes on the market place, when prisoners are stuck like pigs, when the crushed bodies drain filthily in the dust. You may know it in this way."
- In chapter 14, Steinbeck introduces the concept of the "Manself." To understand the meaning of this word, it is best to break the word down. "Man" can mean either a man or one man, or it can mean man as in mankind or the entire human race. "Self" means generally oneself or myself. It represents individuality. Figuratively though, it means the individual as a part of a whole, which is exactly what oversoul means. So Manself really is not an original idea. Instead, it is symbolic for the oversoul. We feel it is also important to note the point of this passage. Steinbeck says that Manself is distinctive and like no other thing because it is willing to die for a cause. It is willing to sacrifice itself for the survival of the rest of group. This is also representative of the oversoul because the individuals all work together for the well-being of the whole.
2. Chapter 28, pg. 572 - "Then it don' matter. Then I'll ge all aroun' in the dark. I'll be ever'where - wherever 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 houses they build - why, I'll be there. See? God, I'm talkin' like Casy. Comes of thinkin' about him so much. Seems like I can see him somethimes."
- In a teary and emotional speech, Tom finally shows full understanding of what Casy had been teaching him throughout the entire story. Though Tom says that he is going away, possibly forever, he says that he will always be there. He says that he will be where there are people going throught the same thing he is, through tough and good times. Obviously, this is physically impossible, but what he means is that he will be there because he is connected to them all. He is a part of the oversoul; an individual part of the whole. It is because of this revelation that Tom can be considered symbolically and allegorically as the oversoul.
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