In the beginning of the story, Tom says: "But, hell, if I seen Herb Turnbull comin' for me with a knife right now, I'd squash him down with a shovel again." Prison changed him in many ways, but he still came out with the tremendous ego that went in with him. His life was worth keeping even if it meant that he had to take someone else's life, and he did so without any regrets. He was not much different from the men that drove the tractors; each man saw his life as too valuable to spare for another man's life.
As the story progresses, Tom's character transforms into someone more complex. Even though he continues to have a short fuse, he concerns himself with a matter in the Hooverville that doesn't directly involve him. In prison he would have minded his own business in a situation similar to this one, but the more he experiences other people's struggles, the harder he finds it to ignore their pain.
Casey is involved in the final situation that makes Tom aware that he belongs to something much more significant than himself. Survival was no longer the most important thing in life. He is able to see that the sacrifice of his life will possibly mean the survival, equality, and success of many lives. Tom Joad's life is the symbol of how life becomes richer when the "I" converts to "we."
Good character analysis, Dorothy. How might you connect or extend this out to include Tom's "I'll be all around in the dark" speech in his final scene? To me, it seems like he's embracing a total "we" status. He ceases to identify himself as an individual, but instead says he will be in all the various activities, reactions, sufferings, and joys of all the people. He goes into the darkness, but not into oblivion. Instead, he joins the "we." I'm sure we could come up with a more interesting way to say it, but that's the gist.
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