Muley and Casy each offer an alternative life to Tom, two ways to respond to crisis. Examine the central ideas and beliefs of each.

Muley decides to stay on his old property, nothing more than a "barnyard ghost". He responds with a sense of rebellion, a kind of passive resistance that is ultimately impotent. Casy has renounced his calling to God and taken an active form of rebellion. He joins a union and resists big business that sucks the life out of the people.