" ...Saw that his brother was not a swaggerer as he had supposed. Al saw the dark brooding eyes of his brother, and the prison calm, the smooth hard face trained to indicate nothing to a prison guard, neither resistance nor slavishness."
Since reading this passage, I have interpreted that Tom thinks that he can do what ever he wants. That is why he feels no sympathy towards any loved ones of Herb Turnbull. He thinks there is nothing wrong with killing him because he came at him with a knife, and if the same incident happened, he would do it again. He has an extremely chill characteristic towards this occasion. He feels that prison did not negatively affect him at all.
I also do not beleive he strives to portray a "bad-boy" characteristic towards guys and girls alike. I have convinced myself this because all of the times he was asked if he broke out of prison, he never once said " Yea, I did, so you probably should not go telling anyone." Instead he humbly said, "No, I am on parol, " more or less in a different phrase at various moments. Moreover, he does not want to be cool by killing a man that simply did not fit his interest because he stabbed him, or by breaking out of prison because he felt that prison was not good or bad enough for him. I beleive he goes through his life doing what he wants, making some mistakes, doing what he thinks is right even if it provides a less preferable outcome, and not being either invisible, or prominent. I think he desires to live his life the way he wants come what may. He does not need acceptance from anyone, or the proclamation of someone saying " You are truly legit Tommy. I just want to be just like you. " He survives off of himself, and does not care much about anything else except his family.
That is just what I feel Tom Joad's " swagger " is.
