Final answer:
Muley Graves did not shoot the man on the bulldozer in The Grapes of Wrath because he understood that violence was not the solution to the larger issue of families being forced off their land.
Step-by-step explanation:
The Joad family, along with many other families, were being forced off their land due to economic reasons, and Muley did not see killing the man as a solution.
In the novel The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck, the character Muley Graves did not shoot the man on the bulldozer when he started tearing down his house because he understood that violence would not solve the larger issue at hand.
Instead, he chose to stay and resist in other ways, such as refusing to leave his home and becoming a symbol of resistance against the forces of industrialization and capitalism.
The act of violence may be against his inherent principles or he may understand that such an action would be futile against the larger forces at play, representing the banks and the changing economic landscape of the era.
Moreover, Steinbeck often emphasized the strength of community and human dignity in the face of hardship, suggesting that Muley's true resistance was in his survival and witness, rather than in an act of violence.