Describing “good” and “evil” is similar to counting clouds in the sky; it is impossible to define these abstract traits of behaviors in words. In the extreme world, what is perfectly good is favorable by oneself and others, and what is absolutely evil is pernicious to all. Though, in reality good and bad coexist, and how someone or something is deemed depends on different perspectives and situations. All humans are born rational individuals who act irrationally due to their innate personalities, beliefs, and assumptions, and none has the ability to read minds in order to completely comprehend and eventually judge the deceptively complex nature of others. John Steinbeck, however, has his own opinion that individuals can be judged only after …show more content…
Therefore, no one can deem others, alive or dead, for he or she has no knowledge of their emotions, experiences, and history.
Cathy Ames, as depicted by John Steinbeck in the novel East of Eden, is a despicable criminal though perhaps a desperate person who has tried to be good but has been failed by the world around her. Since childhood, she has no siblings to realize good qualities in humans, and she is assumed to be a good person due to her innocent
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Replacing the weakly immuned Indians, African slaves had played an important role in assisting the agricultural development in the South. The very existence of slavery in this Virginian author’s home proved more ironic for a man who so profoundly spoke of freedom. History, however, omitted the reason why he excluded such a mention in his passages. In his original draft, “Jefferson denounced the slave trade as an ‘execrable commerce ...this assemblage of horrors,’ a ‘cruel war against human nature itself, violating its most sacred rights of life & liberties” (Wiencek). He was complaisant to censor the issue of slavery in order for all representatives of states, including the southern states who depended on slave labor, and the northern states, who owed very few slaves themselves, to sign the Declaration. If he had not done so, the American Revolution would not have been urged, King George III would have still exercised his monarchical dictation, and democracy would not have been founded in the American nation. Although Jefferson could have prevented the American Civil War by recognizing the African slaves, he decided to prioritize the
The idea of good versus evil is illustrated in several ways in John Steinbeck's East of Eden. This is seen through the external conflicts in the novel, the internal conflicts of the characters, and a universal understanding of the battle between good and evil.
Slavery in the United States of America occurred throughout the 18th and 19th centuries. During this time, over 305,000 slaves were imported into present-day America. In 1791, Benjamin Banneker, a self-educated mathematician, astronomer, and writer, wrote a letter to the secretary of state at the time, Thomas Jefferson. Banneker said to Jefferson, “ I apprehend you will embrace every opportunity, to eradicate that train of absurd and false ideas and opinions, which so generally prevails with respect to us.” This was Banneker’s main purpose of the letter: He wanted to inform Jefferson of the unfairness and injustice slavery brings. Benjamin Banneker’s incorporates ethos, pathos, and logos throughout his letter and that is what makes it such an impactful piece of writing.
The color and temperature of a person’s eyes comprise the first layer of his identity. Welcoming, smiling eyes identify their owner as a friend, while angry, bitter eyes warn of a comparably biting personality. A person’s eyes show much at a first glance. In literature, they perform a more significant job, reflecting the character of the soul they guard. In developing the famously complex characters of his novel East of Eden, John Steinbeck heartily subscribed to this literary symbolism by giving special meaning to the eyes of his characters as ‘windows to the soul.’ This can be seen especially in the characters of Adam and Cathy Trask.
Jefferson feared the immigrants could explode into “unbounded licentiousness” doing so would bring down the curtains of the new republic. He also feared that unless men obeyed their moral sense and exercised self-control they would “live at random” and destroy the republican order. In Jefferson’s view, slavery was not only a violation of black’s rights to liberty, it also undermined the self-c...
John Steinbeck's novel, East of Eden is the epic story of a California family who struggle to overcome issues of betrayal, infidelity, and the age old battle between good and evil and sibling rivalry. The story centers around two generations of brothers in the Trask family-Adam and Charles, and Adam's sons Aron and Cal. In each generation, one of the Trask brothers is moral and good while the other brother behaves badly and immorally. Because the good Trask brothers are favored, the bad Trask brothers develop envious tendencies and a recurrent theme of sibling rivalry appears throughout the book. Steinbeck's dramatic account of the Trask brothers and their rivalry in East of Eden is an impressive tale, but it is also a familiar one that closely echoes a
In writing this letter to Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Banneker, clearly and precisely uses numerous rhetorical strategies to establish his point that the immoral, unlawful and horrid institution of slavery should be abolished in the thirteen colonies of America. Centered on the argument against slavery Benjamin Banneker uses a passive-aggressive, informal, and specific tone throughout the entire letter. His belief that if he can sway Jefferson first, and then the government of the abomination that is slavery, then there is a chance that it may finally be terminated in America. To do this and to truly persuade Jefferson, Banneker demonstrates an immense amount of rhetorical strategies such as analogy, comparison and contrast, hyperbole, allusion,
Good and evil are two of the most ambiguous terms in the English language. There are definite themes of good and evil throughout Harper Lee’s “To Kill A Mockingbird”. Most define good as “morally righteous” and evil as “morally wrong or immoral”. These two definitions raise an important question. What is morality? Philosophically, morality can be described as a code of conduct that, given specified conditions, would be put forward by all rational persons. So, if morality is a code that all rational persons set forward, are immoral people irrational? Or do they believe in a different code that is set forth by them and other like minded persons? How is morality judged? Should the morality of an action be judged by the action’s motivation or the action’s consequence? Morality as a philosophical construct is very ambiguous and is debated by many philosophers. To understand good and evil conceptually, one must first fully understand morality (Gert 1-2).
The East of Eden by John Steinbeck incorporates the ideas of love, parental approval, and the meaning behind life fulfillment into one beautifully written novel. The story starts with a man by the name of Cyrus, whose military deranged mind has led him to raise his family in a manner fit for war. Cyrus’ sons Adam, the protagonist, and Charles the envious brute of a brother are pinned against one another for their father’s approval. After a rough childhood Adam and his brother are left with a staggering inheritance from their father. With this Adam takes his beloved wife to California, but his wife Cathy is not pleased. Cathy learns about her pregnancy and tries to abort the life within her, yet she fails and gives birth to two twins, Cal and Aron. Cathy being coming from a, demented background, shoots her husband, murders a brothel owner, and then returns to prostitution.
Humans are constantly searching for love and acceptance, however often find themselves buried in rejection and longing. John Steinbeck's classic novel East of Eden demonstrates nuisance characters evoking rejection-driven jealousy in their victims. Steinbeck utilizes these events to characterize through how each of them cope with rejection.
Abraham Lincoln’s original views on slavery were formed through the way he was raised and the American customs of the period. Throughout Lincoln’s influential years, slavery was a recognized and a legal institution in the United States of America. Even though Lincoln began his career by declaring that he was “anti-slavery,” he was not likely to agree to instant emancipation. However, although Lincoln did not begin as a radical anti-slavery Republican, he eventually issued his Emancipation Proclamation, which freed all slaves and in his last speech, even recommended extending voting to blacks. Although Lincoln’s feeling about blacks and slavery was quite constant over time, the evidence found between his debate with Stephen A. Douglas and his Gettysburg Address, proves that his political position and actions towards slavery have changed profoundly.
This is especially made evident in Cal Trask from East of Eden. Although it was believed to be that Cal possesses the same evil as Cathy, he goes against this and struggles to be good like Aron. Growing up, he was “shaken by the veering winds of adolescence. One moment he was dedicated and pure and devoted; the next he walled in filth; and the next he groveled in shame and emerged rededicated” (Steinbeck 450). Cal going back and forth shows his endeavor to be good. Although, he has made poor decisions throughout his life, he has the same morals as a good person and has redeeming actions. This makes it harder to judge him as he shows both aspects of good and
The American Revolution was a “light at the end of the tunnel” for slaves, or at least some. African Americans played a huge part in the war for both sides. Lord Dunmore, a governor of Virginia, promised freedom to any slave that enlisted into the British army. Colonists’ previously denied enlistment to African American’s because of the response of the South, but hesitantly changed their minds in fear of slaves rebelling against them. The north had become to despise slavery and wanted it gone. On the contrary, the booming cash crops of the south were making huge profits for landowners, making slavery widely popular. After the war, slaves began to petition the government for their freedom using the ideas of the Declaration of Independence,” including the idea of natural rights and the notion that government rested on the consent of the governed.” (Keene 122). The north began to fr...
East of Eden was a novel that explored the roots of evil in its most primal form. Through intricate plot lines and complex characters, John Steinbeck weaved a tale of brutality, cruelty, and isolation. One important character that helped to illustrate the presence of evil throughout the book was Cathy Ames, an intelligent woman who ruthlessly used other people to serve her own needs. When reflecting upon East of Eden, a debate that often surfaces is whether Cathy's evil was a result of nature or nurture. Arguments for and against both sides are in the book. At some times, Cathy is portrayed as a wicked fiend who's aggression stems from nowhere but her own empty heart. Other times, Cathy appears weak and afraid of people who aren't the least bit intimidating. Those are the moments in the book where one must question whether Cathy is truly evil, or just an impatient and self-centered individual.
The lines that define good and evil are not written in black and white; these lines tend to blur into many shades of grey allowing good and evil to intermingle with each another in a single human being. Man is not inherently good or evil but they are born innocent without any values or sense of morality until people impart their philosophies of life to them. In the words of John Locke:
John Steinbeck, who won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1962 "for his keen social perception" wrote in his novel East of Eden “We have only one story. All novels, all poetry, are built on the never-ending contest in ourselves of good and evil.” Steinbeck is saying that most of the conflicts in stories can be boiled down to good versus evil, the same is with Lord of the Flies by William Golding. People are innately good, nevertheless, their experiences can poison their hearts. People hide their darkness because they feel obligated to conform to the morals that are ingrained in them by their parents and teachers. Humans are inherently bad due to the fact they are conditioned by external influences