East of Eden is a story that is based on the biblical stories of Adam and Eve and Cain and Abel. Like the story of Adam and Eve, East of Eden has characters that embody Adam and Eve to an extent. While the story of Adam and Eve tells about the beginning of man, how we came to be on this earth, and why we have original sin, East of Eden uses Adam Trask and Cathy Ames as the beginning of a complex and conflicting story of good vs. evil. Adam Trask is presumed to be Adam, good natured and goodhearted, while Cathy is presumed to be Eve. Only while Eve was deceived into committing sin, Cathy embraces it wholeheartedly and commits evil simply for its own sake. Cathy is one of the characters that are so complex in her being that she out of all the characters captured my attention the most. Cathy, also referred to as Catherine and Kate to hide her identity in the book, is the most evil character in the book and Steinbeck illustrates Cathy as being a monster: "I believe there are monsters born in the world... It is my belief that Cathy Ames was born with the tendencies, or lack of them,...
The idea that man's relationship with good and evil is not predestined is a central idea in this novel. The conflict between good and evil is a universal battle. Many characters in the novel, East of Eden, struggle both internally and externally with Good versus evil.
Twilight is a book written by Stephanie Meyer, originally published in 2005 and later made in to a movie in November, 2008. The story of Adam and Eve is a story from the bible. Both stories have things on common. I will discuss how Bella and Edward which are the main characters from Twilight, demonstrate good and evil. Specifically, how their relationship compares to that of Adam and Eve. There are four themes / symbols that while researching and analyzing both stories I found that are very similar in meaning for both stories. Those themes/ symbols are: “The Apple,” “Good Vs. EVIL,” “Choices,” and “Mortality.”
From the very beginning of time we have Adam and Eve from the Christian bible. The story has been told in many different ways, including in plays, and sometimes teaches more than just about god. Eve is made from one of Adam’s ribs. Once the two eat from the tree of knowledge, they are to be punished from eating the forbidden apples that introduced sin into the world. God puts the curse of bearing children on Eve, because she was the first to bite and then tempted Adam. “Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and
Symbolism is very prominent over the course of this story, giving it that much more meaning. Knowles makes not only one, but several instances to religious principles and more precisely in this case, Adam and Eve. These of jealousy, greed, and selfishness are prominent throughout both stories as well is a significant fall whether it would be as monstrous as humanity or on the smaller scale of relationships. The disruption of peace and harmony are also evident in the two. In addition, it is interesting how the author finds a way to tie them all into each other.
Introduced by Steinbeck with a discussion of monstrosity in humans, Cathy walked through life with the vestments of a human but the soul of a devil. Though Cathy maintained a façade of innocence to ward off suspicion, the darkness of her soul was revealed in her few moments of weakness throughout the novel. From the time she was a child, Cathy had “face of innocence” and beauty that attracted children and adults alike (73). Behind her wide eyes, however, something darker lurked. As described by Steinbeck, “…she had some quality that made people look…back at her, troubled at something foreign. Something looked out of her eyes, and was never there when one looked again” (73). Cathy was skilled at using her natural beauty and poise to manipulate others, always maintaining her impeccable appearance. The events of her childhood, however, revealed her to be a creature much darker than her attractiveness would suggest. Her parents died in a mysterious fire, and the lives of the men she manipulated were without exception destroyed. When she finally arrived on the doorstep of Charles and Adam Trask’s farmhouse, her deception continued; she entranced Adam and the two eloped within months. Adam fell head-over-heels for his golden bride. He and many others saw nothing but goodness and virtue in her hazel eyes. Samuel Hamilton, however, saw something more. As he described after his chilling first
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
Judeo-Christian beliefs as based on faith, and solely that. These groups and people do not need facts to back up their convictions, and each person will believe that “their way is the right way, [and that] everyone else is wrong,” (Page 6). One of the most commonly known stories from these religions is the story of the Garden of Eden, in which Eve and Adam both partake of the fruit of knowledge and thus for are cast out, bringing evil unto the world. Many believe, that these same connections can be made to our story as a human population as it was with Adam and Eve. Adam and Eve were both sinners, and “we are all energy sinners,” (Page 2). Both groups of evildoers are then forced to gain their salvation, in our case, sustainability, or be forced
Steinbeck uses the biblical story of Cain and Abel in East of Eden to show us that we do not have set fate. Steinbeck uses the Hebrew word “timshel”, which means “thou mayest”, to suggest that man has the ability to choose good or evil. “Timshel” affects the characters in East of Eden such as Cal and Aron and their choice of overcoming good or evil. Steinbeck sees this novel as his most important work, and he uses it as a way to state his personal ideas concerning mankind:“The free, exploring mind of the individual human is the most valuable thing in the world. And this I would fight for: the freedom of the mind to take any direction it wishes, undirected. And this I must fight against: any idea, religion, or government which limits or destroys the individual.”(Steinbeck,132). Steinbeck shows God has given humans free will and their ability to choose good or evil, if they so decide. He portrays the “C” characters to be connected to Cain, such as Charles and Cal and the “A” characters to be connected to Abel, such as Aron and Adam.
Cathy Ames makes choices based on how much it benefits her, and if it ensures that she will prosper from the choice, even if that means destroying everyone else in the process. It appears “that Cathy… was born with tendencies, or lack of them, which drove her and forced her all of her life” (Steinbeck 72). Most humans have natural instincts that allow them to function in a civil society together. Cathy is different, however, and distinct since birth. She plans and decides things unlike how the rest of society does. A chance encounter between the gray James Grew and Cathy leads to one of Cathy’s first evil actions. Nothing happens until Cathy meets him and “[f]or a time it was noticed that a flame leaped in James Grew… and then the flame went out” (Steinbeck 79).
The clash between good and evil has been a prominent theme in literature. The Bible presents the conflict between good and evil in the story of Adam and Eve. Many authors use the scene in the Bible in which the snake taunts and tempts Adam and Eve to take a bite of the apple of knowledge to demonstrate the frailty of humankind. John Gardner provides these same biblical allusions of good and evil in his novel, Grendel.
story of Adam and Eve and end up with a story about Envy in Joseph and
...e relationship with men, as nothing but tools she can sharpen and destroy, lives through lust and an uncanny ability to blend into any social class makes her unique. Her character is proven as an unreliable narrator as she exaggerates parts of the story and tries to explain that she is in fact not guilty of being a mistress, but a person caught in a crossfire between two others.
All in all the actions of Eve were neither good nor evil, but instead necessary. Through her actions she brought to light the evils of the world, and as a result man is able to appreciate that which is good. Moreover one cannot blame Eve for what she did because although as we have seen God did instill upon mankind free will, he used his threats as a means of manipulating this gift. Although there were many trees in the Garden of Eden, having the tree of knowledge of good and evil forbidden created mystery for Eve, and therefore drew her to it over the tree of life. And once both Adam and Eve choose with their own free will to eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil immortality is no longer an option. Now that man is knowledgeable enough to appreciate immortality, God removes it as an choice. In a way this story shows us the flaws of both man and God. Man in that he is tempted by that which is forbidden and does not always respect the orders of those in a position of authority; And God is shown to be somewhat devious and perhaps even malicious at times.
Mrs. Margaret Saville is the woman to whom the narrator tells the story. Elizabeth Lavenza is the beloved of Victor Frankenstein. Justine Moritz is the heroine who is accused by mistake of murdering William and executed instead of the fiend. There is close connection between the female and male characters, and if we break it, Frankenstein will have no sense. The author of the novel, Mary Wollstonecraft Shelly, characterizes the women in the same way as the men, and shows that they are independent players.
The creation story takes a place in a very beautiful garden that was called later “Eden.” In the beginning of the story, Adam begins his life alone with the other animals. By the time God creates him a helper and unfortunately, she is a woman. Adam have no clue in how to treat this woman, he never experienced living with a human. While Adam was struggling and trying to figure out how to live with this woman and how to treat her, Eve had a plenty of time to understand this life and the purpose of living. Adam plays the conservative role as Twain presented him, which always gave the chance to Eve to have her way in the first step of an act. The entertaining fact about their relationship, is that Adam and Eve have no idea about who the other one