Gandhi once said, “I have also seen children successfully surmounting the effects of an evil inheritance. That is due to purity being an inherent attribute of the soul”.
The novel East of Eden by John Steinbeck is an allegory to the biblical story of Cain and Abel, and many of its characters become embodiments of both good and evil. As they struggle to overcome what has been decided for them they are taught they hold the power to overcome and rise above their destiny’s. When the Hebrew idea of “timshel” is introduced to the allegory of Cain and Abel, it become apparent that whether life is predestined or not; mankind holds the ultimate ability of deciding what will become of himself. Adam’s choice to move on from Cathy, Cal’s decision to forgive himself, and Cathy’s decision to let evil overcome her prove that overcoming what is predestined for one lies in the hands of the individual.
The main character Adam Trask proves that by letting go of Cathy and deciding to create a new type of Eden that mankind holds the ultimate decision to rise above their destines. After finding Cathy and marrying her, Adam believes that he has found the missing part of his life. Cathy becomes the emblem of perfection and a key to happiness for him. As Adam continues to fall in love with her he starts to fall more out of touch with reality causing him to miss the obvious signals that Cathy does not feel the same way about him. Her manipulative ways are able to fool Adam’s kindness. Adam, being too naive to pay attention the obvious indications that Cathy does not love him is left in complete shock after she shoots and leaves him after the birth of their sons. After centralizing his dream around creating his own Eden with Cathy as his own Eve, he se...
... middle of paper ...
...continue letting her destiny control her instead of overcoming personal struggles like both Adam and Cal were able to do.
The decision of Adam and Cal Trask to overcome their struggles and Cathy’s decision to succumb to evil prove that the choice of what to do with one’s life is completely up to the individual. John Steinbeck’s use of the biblical story of Cain and Abel builds on the idea that a person is completely responsible for choosing what becomes of them in result of a word, an action and a memory. Undoubtedly everyone has the choice whether or not they wish to triumph over the pain and the sins they are struggling with. After all, look at Ghandi he witnessed children burdened with evil inheritance walk away surmounted because of their strength to rein over evil.
Works Cited
Steinbeck, John. East of Eden. New York, New York: Penguin Group, 1952. Print.
External conflicts between the main characters, Cathy and Adam, reflect the idea of good versus evil in their relationship. Cathy, who is much like Satan, creates a huge fight between Adam and his brother Charles with her manipulations. Later, she ruins Adam's dreams and breaks his heart when she shoots him and leaves, sending Adam into a deep depression. After twelve years, Adam snaps out of his dream world and confronts Cathy. Cathy is now called Kate and works in a whore house called Faye's. Despite her actions, Adam realizes that he doesn't even hate Cathy for the hurt she has caused him. He finds peace with himself, renewing his once abandoned relationship with his sons.
In conclusion, the story describes that life changes, and nothing stays the same throughout it. It is in the hands of the people to decide that how they want their life to be. They can make it as beautiful as they want to and they can also make it worse than it has ever been
East of Eden by John Steinbeck is an optimistic film about a boy becoming a man and trying desperately to earn the love of his father and mother in the troubled times of the Great Depression. Cal, the main character is a troubled teen who lives with his entrepreneur father, and a brother who is following closely in his fathers steps. Cal’s mother left him and his brother to become a madam of a whorehouse. The struggle takes place between Cal and his father due to his fathers lack of compassion for his son. The conflict rises further when Cal tries to help his father repay a debt, his father further isolates his son and this turns to violent outbursts. Steinbeck focuses on Cal in order to suggest the theme that without love people become violent and mean.
Several characters through the course of Steinbeck's novel East of Eden demonstrate a lack of self-knowledge or corruption of the soul. A gap is created between some the character's actions and their true essence as a person. The disparity between a character's conduct and their identity as a human being is often a demonstration of the fight between good and evil within the character's own soul. Caleb, one of Adam Trask's twin boys embodies this struggle vividly throughout his life. This search for self-identity plays into a key theme of the novel, which is that of free will. Despite the fact that there is a variance in the way a character wants to act or the person who they truly are at heart and the way that they actually carry out their lives, free will offers hope. Steinbeck pushes the idea that a person's life and fate is never out of their control and that it is never too late to change the road that you are on. It can be argued either way that this break up of fundamental identity, expression and self-knowledge is the nature of man or simply provoked by the events in the character's lives. It becomes apparent through Caleb's life that the nurture of the individual seems to be the larger factor in causing this separation. Caleb Trask's character demonstrates how the struggle between good and evil within an individual can affect one's self-knowledge, which is catalyzed mainly by the nurture of the character and, ultimately, is amendable through free will.
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
Throughout Steinbeck's novel East of Eden, he captures the idea of Timshel through different characters. Many believe that Timshel is left in open, giving the character the choice. Moreover, Timshel is actually planted in one, they either fight evil with Timshel or give into the dark side.
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.
Catherine first becomes exposed to the opposing forces as she experiments with her desires for love and a better quality of life. *6* Because she constantly shifts priorities from one man to the other, her love for Heathcliff and Edgar results in a destructive disequilibrium. *1*In the novel, Cathy is portrayed as a lady with untamable emotions. *7* In her childhood she learns to l...
Many people wonder what it would be like to go from a dangerous city where they live and journey to a plentiful heaven. This storyline is portrayed in John Bunyan’s allegorical book, Pilgrim’s Progress. This fascinating story describes the life of Christian, a married man living in the City of Destruction, who longs to travel to the Celestial City. As Christian struggles to stay on the right, though more difficult path, I fight to focus in school and not pay attention to distracting ideas. I also fight to get strong enough in dance to become a professional dancer, just as Christian has to climb the Hill of Difficulty to get to the Palace Beautiful. In order for Christian to arrive at the Celestial City without wasting away his life, he must be patient. In the same way, I must be patient to reach my life goal. Just as Christian struggled to get through his obstacles in his life, I must get stronger to dance, focus in school, and be patient in order to reach my life goal of becoming a faithful and patient person of God.
When faced with difficult choices people are often times forced to make decisions while under pressure. When given a problem humans have the power to choose. The choice made reflects on the human's true self. Break Through! the Bible for Young Catholics, Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor E. Frankl, "Psychology Of Fraud: Why Good People Do Bad Things." by Maria Godoy, and "The Taking of Indian Lands:Perspectives of Native Americans and European Americans” all show how people react to difficult situations in both positive and negative manners. Break Through! the Bible for Young Catholics, In the book of Matthew shows the difficult decision that Joseph had to make when he found out about Mary's pregnancy. Man's Search for Meaning Focuses on
Steinbeck portrays the significance of timshel through the introduction of free will, which plays an important role in the theme of Cain and Abel and provides the interpretation of Steinbeck. Timshel is brought in by Lee who is the servant of the Trask family and discussed by both Samuel Hamilton, and Adam Trask. In chapter 24 Lee discusses the idea of timshel by showing the different interpretations of it through various translations, in the Hebrew translation it says “thou mayest rule over sin” which gives man a choice to fight through their sin and overcome it (302). Thus, “the translation of timshel into “thou mayest” enables the release of the energy in every human being “(Schultz). Timshel helps us not only understand the choices of human beings, but it shows that “Steinbeck constructs his fiction around the theory that timshel should be translated to thou mayest…he tells us about his own philosophy from the use of the Bible” (Warren). Steinbeck uses timshel as a way to let out his own philosophy about humans from using the Bible. This introduction of timshel through Lee becomes a very important part of the story as well as a theme; by this Steinbeck conveys his ideas and thoughts on a man’s destiny. Timshel then becomes a big part of the story which alters the plot of the Cain and Abel story by offering free will. Steinbeck interprets timshel as one of the most important things in the story an...
In conclusion Emily Bronte employs the literary devices of repetition and anthesis to make closure for the wild love of Catherine Earnshaw and Heathcliff with the union of Hareton and Cathy’s love.With the characters being so similar the reader can't help to tie these sets of doubles together making Catherine’s and Heathcliff's forbidden love acceptable with the peaceful relationship of Cathy’s and Haretons relationship.
When preparing to study the Bible, beginning in Genesis, it seems only fitting to begin at the beginning of the beginning. Yes, the book of Genesis contains profoundly more information than just the beginning. Genesis contains the beginning of many things. The world, the beginning of time, the beginning of man, the beginning of God and how He deals with His creation on a large scale and on significantly smaller scale. Genesis marks the beginning of redemption and salvation. From the first man to the first nation called by God, God is depicted as one who loves and protects those He calls His own.
Adam and Eve are the parents of all. They started off perfect, but that all changed with the single bite of a forbidden fruit. That one bite changed the world forever. In Milton’s “Paradise Lost” he fills in the literary and theological gaps of Genesis chapter three. Milton’s job in Book IV is to separate Adam and Eve whenever Eve gets tempted. He does so by making them have a debate about splitting up to tend to the garden. Eve argues that she will be okay while Adam argues that she should stay with him so he can protect her.
describes Adam and Eve's fall from grace in the Garden of Eden. By giving George