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Essay on symbolism in literature
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Throughout the book, East of Eden, John Steinbeck thoroughly portrays the main character, Adam, for who he truly is. Throughout Adams life, he is faced with several obstacles that shift his daily actions and concept of love. From birth, Adam was not given adequate love and attention, and while it may seem trite to an infant, it is crucial that they obtain the care they need in order to live up to their full potential as neglect may have many negative consequences on one’s mental wellbeing in the future. In one particular passage (page 22) Adams true emotions and viewpoint of the concept of love is clearly laid out in order for the reader to truly comprehend his emotions. Throughout the passage, tone, rhetorical questions, and logos are utilized …show more content…
There is very apparent shift in tone nearly half way through the passage. The tone shifts from a more descriptive and objective description tone to a more subjective Freudian or sexual tone. He starts by describing Alice and the negative consequences of losing his birth mother to a women with little to no emotion. Adam states, “Alice never complained, quarreled, laughed, or cried.” He includes this line to present the reader with a simple yet powerful description of his step mother Alice’s inattentiveness those around her. This allows the reader to understand that from a young age Adam was not given the basic love and attention needed to flourish. The passage then promptly shifts to a Freudian description of his sexual thoughts and reasons for them. He describes his promiscuous thoughts involving Alice after seeing her naked. He says, “He ached toward her with a wanting that was passionate and hot.” He continues by saying, “He did not know what it was about, but all the lack of holding, caressing, breat and bipple, and a soft voice- all of these were in his passion, and he did not know it.” Adam does not even know why he feels the way he does in this instant but is backed up by the reasoning that he never experienced love as a baby and therefore does not know any
` Even though Steinbecks essay could be considered a dated opinion being written in the 19 hundreds. it goes to show his considerably harsh outlook hasn't sadly strayed from our reality all that much from its original publishment. He makes a statement “We are restless, a dissatisfied, a searching people.” Steinbeck may seem brutal and disappointed. but when reading you get a surprising tone of disapproval that doesn't sound hateful. It’s cruel but almost disapproving in a condescending way. He also makes a statement “We are self-reliant and at the same time completely dependent. We are aggressive, and defenseless.”
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.
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.
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
Even though there is tragedy there-what Steinbeck seems to be saying is that the human spirit can and will endure despite immense privations. The will to live and endure will always overcome defeated hopes.
The protagonist, Jim, was engulfed with lust for Alena, and decided to do whatever it took to be with her, even if it meant changing himself to fit a mold of what he felt he needed to be to have her. This lust becomes apparent as the author introduced a simile to express the lustful feeling Jim had for Alena as he stated, “I was moved by the emotion she’d called up, I was moved even more by the sight of her bending over the box in her Gore-Tex bikini; I clung to the edge of the chair as if it were a plunging roller coaster.” (583) The choice of this expression is noted to express the rush Jim felt as he stared at Alena’s barely dressed figure bending and searching for documents. This choice of words captured that thrilling, but terrifying adrenaline filled feeling of falling to my doom that I have when I’m on a rollercoaster; In the context of this story I took it to represent that Jim was overcame with some of those same feelings and as he sexualized Alena’s body. This, was also seen in the narrator expression of Jim’s thoughts as he stated, “She smiled. On your own wavelength: the words illuminated me, excited me, sent up a tremor I could feel all the way down in the deepest nodes of my reproductive tract.” (584) This choice of diction shows that Alena’s comment along with the sight of her smiling at Jim further excited him in a sexual
...e most powerful force in human society. The friendship between George and Lennie gave them the hope to persevere through the most depressing circumstances. Steinbeck’s Idea that society and the injustice of life, specifically in America, is against the working man is extremely pessimistic. This is repeated throughout many his works, from his novella, The Pearl to The Grapes of Wrath. The idea is stated more succinctly by Scarseth, “We all deserve better than we get.” While much of Scarseth’s analysis of Of Mice and Men, accurately examined the Steinbeck’s themes of friendship and the fallen character and nature of man, Scarseth’s and Steinbeck’s view of the injustice of life is simply wrong. “We all deserve better than we get” screams of the Marxist, socialist view that somehow we “deserve” more. The statement begs this question, what better do we all deserve?
Humans throughout the world are diverse but if there is one thing that stays true to each and every one of us, that is that survival is a key instinct and is required for continuation for the human race as a whole. Throughout evolution, the humans that stayed together were able to survival against the hardships at hand and in today’s age, it can be show through relationships. Throughout Night by Elie Wiesel and Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck the need for relationships and the significance of survival are massively prevalent. The assistance that relationships provide for survival is made apparent in these novels, but equally evident is the downfall of characters that lose or do not possess relationships. Elie’s relationship with his father in Night provides him with the motivation required to keep surviving. In Of Mice and Men, George and Lennie are able to fully survive by being together as the true meaning of survival is to be physically and mentally healthy. To survive dire situations, relationships are imperative as they provide the strength, motivation, and courage to continue fighting ultimately overcoming the hardships at hand.
Beautiful scenery, delicious foods, and desirable accessories at your fingertips along with other enticements and wishes the mall offers as described by Carolyn Merchant as the modern Garden of Eden in her writing of “Eden Commodified.” Merchant is an award winning writer and professor at the University of California covering the subjects of environmental history and philosophy, making her an expert in the subject of human nature and our connection to the environment. She characterizes the combination of gardens, goods, and ornate architecture as heaven on earth a peaceful, clean, and orderly destination for rich and poor, old and young; however, is this really all she is saying?
Steinbeck, John. Journal of a Novel: The East of Eden Letters. 1969. New York: Penguin,
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.
Through ought the novel, Billy is "loving, innocent, and never maliciously harmful" (Burris 1), as Adam is obedient to God in the early part of the Bible. They both maintain their innocence through mos...
Set in the evening of a late autumn day at the end of harvest time, Robert Frost’s “After Apple-Picking” can be interpreted in two ways. The first is that the poem is an insight into Frost’s thoughts on the triviality of life, especially his own. The second is that it is a metaphor for the Bible story of Adam and Eve. Whatever the interpretation, there is a tension between feelings of regret and satisfaction that is created and sustained throughout the entire poem by the use of many contributing factors.
The bleak tone of this story takes a particularly sad and disturbing tinge when the wife illustrates a scene from early on in her marriage where she tries to get her husband to satisfy her desire and provide her with mutual satisfaction, only to have him rebuke and reprimand her. In fact, the husband responds in such a particularly brusque and hysterical manner that the reader can see how traumatized the wife would have been at ...
Part of love is selflessness. Throughout the play, many of the characters demonstrate selflessness which in turn reflects their love for one another. Orlando is one such character. He and the ever-faithful Adam are wandering through the forest of Arden, for Adam had warned Orlando of certain death. Orlando's elder brother, Oliver, had harbored a deep hatred towards Orlando, a hatred which had grown to immense proportions. If Orlando had his home, he would have been killed. Adam was able to persuade Orlando to flee, and now they are in the forest. Once here, though, Adam can go no further, for his is but an old man. "I die fo...