John Steinbeck's East of Eden: Modern Biblical Story of Cain and Abel
" And Cain talked with Abel his brother: and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother and slew him. And the Lord said unto Cain, ' Where is Abel thy brother?' And he said, ' I know not. Am I my brother's keeper?' And he said, ' What hast thou done? The voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground. And now thou art cursed from the earth, which hath opened her mouth to receive thy brother's blood from thy hand. When thou tillest the ground it shall not henceforth yield unto thee her strength; a fugitive and vagabond shalt thou be in the earth.' And Cain said unto the Lord, ' My punishment is greater than I can bear. Behold, thou hast driven me out this day from the face of the earth, and from thy face shall I be hid. And I shall be a fugitive and a vagabond in the earth" (Genesis 4:8-1, KJV). The story of Cain and Abel is probably one of the most violent and unsettling stories of the Bible. It is probably the most unsettling because it tells the truth about mankind. Rejection is the one thing that all of mankind fears, and when one is rejected anger follows. With anger comes the need to commit a crime of revenge, and with this crime comes guilt. Almost everyone has experienced this in some way.
East of Eden (1952) by John Steinbeck is a modern retelling of the biblical tragedy of Cain and Abel. The story is reenacted through the lives of two generations of the Trask family. Cyrus Trask, the patriarch of the family and his two sons Adam and Charles live on a farm in Conneticut. Charles cries out in anguish for his father's love, but his father ignores his cries and loves Adam best...
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...il and do goodness.
John Steinbeck writes, " We have only one story. All novels, all poetry, are built on the never-ending contest in ourselves of good and evil. And it occurs to me that evil must constantly respawn, while good, is immortal. Vice has always a new fresh young face, while virtue is venerable as nothing else in the world is" (415). In East of Eden, John Steinbeck creates this world of good and evil. All of the characters are faced with good and evil, and only one is able to triumph over evil. Cal is the representation of what everyone can be. It is possible for everyone to overcome evil if he or she decides to destroy the evil within his or her soul.
WORKS CITED
Steinbeck, John. Penguin Twentieth-Century Classics: East of Eden. New York: Penguin Books USA Inc., 1992.
The Bible. King James Version. World Bible Publishers, Inc.
The biblical story of Cain and Abel has been written in more than one way. The King James version of the Bible states that when God speaks to Cain after he had murdered his brother Abel, God said, "Thou shalt" overcome sin. In the standard American version of the Bible, God says "Do thou" which means Cain will certainly overcome sin. The Hebrew word 'timshel' means 'thou mayest' which is arguably the most important two words in John Steinbeck's novel East of Eden. These two words change the meaning of what God said completely. 'Thou mayest' gives a person the gift of free will. It is not a promise or an order that people will overcome sin, timshel means that people are responsible for their own actions and decisions. It is the thoughts and actions of a person that determine how God will judge them, not fate or destiny. Three characters that portray the meaning of timshel are: Adam Trask, Cathy/Kate and Cal Trask. East of Eden supports the meaning for the Hebrew word 'timshel' through the actions of the diverse characters by giving them all the freedom of choice to decide between good and evil.
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.
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.
Cal Trask is one of the most complex characters in John Steinbeck's East of Eden. Through Cal's childhood experiences, his personal motives, and his internal conflict, Steinbeck shows the development of Cal's character.
A theme is a unifying or dominant idea in a literary work. Steinbeck described the competition of good versus evil as the story of mankind itself. He believes that every generation to come since Adam and Eve will now be immersed with the struggle of good and evil due to Eve’s curiosity that led to sin, eventually banning both her and Adam from the Garden of Eden. In East of Eden, Steinbeck makes the contest of good versus evil apparent through his contrasting description of the setting, the characters’ opposing personalities, and society’s changing morals.
East of Eden by John Steinbeck, is a fictional novel that details the lives of five main characters, Cal Trask, Aron Trask, Adam Trask, Cathy Ames, and Samuel Hamilton. John Steinbeck pivots the five characters against each other with biblical references from the story of Cain and Abel. The novel’s protagonist Adam Trask has a half brother Charles and is portrayed generally as a good man throughout the novel. The antagonist Charles Trask is jealous and similar to Cain in the biblical story of Cain and Abel. The novel can be split into two parts with the first part focussing on the first generation Trask family and the second part focussing on the second generation Trask family with both following the same story line of rejection and favoritism.
“Stalingrad is the scene of the costliest and most stubborn battle in this war. The battle fought there to its desperate finish may turn out to be among the decisive battles in the long history of war…In the scale of its intensity, its destructiveness, and its horror, Stalingrad has no parallel. It engaged the full strength of the two biggest armies in Europe and could fit into no lesser framework than that of a life-and death conflict which encompasses the earth”
...My punishment is greater than I can bear! I shall be hidden from your face; I shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth, and anyone who meets me may kill me" (Genesis 4:13-14). As Lee and Cal stood before Adam on his deathbed, Lee pleaded to Adam, "Your son is marked with guilt out of himself-out of himself-almost more than he can bear . . . give him your blessing. Don't leave him alone with his guilt. Give him your blessing!" (777). Adam's breath came quick with his effort and then, slowly, his right hand lifted-lifted an inch and then fell back. In response to Cain's cries, the Lord assured Cain that he would not be harmed. "And the Lord put a mark on Cain, so that no one who came upon him would kill him. Then Cain went away from the presence of the Lord, and settled in the land of Nod, east of Eden" (Genesis 4:15-16).
“Fear is the path to the dark side. Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering” (Lucas). Truly few human beings know the darkside like Cathy Ames.The character that everybody is supposed to despise, even if one loves to hate Cathy, she is a wicked woman. While some people may argue that she changes during John Steinbeck's East of Eden, her motivation for every evil deed she commits is the same: Cathy longs to be in control of her entire existence.
When Adam Trask’s family became the major storyline in the novel, Charles Trask was quickly left out of the spotlight. His isolation and lack of mention is relatable to Cal’s situation, where he became a social outcast in Salinas and was divided from the rest of the town. Similarly to when Cal said, “Don’t make me mean… I don’t want to be mean. I don’t want to be lonely,” Charles also attempted to be kinder towards others when threatened with being alone (Steinbeck 379). As Adam continued to fight in the army, Steinbeck illustrated how Charles changed in the absence of social interaction. Charles experienced a cycle of fighting for fatherly admiration, and extreme emotional anger that was taken out on his favored brother. Upon returning from war, Adam discovered that this vicious cycle had been broken upon the death of their father. He found that “his brother was no longer dangerous. There was no jealousy to drive him" (Steinbeck 70). Since he no longer had to seek appreciation from his father, Charles had been freed from his emotional cycle, and became a kinder, better person. This was shown in a unique way, when he expressed his disappointment in his lying father. This shows that he cared greatly about his father, since one tends to expect better of those who one loves. In contrast, Adam’s ignorance and
Schultz, Jeffrey, and Luchen Li. "East of Eden." Bloom's Literature. Facts On File, Inc. Web. 8
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.
In addition to East of Eden, Steinbeck produced many other novels and several volumes of short fiction in his early career. Most of Steinbeck’s novels and stories are set in the Salinas Valley in California where he spent most of his life. Steinbeck won the Pulitzer Prize for his novel, Grapes of Wrath which makes him best known. According to John Timmerman, ”Grapes of Wrath studies the problems migrant workers encountered while traveling from Oklahoma to California.” (1) Steinbeck wrote eighteen books through his life span. Some of his novels included Of Mice and Men, Cannery Row, Tortilla Flat, The Moon is Down, The Red Pony, and many others. Of Mice and Men gained Steinbeck national recognition. Saint Katy the Virgin, Nothing So Monstrous, The Long Valley, How Edith McGillcuddy, and The Crapshooter are Steinbeck’s volumes of short stories.
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.
A common theme for the characters in East of Eden is the classic war between passion and responsibility. Most of the characters tend to choose responsibility over passion, only because they lack passion. However, Cal escapes from the inevitable that everyone chooses—responsibility—and takes the path that leads him to his passion: to overcome the fate of evil and sins.