Essay on Cain and Abel Timshel: Free Will

East of Eden, written by John Steinbeck, is a profound, complicated retelling of the biblical story of Cain and Abel, focused around the overall struggle between good and evil . John Steinbeck wrote this for his own sons, John and Tom, to show them not only the history of their family in the Hamiltons, but also the concept of sibling rivalry emerging from the competition over paternal love and acceptance (Shillinglaw). This was first evident in Adam and Charles Trask, and then in Adam’s sons, Aron and Cal Trask. The absence of a true mother figure in these two instances of brotherly contention enhances the need for acknowledgment and love from their parental figures. And yet, both mother figures in East of Eden choose to abandon their

The main way in which Steinbeck shows the theme of good versus evil is the character’s divergent personalities. The main good character of the novel is Samuel Hamilton, a poor farmer who raised nine children on little to no income. Despite the fact that his customers do not pay him money for his labor – blacksmithing, well digging – he is still gracious and kind to everyone he meets. He sees through Cathy’s façade to the true core of her evilness. Cathy Ames is the evil character who has no conscious as she uses Adam Trask (protagonist) to move to Salinas after sleeping with his brother, trying to abort her babies, shooting Adam in the shoulder and leaving him alone with their twin sons, and secretly killing a brothel owner so she can take control. She is described as being “as close to pure evil as one is likely to get this side of hell” (Aubrey). Adam is always struggling between these two characters in the novel, representing his personal struggle with good versus evil. He is enamored with Cathy, or who he thinks Cathy is, and is left in an extreme state of depression upon

Cathy could see no good in the world or in any of the other characters. She believed that there was only evil in the world and therefore surrenders herself to it fully. Cathy is portrayed as a wicked fiend who's aggression comes from practically nowhere but her own empty heart, but other times Cathy appears weak and afraid of people who weren’t the least bit intimidating. These are moments when we have to stop and think if she really is truly evil, or just an impatient and self-centered person. Cathy’s upbringing had no real play as to why she manipulated and deceived so many people. Her parents always showed her love and tried the best they could to educate and entertain her. There was nothing horrible in her childhood that would have given her an excuse as to why she was the way she was. Cathy was just not the typical child. She was very different from other children; it could be argued that she was born evil and was just a result of nature.

Throughout the novel East of Eden, Steinbeck uses many biblical references to illustrate clearly the conflict between the opposing forces of good and evil. Much of the plot of East of Eden is centered upon the two sets of brothers representing Cain and Abel.  Both pairs are similar to Cain and Abel in the way they go about winning their fathers’ favors.  All four give gifts to their fathers, and the fathers dismiss the gifts of Charles and Caleb, the Cain representations (Marks, Jay Lester. p.121).  Caleb and Charles Trask are obviously the more malignant brothers.  They are also the more loving towards their father.  Steinbeck’s purpose in this is to illustrate the need of the Cain character in

Like how Grendel displays his envy towards people as Cain did to his brother Abel. Grendel is described as a distant offspring to Cain. They both are also outcast to society and roam in the darkness. Both Grendel and Cain were jealous. Grendel was jealous of the people who were celebrating and being joyful and that jealousy made him kill many innocent people. Cain killed Abel out of jealousy and was cast away. They both don’t feel remorse after killing. An example that showed that Cain didn’t feel any remorse “ The man who killed his brother cares only for himself. He doesn’t express even the tiniest twinge of remorse, contrition, or repentance( Saxon,pg 42).”Another similarity between Grendel and Cain would be selfishness. They both didn’t have concern for others didn’t have no regard for others but murdering

When God proclaims that he favors Abel's gift over Cain's, Cain becomes angry and jealous towards Abel and he eventually kills him. Although God is fully aware of what has transpired, He asks Cain where Abel is, and Cain answers Him untruthfully saying, "Am I my brother's keeper?" (Genesis 4:2-5). After God reveals to Cain that he knows of Abel's murder, God banishes Cain to another part of the land and places a mark on him so that no man will kill him.

It seems that as a race, humans are entangled in the never-ending battle between edacity and altruism, repeating the same mistakes and duplicating the poor decisions of those before them until they are empowered enough to believe in their own free will. It is this free will and ability to triumph that is known to us as timshel, which is one of the more central ideas about men and sin that the Steinbeck novel East of Eden embodies. It is by far the most conspicuous and pronounced of any of the arguments Steinbeck makes, and this can be attributed to its timeless relevancy. Perhaps every choice made by every individual that has existed since Genesis, as well as every choice that all generations to come have the power to make for themselves can

Adam was clearly an Abel, good to the core. In contrast, Charles, his jealous brother, was a Cain figure. Adam’s set of twins took on characteristics of good and evil also. Aron, the fair-haired child, was considered the good son throughout most of the novel. He was his father’s favorite and Abra’s true love. The dark Cal, on the other hand, was jealous and mean. He believed throughout most of the novel that he was incapable of goodness and was condemned to the wickedness of his mother. Ironically, by the end of the novel, Cal became a good son and received his father’s blessings. Through the teachings of Lee, the family servant, Cal had learned that he had the freedom to choose goodness over evil.

Timshel is the idea that one has a choice for the path of good or evil. In the song, “Timshel”, Mumford and Son’s creates allusions between their song and the novel, East of Eden. In “Timshel”, there is a lyric that says, “And you have your choices and these are what make man great”, which implies that in one’s life, they have the opportunity to pick their own path(14-15). This is related to Cal, in East of Eden, when Lee preaches to him about him being able to turn his life around. Timshel is also a great idea because people whose future looks negative, still have the chance to be positive. There are also allusions to Cain and Abel when Mumford and Son’s says, “And death is at your doorstep and it will steal your innocence but it will not steal your substance”(4-6).

Cal thinks because of his mother Cathy he is also being a evil person. His mother Cathy was a evil monster in this book. When Aron and Cal was growing up. Cal used to think everyone loves Aron. Then the jealous inside of him came out. He naturally started to hate his twin brother Aaron. And Cal’s thought to this behaviour was his mother Cathy. When it says "I hate her because I know why she went away. I know—because I've got her in me." (38.3.49) it means believed that the jealous, hate and the evil behaviour all that just naturally came from Cathy. His relationship to his dad was a sort of forgiveness, the forgiveness for loving Aron more than him. Just the same way Adam and Charles father Cyrus loved Adam more than Charles. The relationship of Cal to his brother was all about jealousy and hate for his brother on how better he is than Cal. His relationship to Cathy was also a forgiveness for giving an evil monster. Mothers are the one who always play a big role in raising the children. Their behaviour will put a big impact on how the kids are going to grow up. And in this book, Cathy has crossed all her limits of being a worst person. Because of her behaviour Cal had to put himself in a dark place thinking he would also grow up evil has his mother

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

The idea of good and evil is illustrated throughout the book. The novel spans several generations—playing out the biblical story of Cain and Abel not once but twice. Cal is a great example of evil. He steals his brother’s girlfriend and soon to be wife. He is constantly mean to his father being disrespectful and disobedient him. In one instance Cal, destroys tons of ice because he is upset even after his father tell him to stop. He obsesses over finding and making contact with his mother. He is often described as dark and cold, he inherits those traits from his psychopathic mother. He is sometimes good, once he warms up to Abra he is kind and sensitive. They go on a date and kiss without Aron knowing. He agrees to care and marry for Abra, after Aron goes crazy and joins the military.

William Rowe defines gratuitous evil as an instance of intense suffering which an omnipotent, omniscient being could have prevented without thereby losing some greater good or permitting some evil equally bad or worse.(Rowe 335) In a world with so much evil it raises the questions If God is all powerful, all knowing and all good, how can he allow bad things to happen to good people? Can God even exist in a world with so such gratuitous evil? These are questions that has afflicted humanity for a very long time and has been the question to engross theologians for centuries. The existence of evil has been the most influential and powerful reason to disprove the existence of God. It is believed among many theist that God is the creator and caretaker

Generally, God is known to be all good, to have complete control and power, and to be loving. Although, how come there is evil in the world with such an angelic God?  If God cares and loves us- wouldnt he prevent the suffering if he could? Since he is all powerful, he should be able to eliminate the suffering that evil brings. It seems we only have two potential answers: either God is not loving and all powerful, or God does not exist. Although, I am going to try to give an alternative answer and possibly explain how God could coexist with evil.

The main character that is seen as the pure “good” of of the boys, and is also a jesus figure in the story, is Simon. Simon is the good in human that can prevail even through the evil. He helps Ralph with making shelters, he helps the smaller children pick fruit that is to high for them to reach, he stays compassionate to Piggy when Piggy is the punchline of a joke, and is just honestly good. Simon is smart enough to see that the beast is not real, and he is not intimidated by it. Simon is why I believe that man is inherently good. Despite all that happens he remains good. The other boys turn to savagery when they are influenced by fear and by Jack, but Simon shows it’s possible to avoid such things. It was the ruling under a tyrant leader, Jack, that the boys turned to savagery. It was not the nature of the boys, it was the influence brought upon