Adam’s Own Enemy Blame is a concept created out of the deniability and lack of responsibility people have for themselves to hide guilt or fault they have. Often, when people do not want to own up to their own problems they created, people put it on someone else so that they do not have to accept their own wrong. In John Steinbeck’s novel East of Eden, everyone tries to find a cause to blame for Adam’s struggles and actions, but no one ever suspects the “innocent”. A common misconception about Adam Trask’s struggles and issues in the novel is that they were created by other people; Cathy/Kate hurt him, Charles Trask was a mean and controlling brother, Cyrus Trask did not care enough about his own son’s wants, however, through it all Adam is his own worst enemy throughout East of Eden. Time and time again, Adam continues to make trouble for himself unintentionally. Although Adam cannot control his family/friend’s actions, Adam can choose how he handles them. Cyrus Trask is the father to Adam Trask, and being his father, he can influence his son in any way he so chooses. For the first sixteen years of his life, Adam becomes a sculpture shaped by his father’s wants. Despite his father admitting to the knowledge that Adam does not have the strength and skill to be in the army, he forces Adam into becoming a soldier. Being someone with such characteristics of being physically weak, Adam is weak at communicating. Adam did not have a choice to be in the
In East of Eden (1952) John Steinbeck creates a powerful novel using biblical allegories. By doing this, he can deliver a clear message by describing something unfamiliar to his audience and comparing it to something more familiar. Set in modern times, East of Eden retells the famous story of the downfall of Adam and Eve, and the jealous rivalry between Cain and Able. Steinbeck also creates many other characters throug his novel, that capture a biblical sense and help portray an image of the vast confusion of life.
by eating the fruit even though he didn't want to. Eve was brainwashed by the serpent because she was mentally weak. Adam and Eve later go on to get married and have two kids named Cain and Abel. Cain ends up killing his brother Abel because Abel’s heart was faithful and was devoted to God and his commitment was trustworthy in God’s eyes. When Cain realized that God was not pleased with his sacrifice but accepted Abel’s, he became extremely jealous and felt a strong hatred in his heart and jealous of his brother and killed him out of envy. One thing that I noticed when it came to gender roles was that the serpent understood who to manipulate. God directly talked to Adam then next in line was Eve. The serpent understood that Adam was more than
Adam and Charles were taught to respect their father and look at him as a role model for the perfect man and what they should strive to be. However, early on, Adam realizes that “…[Cyrus] was, indeed, a very strong-willed and concentrated little man wearing a huge busby,” (p.20). When Adam is sent into the army against his will but by his father’s wishes, he knows that Cyrus only sent him in to live out his army career that was cut short by losing a leg. As Adam pays his time, he does every job he can that does not involve fighting, which could very easily be argued as a way to quietly rebel against his father, because in Cyrus’ eyes, Adam was a frail and weak man that needed to be strengthened. Given this experience, Adam lacks a solid father and the lessons that come along with that
1. Pleasantville most closely parallels the story of Adam and Eve. The similarity presents itself using symbols and themes. Both stories naive to knowledge in the world, caring only about their lives. Both stories have individuals that are close minded to accepting values and experiences out of their comfort zone. A theme included in both stories is temptation. The temptation presents itself in Adam and Eve by the snake offering the couple an apple, the apple will give them knowledge. After eating the apple they gain both knowledge good and bad. Temptation presents itself in Pleasantville, by using Mary Sue to tempt Skip into kissing her. This opens up the door for civilians to new experiences and knowledge. Also in both stories, the
The biblical story of Cain and Abel also plays a central role in the novel East of Eden. The novel portrays this analogy through the characters of both Charles and Adam, and Cal and Aron. In the Christian Old Testament, The Book of Genesis, Adam and Eve's sons, Cain and Abel, offer sacrifices to God. Because God prefers Abel's gift over Cain's, Cain becomes infuriated and kills his brother in a jealous rage. The characters of Charles and Adam Trask, who share the initials C&A with their biblical forebears, closely follow the Cain and Abel paradigm. Cyrus Trask favors Adam's birthday gift of a puppy over Charles' gift of an expensive knife, and Charles almost beats his brother Adam to death in a jealous rage. However, unlike Charles, Adam becomes the wanderer. Finally, Adam then later moves to California, where he settles and raises his twin sons. His brother, Charles, remains on their Connecticut farm. When Charles dies, he leaves his fortune to his brother: clearly, although jealousy drove them apart, the brotherly bond is still there. Years later, Adam's wife Cathy, or Kate, gives birth to the next generation of Trask brothers, Caleb Trask and Aron Trask; another set of brothers who share the initials C&A. Unsurprisingly, these brothers perpetuate the Cain and Abel ideology. After the birth of their sons, Cathy abandons Adam, and he sinks into such a severe depression that he neglects to even name his children. Samuel suggests to Adam that he name the children Cain and
Another way the idea of good versus evil is expressed is by the internal conflicts of the characters. Cathy is good example of a character that has an inner conflict of good versus evil. Cathy, the most evil of all in this novel, kills her parents, manipulates Adam and Charles, attempts to abort her children, shoots Adam, abandons her twin sons once they are born, and murders Faye, her friend and boss. However, the good in Cathy overcomes the bad. By the end of the novel she becomes religious and she leaves all of her fortune to her son. Charles is also a good example of a character struggling with inner conflict. Whenever Adam beats him in a game, Charles becomes very abusive towards him; once he almost kills Adam. However, Charles also protects Adam from others and he does, in fact, love him. He "fought any boy who ... slurred Adam and ... protected Adam from his father's harshness" (Steinbeck 491). Adam is forced to join the service and is sent to war, Charles tries to keep in touch with him by writing letters. In
He needs to know he is and why his mother did not make him feel like a man. With the absence of experience Adam does not step up with regards to any of his activities. Adam has no conscience and this causes him to experience a character emergency as a young person. He has still not discovered somebody to love him and this causes him to have part disarray. Adam turns out to be surprisingly close, bigoted, and savage to other people who vary in skin shading, social foundation, and in other insignificant ways (Ryckman, 2013). Adam will begin admiring groups and other negative impacts to fit in and to pick up a comprehension of
Adam sees in Cathy only the good things because he is blinded by her looks to see what she really is. Others, like Lee, see right through her and can see the evil within her. Adam and Cathy seem to be doing fine and move to King City to have a life together. One day Cathy is found lying on the floor with blood everywhere so Adam calls the doctor. He finds out that Cathy was trying to kill her baby that she was pregnant with and says “ ‘Have you met Mrs. Laurel? She’s wasting and crying for a baby. Everything she has or can get she would give to have a baby , and you-you try to stab yours with a knitting needle’ ”(135). Cathy lied to the doctor and said she didn’t want to pass down her Epilepsy which runs in the family. She lied to trick him into believing that she didn’t want her sons to suffer but really wanted to kill her kids to not have them at all. Any other woman would’ve loved to have kids and would’ve wanted the best for them. But Cathy, she didn’t want kids and hated the fact that she was going to have some and this rejection propelled the plot of East of Eden by unintentionally disturbing the future of the kids because of this
When thinking about the gift offering in the biblical story of Cain and Abel and its impact, one can see many similarities in East of Eden. Cain brought to God “the fruit of the ground” and Abel offered God “the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof” (Gen 4 KJV). God preferred the gift of Abel to the gift of Cain.
East of Eden, By John Steinbeck, is a classical novel set in the post civil war and mid World War 1 era. The novel centers on two families, the Trasks and the Hamiltons, living in the Salinas valley in California. The main protagonist is Adam Trask, a passive man who marries the main antagonist, Cathy, a cruel and evil woman who manipulates others for her own gain. Cathy gives birth to two sons, Caleb and Aron, and chooses to leave Adam after his usefulness to her is through. Adam, heartbroken, moves to the town of Salinas with his sons hoping to start a new life. Several years later when the two boys are men, Caleb vindictively reveals who their mother is to his brother Aron, resulting in Aron’s death and Adam’s choice to Caleb to repent for his crimes or to succumb to them. The novel touches many topics, issues, and themes that are still prevalent in today's society. It deals with the societal issues of the battle between good and evil, the power we have as humans to choose between wrong and right, and the struggle of finding our character.
Josh Allen Mrs.King English 3 Honors 8.19.2014 Chapters 1-7 Free Will and Fate: “He moured the fact he could not be a permenat soilder… but he could not imagine any any career for his sons except the army.” (Steinbeck 19) This qoute is foreshadowing the fate that one of cyrus’s sons will be force to join the army because of cyrus’s wishes. Later we learn that son is Adam because Cyrus feels the army will let loose things in charles that he feels needs to be contained. “They’ll first strip off your clothes…
accept his offering for it was all that he had and did not know how to
However, a concept and question haunted my mind. Why exactly did Adam eat the fruit? The deceitful snake lied to me, so I took the fruit; yet, I did not lie to Adam about the fruit. Instead of guilt and sadness, I finally felt angry. I was angry that Adam had put all the blame on me, as well as let me blame myself! We were supposed to be one, yet I felt so alone and detached. The thick darkness settled slowly in between Adam and I, turning his once, clear, bright, beautiful body into nothing but a shadow of a wretched silhouette.
Adam’s goodness may be the preferred trait one would prefer to inherit, however it ends up being the downfall of him because it prevents him from seeing a person for who they really are. His kind nature ultimately is the reason he is able to be tricked by Cathy’s manipulative ways. However, after believing he is left with nothing and letting himself wallow in self pity, the honorable and wise Samuel Hamilton reminds him of an important story. Mr. Hamilton reminds Adam that King James of the bible once said, “thou salt prevail over sin”, however it is up to the man to rise above his pain and mistakes. Adam, still feeling sorry for himself, is hesitant to believe Samuel’s advice. However, after making a visit to his wife Cathy in her new life as a whore, he finally realizes he can be okay with out her. He realizes that his children deserve a father better than one who is in love with a whore. He sees through Cathy’s manipulation and decides that he can live happily with what he has. Adam confirms his choice to overcome Cathy saying, “I seemed to come out of a sleep, in some strange way my eyes have been cleared. A weight is off me”(Steinbeck 328). Adam rises above the Cathy he once idolized and allows himself to see who she really is. In result not only does he realize the improved Eden he can build with his sons, he proves that the power to overcome his destiny lays within one self. Adam, however is not the only Trask who proves this possible, Cal
Charles, throughout his time in the novel, rages with jealousy from the acceptance and love he sees his father give Adam while all Charles receives is contempt and rejection. An example of Charles’ rejection of parental love can be seen in the birthday gifts the brothers gave to their father, Cyrus. While Charles spent six bits on a pearl-handled German knife for his father that Cyrus never ended up using, Adam gave him a free mongrel pup from a woodlot as a present and, “That dog sleeps in [Cyrus’] room. He plays with it while he’s reading. He’s got it all trained.” (Steinbeck Chapter 3) This shows how just like Cain, Charles’ gift was disrespected in the eyes of the Lord, or in this case, his father Cyrus, while just like Abel, Adam’s gift was respected and appreciated. Charles is consistently vying for his father’s love, only to be rejected by his father, and sees Cyrus give love and attention to Adam. He watches as Cyrus pressures Adam to join the army and give Adam long talks on private walks. Charles takes out his revenge due to his parental rejection on his brother, as, “If [Cyrus] liked [the knife] [Charles] wouldn’t have taken it out after [Adam].” (Chapter 3) Cal struggled with the same parental rejection in his own family with his twin brother Aron and his father Adam. Cal was made to feel as if he was "no good" by his father Adam. Thus, the same circumstance