Individuality In John Steinbeck's East Of Eden

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.

Choice can be defined as the act of selecting or making a decision when faced with multiple possibilities. In John Steinbeck’s East of Eden, the motifs of houses, hands, and money reflect how the pattern of good and evil repeat due to the reoccurring theme that one has the right to choose.

In describing the land, Steinbeck is showing humanity is continuously immersed in a struggle of good versus evil; he suggests “the way in which this sense of opposed absolutes rises from deep within man, representing something profound and inevitable in human consciousness” (Owens).

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

By Charles' end in the novel, he is still viewed the same way by himself and his family that he was in the beginning of the book. Charles never does anything significant or make any realization about his behavior to find salvation or make amends. However, Cal finds timshel, which means, “Thou mayest’—that gives a choice. It might be the most important word in the world. That says the way is open. That throws it right back on a man." (Chapter 24) Instead of giving in to the idea that he is wicked, he finds solace in the idea of timshel, and eventually breaks free from his Cain stereotype. By the end of his time in the novel, he has perceived differently by himself by adopting this idea, and is perceived differently by his father, who utters this word on his deathbed in regards to Cal. Both of the new perceptions show that Cal is not doomed to live the way Cain did, but is able to live his own life based on his self made morals and decisions. By the end of their time in the novel, Cal differs from Charles in the sense that Charles ended his life in the shadow of the Cain persona while Cal became free to live his own

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

In the novel, East of Eden by John Steinbeck, biblical allusion is a literary device that references characteristics of judeo christian doctrine. Steinbeck alludes to the bible with his characters and setting in East of Eden. Salinas Valley and Adam Trask’s garden allude to the Garden of Eden. Steinbeck portrays the biblical allusion of the chapter Genesis from the bible throughout the book. The characters in the novel are allude to those in the book of Genesis. Steinbeck’s characters alluded to Adam, Eve, Cain, Abel, and Seth. All the conflicts in the book of Genesis, parallel the conflicts in the novel. The conflicts of represent the same fundamental theme of the choice between good and evil. Which is how the research question, To what extent does biblical allusion impact the structure and theme in John Steinbeck, East of Eden, shows its significance. To answer the research question, the investigation will look at the biblical allusion to the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel, and Lilith. The investigation will further seek to explain how each biblical allusion impacts the structure and theme of the novel.

The struggle of sibling rivalry over ability and temperament has taken East of Eden in a whole new perspective. Steinbeck’s portrait on sibling rivalry shows the good vs. evil of each character in the story. The nature of good vs. evil as natural selection is also seen in siblings, as a compete for something physical, mental, or something emotional. The sibling rivalry from the biblical characters embraced Steinbeck’s characters throughout every concept in the novel, the good vs. evil confines the characters personality in every idea of Steinbeck’s novel. From the biblical story of Cain and Abel to Adam and Charles to Cal and Aaron the story continues through out every

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.

Our circumstances do not determine our lives. Instead, our lives are determined by our choices. That is not to say that our lives are not impacted by the country in which we were born, the family which we were born to, or the tragedies which touched our lives. We are given a choice of how we respond to those things, and the power of choice means that the lessons and value of our lives is not determined by outside influences, but instead it is determined by our reaction to those influences.

A central question raised by John Steinbeck’s East of Eden is whether it is possible to triumph over evil, answered by the discussion of free will and inherited sin. The idea of “timshel” is canvassed through the struggles of Caleb “Cal” Trask. The concept of inherited sin is illustrated through the actions of Cyrus Trask, Charles Trask, and Cathy/Kate Trask.

Steinbeck’s own family and their dreams was a great inspiration for his multi-generational novel East of Eden. His maternal grandfather Samuel Hamilton emigrated from Ireland in the 19th century to buy land, build a ranch and raise his family in Salinas Valley. From an online article “John Steinbeck's Derry Roots” we find out that “Samuel Hamilton was born at Ballykelly on 7 October 1830… Samuel emigrated at the age of 17, at the height of the Great Famine, to New York where he married a young Irish girl, Elizabeth Fagan in the summer of 1849. They came to California and set up a ranch in the foothills of the Salinas Valley.” When Samuel came to California, all the fertile land was taken. As Steinbeck writes in the first chapter of East of

The novel, East of Eden, features Biblical overtones from the stories of Genesis. The novel was written by John Steinbeck and turned into a film by Elia Kazan in 1955. Kazan’s purpose was to show how the Bible could influence media and culture. The film was released on April 10th, 1955 and featured James Dean as Cal, Richard Davalos as Aron, Julie Harris as Abra, Raymond Massey as Adam, and Jo Van Fleet as Kate. East of Eden is set in the time before and after America joined

	 John Steinbeck was a famous American author who wrote from the 1920 to the 1940. Steinbeck was constantly moving across the country trying to succeed as a writer. John Steinbeck lived a life of constant up and downs, successes and failures before he landed on his feet and became a famous author.

In life human nature can be known to be thought of as a high quality and/or low quality. Naturally, human nature is there without thought about what it actually is. In the novel Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, the author sprinkles clues and evidence of how human nature was and still is today. The themes that Steinbeck used throughout the novel were, for example friendship, loneliness, and weak vs. strong.