Insidious Flowers Attract the Greatest Beauty

In East of Eden, Steinbeck explores the inherent power of choice over evil by characterizing Cal Trask and his struggle to recognize this power within himself. From a young age, Cal feels condemned to act on his sinful impulses because of his mother’s evil constitution. Despite this, he wishes to lead a pure, honest life, highlighting the complexity, difficulty, and importance of choosing good over evil.

East of Eden is a story that is based on the biblical stories of Adam and Eve and Cain and Abel. Like the story of Adam and Eve, East of Eden has characters that embody Adam and Eve to an extent. While the story of Adam and Eve tells about the beginning of man, how we came to be on this earth, and why we have original sin, East of Eden uses Adam Trask and Cathy Ames as the beginning of a complex and conflicting story of good vs. evil. Adam Trask is presumed to be Adam, good natured and goodhearted, while Cathy is presumed to be Eve. Only while Eve was deceived into committing sin, Cathy embraces it wholeheartedly and commits evil simply for its own sake.

The Pulitzer award winning novel, “Of Mice and Men”, the author, John Steinbeck utilizes nature throughout the piece of literature as an idea that symbolizes a complex interpretation and definition concerning Lennie and George. Steinbeck describes the natural world in result and consequence of specific scenarios in the literature. Many descriptions of nature generally undergo constant change as characters develop an emotional status change that characters endure consistently in the novel. The emotional status of characters portrays an effect on the interpretation and description of nature. Described progressively, the description of nature often portrayed the emotional status characters undergo. Various characters display an important and constant portrayal of love to nature as they uniformly reinforce the idea of owning a farm, but most importantly opinions on their upmost home. Most of the descriptions introduced to the readers generally summarize the characters emotions as they endure events constantly. Steinbeck uses emotion of characters to express their interpretation of particular objects in those specific times and events. The mood reflected off a particular situation seeks connection to personal opinions, in addition to opinions socially and emotionally. Steinbeck utilizes emotion of characters and reflects it upon the description and symbolism of nature.

Another biblical allusion in this book that goes along with Eden is of course Adam and Eve. Steinbeck continues the book of Genesis with Adam Trask and Cathy represent Adam and Eve. Which Steinbeck portrays that representation to Adam and Eve throughout the book.

Solidifying the theme of John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men, the protagonist George expresses his significant loneliness despite a strong kinship with his friend Lennie, “’I ain’t got no people… I seen the guys that go around the ranches alone. That ain’t no good’” (41). Published in 1937, amidst the horrific turmoil of the Great Depression, Steinbeck’s novella struck a sensitive chord with readers. Set in the heart of California’s Central Valley, this story follows two men, George and Lennie, as they run from old shadows to a new farm for work. Clinging to the distant dream of owning their own piece of land, the men imagine life outside their present difficulties. Illustrating that life is varied by emotional complexities beyond black and white, George’s longing for companionship and family seep through in conversations with his new co-worker Slim. Despite Lennie’s sheer physical strength, his mental abilities are limited to that of a naïve, innocent, and very young boy; the result is a relationship akin to an uncle and nephew. Lennie, with primal-like behaviors and a gold-fish memory, struggles to adhere to George’s words of wisdom. In the end, tragedy strikes them both as George is forced to kill Lennie due to an accident with the son of the landowner’s wife – a woman who looks for trouble at the onset. Consequently, George’s state of loneliness is bequeathed to a new level as he begins to imagine life without Lennie in tow.

The narrative framework of this novel is based upon the one of Cain and Abel, children of Adam and Eve. In the biblical story, Cain, who is jealous that God approved his brothers offering over his, kills his brother and then lies to God about it. East of Eden explores this conflict of good and evil in life and retells the story of Adam and Eve twice. Once with Adam and Charles and once with Aron and Cal. The story of Cain and Abel is so pertinent that there is literally a scene where they sort of break the fourth wall and read aloud the story of Cain

Water is also an essential part of Steinbeck’s connection of setting to familial conflict, with the lack of water sowing seeds of discontent in both families, though Steinbeck’s aforementioned theme of choice between good and evil defines what both families do with such misfortune. Lack of water on their property allows the Hamiltons to grow closer, with Samuel’s disappointment with his lack of success in farming being outweighed by his joy in his children, “Water would have made them comparatively rich...all in all it was a good firm-grounded family….Samuel was well pleased with the fruit of his loins,” (Steinbeck 507). By contrast, the drought of the land in Adam’s family is representative of the lack of parenting, how Adam is completely devoid of emotion once Cathy leaves, “Adam looked more gaunt than Samuel remembered. His eyes were dull, as though he did not use them much for seeing,” (655). This juxtaposition is further emphasized by Samuel’s biblical connection, as Samuel was a prophet, a man who could see into the future and thus see the value in raising children despite the difficulties while Adam cannot see beyond his own hardship. Furthermore, the lack of water enrichs the idea that if a family preserves through such difficulties, they will be greatly rewarded, “And the Lord will continually guide you, and satisfy your desire in scorched places, and give strength to your bones, and you will be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water whose waters do not

In the book, East of Eden by John Steinbeck, the characters in the book represent Biblical symbols of good and evil. Their interactions demonstrate the influence of good and evil on each other. Each character in the book has their own personality trait that plays onto the other characters when they come together. It is the comparison between good and evil that triggers events leading to violence.

In John Steinbeck’s East of Eden, the reader is introduced to a wealth of unforgettable characters through an extensive period of time and across the United States. The novel begins in Connecticut and mostly takes place in the Salinas Valley of California. It spans from the American Civil War to post-WWI. Over the several generations, the characters change and adapt to their situations extensively to create some of the most lively characters in literature. The Trasks and the Hamiltons are introduced as the main families of the story and never cease to amaze.

“Is there, then an evil that is innate, that is the little piece of monster in all of us.” (Cusatis). Every person has two sides, no one is completely good or completely evil. In the East of Eden, John Steinbeck uses a biblical metaphor to illustrate the innate good and evil that humans encounter. The novel includes several characters that are purely evil or do evil deeds. The Trask family is directly correlated to the Garden of Eden and other biblical narratives. “Steinbeck puts more into his stories than Genesis 4” (Fontenrose). Steinbeck illustrates the concepts of good and evil, family, and love to describe the frailties of the human experience.

Throughout East of Eden, Steinbeck illustrates the complexity of morality through many characters’ struggles with the idea that they can choose their own destiny. This is most obvious with Cal, but Lee demonstrates the maturity to think clearly about his place in the world and his former mistaken viewpoints. Through Lee, Steinbeck argues that individuals have the power and obligation to choose their own destiny, no matter how difficult and harrowing their past was. Steinbeck argues that individuals have a responsibility to seek out truth and clarity, even though they can just as easily choose to live in ignorance. After Samuel’s death, Lee says that the world went out “like a candle,” describing the sudden lack of clarity in his thoughts and emotions.

The story concerns the unhappy marriage, which appears to be a theme in many of Steinbeck’s short stories, and the psychological effects this has primarily on the wife, Elisa Allen. The central character, Elisa, is appealing to many readers and scholars alike, because of the depth of her persona. Elisa is introduced to us in a less than feminine fashion which can be seen as a hint at oppression of women in

(Steinbeck 173) His equanimity is astounding, despite the mark of his Grandparents death, and the abandonment by siblings Noah and Connie. Somehow he becomes a cosmopolitan; he recognizes that the sky has more than one spherical view. Today’s problematic events will not deter

Along with the insight of critical essay, a distinctive stylistic device in the book is Steinbeck’s characterization of different characters like Cathy and Charles as the reader acquires valuable details and explanations of their personalities. For example, Steinbeck characterizes Cathy as a woman “born with the tendencies or lack of them, which drove, and forced her all of her life” (Steinbeck 72). Furthermore, Steinbeck illustrates Cathy having “gold and lovely” (Steinbeck 73) hair and “wide-set hazel eyes” (Steinbeck 73) to draw reader’s attention to her appearance where it “made people uneasy but not so that they wanted to go away” (Steinbeck 73). This specific description of Cathy forces the reader to visualize her appearance where Steinbeck

John Steinbeck is the author of several very successful books, one of which being The Long Valley. Steinbeck wrote about what he knew, regardless of whether or not it was appreciated by others. Not everyone was immediately enamored by his writing, as his hometown of Salinas “burned his books” (Curwen) when he was first beginning to write. However, as the stories gained popularity, Steinbeck was able to return to his origins and found the National Steinbeck Center. The Long Valley is made up of twelve different stories that consist of entirely different characters, but many similarities can be found throughout the different stories in addition to the differences. “The Harness” and “The Murder” are two stories that have both similarities and differences. The first story, “The Harness”, tells the story of a model farmer named Peter Randall, who is highly respected within the community. In the beginning of the story, Peter’s wife, Emma Randall, dies, and Peter becomes predictably hysterical. However, throughout the rest of the story, the reader learns how Peter’s wife had dominated her husband and made practically all of his decisions for him. The second story, “The Murder”, tells the story of another married couple. The main character, Jim Moore, marries a sweet foreign girl named Jelka; however, due to the communication barrier between the two, Moore begins to frequent brothels in order to communicate with other women. At the end of the story, Moore finds Jelka cheating on