Literary Analysis Of East Of Eden By Adam Trask

The Epic of Eden was written in hope that believing readers would come to an understanding of the Old Testament as their story. A way for them to understand and cross the barrier that is created by the people, places, history and context of the scriptures which can be daunting and hard to navigate. As Sandra L. Richter, who is the author of Epic of Eden, depicts the modern believer as having what is called the dysfunctional closet syndrome. What she means by this is that as believers we are given many “stories, characters, dates and place names” but we do not have a way to sort all the information, like a closet with a bunch of items but no shelves or hangers. Ritcher aims to sort out these barriers and in the course of the book and all in

In the book East of Eden by John Steinbeck, Caleb and Aron are the twin sons of Adam and Cathy Trask. Adam’s relationship with Cal and Aron closely resembles that of the biblical Cain and Abel parable. Adam, undoubtedly loving Aron more than Cal, is metaphorically shoving Cal into a corner by rejecting so many of his gifts and actions as a son. The relationship between Cal and Adam is a distant one from the beginning, neither making an effort to fully understand the other since Aron is so obviously the perfect child. Cal, jealous of Aron constantly holding his father’s attention, goes through many dilemmas on the journey to gain his father’s acceptance. In striving to ultimately gain his father’s blessing and acceptance, Cal demonstrates

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

It is then, when Caleb plans to give Adam 15,000 dollars that he made by investing in bean business. Caleb hopes that this money will make up for a great loss of money that Adam suffered when a plan to send lettuce to the east coast in refrigerated train cars failed. Adam rejects Caleb’s money, following the pattern of God rejecting or rather neglecting Cain’s gift as Cyrus ignoring Charles’ knife. On the other hand, it seems that Aron does not give their father any apparent gift, although many scholars, for instance David McCright argues that Aron’s gift “is a subtle one. He simply returns home from college for Thanksgiving and he is warmly received” (McCright 24). This time, Steinbeck let the readers know the most information about the gift that Caleb plans to give Adam. In the first offering, we only knew about it thanks to Charles and his memories of it, but this is different, the readers can actually see how much thought Caleb gave to it. He talks about making the money with Samuel’s son, Will Hamilton, who is also very clever and business-oriented man. Will asks him why he wants to make that money and give it to his father and he directly asks him if he wants to buy Adam’s love, to which Caleb replies that yes, he wants (East of Eden

Though Adam is favored by many throughout the book, he experiences rejection by those closest to him. The first rejection he feels is by his brother, Charles Trask. Through most of their childhood, Charles dislikes Adam because their father favors him. He is jealous of the relationship between Adam and their father because he tries so hard to please his father, but his father chooses Adam. Charles’ jealousy is seen when he confronts Adam after their father and Adam had a secret talk: “‘What did you do on his birthday? You think I didn’t see? Did you spend six bits or even four bits? You brought him a mongrel pup you picked up in a woodlot. You laughed like a fool and said it would make a good bird dog. That dog sleeps in his room… And where’s the knife? ‘Thanks,” [their father] said, just ‘Thanks’” (29). Charles believes that Adam does not even have to try to receive their father’s love, while Charles has to work his hardest to get any kind of recognition. Another person that rejects Adam is Cathy Trask, Adam’s wife. From the start of their relationship, Adam sees Cathy in a light that is not true to who she is. He sees her as the perfect wife that agrees with everything he says and wants to achieve the same dreams as he does. But this false notion of Cathy causes her to reject Adam. After moving across the country against her will and having children with Adam, Cathy believes she is ready to leave him. She tells Adam this, but he does not take it well and tries to convince her to stay. She replies “I don’t give a damn what you believe. I’m going… I can do anything to you. Any woman can do anything to you. You’re a fool” (199). She shoots Adam before leaving her twins and their house behind. Because Adam holds Cathy on a pedestal and continually

Adam started out as a drug addict who made a lot of bad decisions. He burned a lot of bridges with people that were close to him. Adam stole from his family and friends and often went missing. He was always found with a bad group of people or on drugs. Adam had to have dreams of being more than that.

“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.

After Cathy was caught in her lies and was punished for it, she found herself drained and powerless until she met Adam and Charles Trask. When the men come in contact with Cathy, they both perceive different emotions toward her. While Charles thought she was unappealing, Adam fell “head-over-heals” for Cathy and she seized Adam’s foolishness as an opportunity for her to re-gain control. After Adam took her under his wings and her strength slowly built back up, he surrenders to her beauty and proposes. At this point, Cathy has Adam wrapped around her fingers but Charles sees through her malevolent behaviors.

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 Epic of Eden: A Christian Entry into the Old Testament. Sandra L. Richter, InterVarsity Press, 2008. ISBN: 978-0-8308-2577-6

Cathy-Kate combines many biblical figures as well.  She is not only Eve, but she is Cain’s wife and the serpent of Eden as well (Fonterose, Joseph.  p.3380).  Thus she is the representation of evil too.  Cathy is evil to the point where she is not human.   Her presence in the novel is meant to represent evil and all of its cruel intentions.  All of her deeds are intended to show how far from the real world Cathy actually is (Howard, Levant. p. 245).  Steinbeck compares Cathy to other prostitutes in Salinas Valley, the setting of East of Eden.  She is described as the only whore who is incapable of being a good person.  She is an inhuman being whose life revolves around cruelty and wrongdoing.  She is solely satanic and destroys the innocence of man (Marks, Jay Lester. p. 126-127).

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.

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

The concept of good and evil traces back into the ancient Zoroastrian faith and is one of the most universal themes in literature today. One author whose works embodies the essence of these two forces is John Steinbeck. Steinbeck incorporates the nature of good and evil through several characters in two of his most renowned books novels: East of Eden and Of Mice and Men. Throughout these two stories, Steinbeck uses characters of evil-- Cathy and Curly’s wife, characters of goodness-- Samuel Hamilton and George, and characters who are a mix of the two-- Caleb and Lennie. With the representation of these two opposing forces through characters, Steinbeck displays how human nature is comprised of good and evil.