The Pain Of Maternal Rejection In East Of Eden By John Steinbeck

Parenting played a big role in shaping the two boys lives. Having a parental mentor is important because they assist and guide children to take the right decisions about their lives. The author had his two parents at the beginning of his life. Also, the author’s parents, especially his mother, tried to raise him in an effective way wanting him to know the right from wrong at an early age. “No mommy loves you, like I love you, she just wants you to do the right thing” (Moore 11). This quote was a live example of the author’s life with his parents. It reflected the different ways his parents used to teach him “the right thing.” Though his mother was upset from his action toward his sister, his father

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

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

Using his freedom of choice, Adam chooses to be loyal to his brother and chooses good over evil. Years later, after Adam has served in the army and been discharged twice, he wandered around, not wanting to go home yet. He was picked up by sheriff's men who judged him vagrant and he was put on a road gang to serve six months. After his six months were over, two days later he was picked up again and given another six month sentence. However, this time Adam would run away and escape: "It took him five days to cross the short distance into Georgia. He took no chances, held back his impatience with an iron control." (Steinbeck) This passage shows that Adam is still a representation of good at this point because later on Adam explains how he felt like he owed the first six months. He the need to stay and complete those six months of hard labour because he was feeling guilty about not going home where Charles was eagerly awaiting his arrival. The last and best example of Adam utilizing his free will is when he is dying. At the end of East of Eden when Adam is on his deathbed Lee implores him to open his eyes and look at the only son he had left and forgive him. Lee begs Adam to forgive Cal and give him his blessing before he dies so that his son may live. Adam uses his last breath to bless Cal with the realization that he had the gift of free will too: "His whispered word seemed to hang in the air:

Therefore showing, Cathy had no liking of Samuel or her children and could not stand to be cared for. She had a way of destroying the life of anyone who crossed paths with her, and by biting Samuel’s hand, caused his livelihood to decline. Comparatively, later on in life Cathy ends up with the “fingers of both hands [constantly] bandaged”, due to severe arthritis (192). Cathy lived her life always harming others, with no guilt or regret and this was her punishment.

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

Every person reaches a point in their lives when they must define themselves in relation to their parents. We all come through this experience differently, depending on our parents and the situation that we are in. For some people the experience comes very early in their lives, and can be a significant life changing experience. In William Faulkner’s “Barn Burning” Colonel Sartoris Snopes must decide either to stand with his father and compromise his integrity, or embrace honesty and morality and condemn his family. This is a difficult decision to make, especially for a ten year old boy that has nothing outside of what his father provides. Sarty’s decision to ultimately betray his father is dependent on his observation of Abner’s character

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).

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.

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

‘..Guys like us that work on ranches are the loneliest guys in the world they got no family they don’t belong no place.’ This is what many felt during the ‘great depression’ in the 1930’s. John Steinbeck gives us the sense that many felt lonely ‘they got no family they don’t belong no place. The main theme of this novel is alienation; the three characters, Curley’s wife, candy, and crooks are all alienated, and felt it by another person at some point. They all have dreams... it’s the American dream... but not all dreams come true...

When it comes to female characters, authors depict women with a sense of realism, that being that they are a common folk with a usually large but simple impact in the story. On the contrary, John Steinbeck’s female characters in his novel East of Eden do not have the sense of being normal women, and he goes to extremes when it comes to the women being good or bad. Faye, Olive, and Cathy are all women that have taken to extremes in their acts of kindness or evil. Faye is too good of a person, especially in the society that she is in. Olive helps an enormous amount in the military with work she has done that seemed unlikely for her to do by herself. Cathy, on the other hand, commits horrible acts that would immediately classify her as mental, but is ironically one of the smartest characters in the novel. These kinds of women are uncommon, especially in their society.

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

[therefore] he was regarded as thick-skinned and insensitive-even cruel”(422). One example of his manipulative and cruel behavior, when he “killed” Aron. Knowing it would crush him, Cal took Aron to visit their mother, Cathy. Upon discovering her existence, Aron later enrolled in the military, which killed

Cal has always fought to be good so his father, Adam, and his brother Adam would love him. Cal even goes as far as to enter into a deal with William Hamilton to get the money that Adam lost during his dealings of shipping lettuce. When Cal gives him the $15,000 on Thanksgiving Adam tells him that he needs to give it back and when Cal says he can’t Adam say; “Then give it to the farmers you robbed.”(317) Later on in the story Cal's brother dies causing him to blame himself and proceeds to say; “I don’t want to do bad things—but I do them.”(433)