John Steinbeck's novel East of Eden

John Steinbeck's novel East of Eden is a family saga extending from the Civil War to World War I. The novel can be seen as a parable of the fall of man, and the various characters can be represented as being faced with the need to choose between good and evil. The watchword of the peace should be "timshel," meaning "thou mayest," which reveals man's mastery of his own destiny. The biblical allusions in the novel are numerous and important, though Steinbeck does not make a rigid one-to-one correspondence because that would stultify the interplay of the characters and force them into molds rather than allowing them to develop as human beings. Still, the biblical allusions are important in showing how these characters fight against the forces of evil as they try to master their own fate and determine their own future to as great a degree as anyone can.

The Salinas Valley in Northern California is the site where Adam Trask wants to create his own version of Eden--his name signifies that he will be the first man of the family in this valley, to be followed by his sons Caleb and Aron, the C and the A representing Cain and Abel. It would be wrong to seek absolute correspondences between the biblical stories and the novel, for Steinbeck is only using the biblical stories as a reference point and not trying to retell them in modern garb, but the connections are revealing. The Salinas Valley is itself a character in the novel, and it is the first character the reader meets. Th

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are two generations of Trasks covered in this novel, and in each there is a set of two brothers with some evidence of the Cain and Abel relationship between them. Adam's brother, Charles, attempts to kill him, causing Adam to flee for his life, an act which eventually leads him to the Salinas Valley. Cathy has an affair with Charles even as she marries Adam. The C and the A are apparent in this brother relationship just as it is with Caleb and Aron. Charles does not destroy Adam, but he does drive him away. The doctrine of timshel is not part of the story of Adam and Charles because at that point the meaning of the Cain and Abel story has not been deciphered. Lee is the one who accomplishes this, with the help of several Chinese scholars who have studied the text, and he brings this meaning to light in the discussion with Samuel so that Adam has to ponder this deeper meaning. The working out of the story of Caleb suggests the power of timshel, and the boy ultimately has to make the choice between good and evil. He does so at a point where it is too late to help his brother--his mother was always beyond help and ultimately kills herself just as she has destroyed countless others before. One of the problems some see in th

Category: Literature - J