The contest is in ourselves! Surely this is what East Of Eden teaches us while we enjoy the sweeping story, so well told. It is deadly realistic, as beautiful and revolting as is the actual human potentiality for good and evil. With brilliance, Steinbeck contrasts a sea of temperaments in these characters, and shows us all the while that life is much more than the choices we make, but it is never any less. Adam Trask is the representative of good intentions, of a conscience which responds to the good as the eye responds to the light. Samuel Hamilton also represents a similar (perhaps even more well-honed) goodness. But Adam is the one who has been deceived, by a force every bit as essentially evil as Eden's serpent in the tree. This is Cathy, a character so reprobate that evil isn't something she does, it's something she IS that INFECTS everything she does! After abandoning her twin boys Caleb and Aron to the care of their father (Adam) she returns to her life of debauchery. The boys grow up unaware that their mother is a serial murderer and owner of a whorehouse. Because Adam never fully recovers from his shame, his loss and disillusionment, he is not able to convey the appropriate unconditional (equally distributed) love to his sons. This leads to jealousy and rivalry in his boys, and is a generational replica of his own childhood.

How can one summarize such a vast epic story? But for me, one of the most powerful scenes and a turning point (perhaps the denouement?) is when Caleb finally sees his mother in all her non-glory, and says to her... "I don't have to be you." The reader can notice that really no-one is the same from this point on, there is a real unravelling here. For Cathy (now "Kate"), this marks the beginning of her own self-destruction, the awakening of her own conscience. She's been defied!

One of the tendencies of the modern age is to deny radically the absolute nature of conscience, reducing it to a matter of temperament, or to a product of history or social environment. But East of Eden plows right through a tangle of sociological, psychological, and historical half-truths to the elementray fact: CONSCIENCE EXISTS.


my all-time favorite book   April 6, 2003
 14 out of 15 found this review helpful

This book is my all-time favorite book from my all-time favorite author. I read the first 175 pages towards the end of the eighth grade before giving it up for several months. This year, as a freshman, I read the rest of it and was blown away. It is a beautifully crafted piece about family, love, and human fate. It retells the story of the fall of Adam and Eve and the rivalry of Cain and Able in a way that shows the relevance of the story in todays time and the dangers of making your children live as you want them rather than as what they are. The Grapes of Wrath got more praise because of its' social applications but I feel that this is Steinbeck's finest novel.

Timshel!


This Teenager Loves It   August 11, 2002
 13 out of 15 found this review helpful

I chose to read this book for my high school's required reading. It was a great decision.
Though this book goes slowly (took me a week to read), it doesn't feel slow. Steinbeck's lavish descriptions of the lush California transport me there.
But this book isn't meant to revolve around the plot. The characters drive the plot, not the other way around. I agree that the many of the characters are hard to relate to, but I can understand them. From the most evil character, Cathy, to nice guy Sam Hamilton, I could see why they chose to commit each action. The youngest characters in the book, Abra, Aron, and Cal, are easier to relate to by teenagers such as myself.
Though this book was written half a century ago, the themes are timeless. There is the battle between good and evil, which encompasses sub themes like jealousy.
Overall, this is a book that's worth your time.


A masterful re-telling of the Cain and Abel story   June 22, 2002
 10 out of 13 found this review helpful

One of the most familiar stories from the Old Testament is that
of Cain and Abel. Because God was more pleased with Abel's gift,
Cain murdered his brother and was exiled for the rest of his
life.

Cain may have been the first murderer, but unfortunately he was
not the last. His question, "Am I my brother's keeper" is as
crucial today as it was then. This crime is famous precisely
because it is so universal.

It is no wonder that novelists have used this story in their own work. One of the most famous of these modern parables is "East of
Eden" by John Steinbeck. In fact, he uses the story at least two
times.

The first part of the novel focuses on two brothers, Charles and
Adam Trask. As young boys their conflict began when their father
shows favoritism for Adam and continues throughout their adult
life, culminating on Adam's wedding night when Charles gets him
drunk and sleeps with his new wife.

Nine months later Cathy's children (Steinbeck never tells us who

the father is) are born. Their very names, Cal and Aaron, tells
us quickly that the Cain and Abel story is going to be continued
in the new generation, and sure enough, it is. Adam, like his
father before him, accepts a gift that Aaron gives him and
rejects Cal's offering.

The result is tragedy, and the search for redemption begins
again. When Cal asks if he can overcome the evil he finds within
him, he realizes that the answer is that he may, showing that he
has the power to choose good or evil for himself, a choice that
makes him great.

But the power of this book lies not just within the story itself;
the characters Steinbeck draws for us are among the most vivid in
modern literature. In addition to the two sets of brothers is
Cathy, one of the most corrupt women I have ever encountered.
From the time she burns her own parents alive to the way she
manipulates all of the men she encounters, she finds delight in
evil.

Balanced against her is Samuel Hamilton, a good man who finds
happiness in the land on which he lives and his many inventions.
When he first meets the Trasks, Adam is devastated because Cathy
has deserted her family to become a prostitute in nearby Salinas.
Sam helps him to recover.

But my favorite character is Lee, the Chinese sage who plays the
role of the typical subservient Chinaman, but who in private
guides Adam and his boys. It is Lee who reveals the meaning of
the Old Testament verb timshel as "thou mayest," giving the gift
of freedom to Cain and to us today. And it is Lee who must, at
the end, try to keep this family from destroying itself
completely.

Steinbeck is a powerful writer, and this is one of his most
powerful novels. I envy you if this is your first time reading
it.


I will give it a 10/10   August 4, 2003
 10 out of 13 found this review helpful

After a long long time I got to read something so fulfilling. Something that one can identify with instantly and it does not take much effort as well. The theme of Brother Vs. Brother is universal and appealing to all. Maybe because as children of Cain, we are all the same - A blend of Good and Bad. Wow!!
East of Eden was heavy for me!!

Steinbeck is so good at descriptions - love the style of writing, the dry subtle humor- the very fact that he does not justify his character's actions - the struggle of mankind, the inner conflict,is so beautifully portrayed.

The Theme: Brother vs. Brother

The Plot: Two Families in Salinas, California. The Trasks and the Hamiltons. Adam Trask who faces a life-long complex from his brother Charles Trask heads towards a new life - with his brand-new wife. The birth of his twins is a joyous moment only to result in a sad one - with Kathy (his wife) walking out on
him.

He raises the kids with his manservant Lee - the ever symbolical of what is right - Chinese - who is a great human character in ages to come.

The twins - Aron and Cal are poles apart and the rest is as they say "History".

The Hamiltons are a different breed altogether. Nine children and Samuel Hamilton is a man who never feels the need to have more money.

I guess the Biblical influence is immense in the book - but obvious it had to be!!

Overall, a great great awesome read!!