East of Eden free essay sample

East of Eden deplores many religious matters, specifically, the concepts of sibling rivalry and the age old battle between good and evil. In the biblical Book of Genesis, the brothers Cain and Abel offer God the father a sacrifice. God favors the shepherd Abels sacrifice of his best lamb over the farmer Cains grain. Subsequently, in a Jealous rage, Cain kills his brother Abel, only to be marked by God and banished to wander the earth. Stanford dropout, John Steinbeck applies the story of Genesis heavily in East of Eden; the concepts of this iblical allusion are evident in both generations of brothers. In each generation, one of the Trask brothers is moral and good while the other brother behaves badly and immorally, already we see how the Trask family parallels Genesis. Because the good Trask brothers are favored, the bad Trask brothers develop envious tendencies and a recurrent theme of sibling rivalry appears throughout the book. We will write a custom essay sample on East of Eden or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page The first generation of Trask brothers, Charles and Adam, follow the Cain and Abel biblical model from the very beginning. .. its awful not to be loved. Its the worst thing in the world t makes you mean, and violent, and cruel. (Steinbeck 347). This quote epitomizes the root of all evil in the Trask generations- lack of recognition to one of the sons. When their deadbeat father Cyrus favors Adams birthday gift of a puppy over Charles expensive knife, Charles nearly beats Adam to death. Although Charles does not kill Adam, he is a clear allusion to Cain. While Adam wanders the Earth in the army, it is Charles who remains on the farm, where like Cain, he becomes marked with a dark brown scar. Adam therefor, is reflected as Abel. Humans are caught†in their lives, in their thoughts, in their hungers and ambitions, in their avarice and cruelty, and in their kindness and generosity too†in a net of good and evil. (127). This quote is a clear representation of the Adam and Charles relationship throughout the novel. The incident that occurred over a simple birthday gift sparked a Jealous rage that caused Charles and Adam to remain at odds with each other throughout their entire lives despite their love for each other. The next generation of Trask brothers, the dark haired Cal and fair-haired Aaron, also carry out the dynamics of the Cain and Abel tale. Cals Jealousy towards Aron is due to the favoritism that Aron receives from their father Adam; this is especially seen through an episode that resulted in Aarons death. For some reason, Adam favors Aron over Cal and when Cal offers his father a birthday present of $1 5,000 to help him recover his financial losses, Adam scorns him for making the money during a war-time economy. In a rage, Cal takes his brother to isit the notorious prostitute that birthed the two boys. Emotionally traumatized, Aaron runs away to the army during World War l, and dies soon after. Cal lies to Adam when asked about Aarons whereabouts. Where is he? How do I know? said Cal. Am I supposed to look after him? (p. 562). This sequence between Cal and Adam portrays the emotional barrier between the two that seems to bring out the untruthfulness in Cal that reflects his ancient parallel, Cain. Thus, the biblical tale plays out with Cal, although inadvertently, killing his brother. It might be the most important word in the world. That says the way is open. That throws it right back on a the concept of timshel. While psychologically shattered Adam reminisces over Cathy, Lee and Samuel share philosophical discussions over the ancient Hebrew word timshel. Timshel defies the pattern in the Cain and Abel tale, rather than condemning the less favored brother to a life of sin it pursues the issue of free will and grants Cal the strength to depart from the inherently bound evil motives that ossessed him at an early age. East of Eden free essay sample This paper is an analysis and review of the many topics that are presented in John Steinbecks book, East of Eden. This paper is a detailed examination of the different themes that John Steinbeck raises in his book, East of Eden. The author discusses the significance of the storys setting and the different family themes that are dealt with throughout the story as the many different family members history are detailed. The author breaks down the individual characters, their symbolism and relevance to the continuity of the family saga. As life progresses for the three men, all three separate themselves, which brings a peace treaty of sorts. My sympathies are still toward Adam, who deals with the emotional problems he has gotten from his childhood. Charles has turned into a more likeable person, and the evil that was once so dominant in him has almost disappeared by the time the brothers are reunited in chapter seven. We will write a custom essay sample on East of Eden or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page The evil has died with Cyrus, and the interaction between the two brothers reflects that. I almost breathed a sigh of relief when Cyrus is finally dead, but it is amazing how quickly fate takes over the story again, and how Steinbeck weaves a new loop into the story.