The contrast between good and evil proves to be the basis of Steinbeck’s plot portrayed in East of Eden. The narrator suggests that the struggle between good and evil is reoccurring of human nature and has been around since the beginning of human kind. Still, with the conflict between good and evil comes the choice that must be made between the two. The Bible teaches that there is a freedom to choose between either good and evil and calls this “timshel,” an idea that is expressed throughout the novel. Although some born with evil tendencies, the ability to choose between right and wrong is something all members of the Salinas Valley possess. A major theme in East of Eden is the struggle between good and evil, as this conflict is illustrated
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Years later, Adam marries Cathy and she gives birth to twin boys, the next generation of Trask brothers. The two, Caleb and Aaron are another direct comparison to Cain and Abel, as well as proof of the narrator’s theory that good and evil lives on through human generations. The narrator maintains that since the beginning of time with the first humans, Adam and Eve, good and evil are two inevitable forces that are passed down through generations. For instance, Cyrus the father of Adam and Charles is portrayed as evil because of his many lies he tells and his unjust business affairs and thus leading to the immorality of his son Charles. Again, Adam and Cathy, a foreseeable evil woman who manipulates men to get what she wants constantly, produce an evil offspring know as Caleb. On the contrary, in these two generation a “good” son is also produced thus forming the rift between good and evil that remains prevalent throughout the novel. Cathy leaves after the birth of the two sons sending Adam into a severe depression where he neglects to even name them. Similar to how God declares that Abel’s blood cried out from the ground, Samuel Hamilton rushes to the Trask farm when he finds the children asleep on the warm ground. It is evident that Samuel sees the apparent similarities between the Cain and Abel Bible story and the Trask family as he suggests
Years later, Adam marries Cathy and she gives birth to twin boys, the next generation of Trask brothers. The two, Caleb and Aaron are another direct comparison to Cain and Abel, as well as proof of the narrator’s theory that good and evil lives on through human generations. The narrator maintains that since the beginning of time with the first humans, Adam and Eve, good and evil are two inevitable forces that are passed down through generations. For instance, Cyrus the father of Adam and Charles is portrayed as evil because of his many lies he tells and his unjust business affairs and thus leading to the immorality of his son Charles. Again, Adam and Cathy, a foreseeable evil woman who manipulates men to get what she wants constantly, produce an evil offspring know as Caleb. On the contrary, in these two generation a “good” son is also produced thus forming the rift between good and evil that remains prevalent throughout the novel. Cathy leaves after the birth of the two sons sending Adam into a severe depression where he neglects to even name them. Similar to how God declares that Abel’s blood cried out from the ground, Samuel Hamilton rushes to the Trask farm when he finds the children asleep on the warm ground. It is evident that Samuel sees the apparent similarities between the Cain and Abel Bible story and the Trask family as he suggests