East of Eden

to greatness, some are able to rise above and achieve that coveted honor. However, to achieve this, some must sacrifice everything, including their morals. In East of Eden by John Steinbeck, and Macbeth by William Shakespeare, the main characters demonstrate the consequences of the temptations of greed and undeserved power. In East of Eden, Cathy, a beautiful and devious woman, spends her entire life manipulating others and moving her way up in the world. Eventually she meets Adam, who falls in…

East of Eden, by John Steinbeck is a novel that heavily relies on the concept of good versus evil. Without this concept, many storylines would chang and the setting of the story would also be different. East of Eden has many prominent topics and arguable points, however a major part of the story is that good versus evil has a major impact on the novel and is a central idea in the dichotomy in the book. Also, many characteristics of characters can relate to events that happen in the book of…

our mining: ‘Thou mayest.’ ‘Thou mayest rule over sin’”(Steinbeck 303). “Thou mayest” is a concept that many people use today. Everyone in our society chooses who they want to become, whether it is a job or a lifestyle. In John Steinbeck’s novel, East of Eden, he also portrays the ability to choose your destiny, also known as timshel or “Thou mayest”. In the novel, two families have intertwined destinies that reenact the Cain and Abel bible story. The Trask and Hamilton family have both evil and…

Who knew a rich young white girl and an old Chinese cook could have so much in common? Of all the characters in the book, East of Eden, by John Steinbeck, the two that seem to share the closest and purest bond are Lee and Abra. Lee is the cook for the Trasks, and Abra is the daughter of the rich county supervisor, but even though they come from very different walks of life, their differences bring them as close as their similarities do. From the beginning, Lee and Abra seem very different…

All things truly wicked start from innocence- hemmingway(use this as conclusion) The obscurity of one’s character can prove to be an essential trait. In the novel, East of Eden, John Steinbeck dramatizes the ongoing conflict between good and evil in the society of the Salinas Valley through the individuals of the Hamilton and Trask families. Caleb, in particular, stands out to be the epitome of a morally ambiguous character. Having the versatile ability to express conflicting intentions; good…

immigrants, and Americans of a different racial background in horrific manners. Throughout the years, people of a non white lineage are seen as the minority of a power thirsty country. David Guterson’s Snow Falling on Cedars, and John Steinbeck’s East of Eden, depicts the traditional, ever-so-proud, American society. Each writer portrays the life of characters who are of a racial minority in a setting where the white-race is dominant,…

Character Analysis: The character that is driving force of this novel is Cathy Ames. She is an antagonist because she has a very deceptive and superstitious personality. Cathy is an only child, has blonde hair, hazel eyes with droopy eyelids which make her seem sleepy, and is always very slender and delicate. She gives off a troubled vibe to others around her, yet she always seems as innocent as a child. From a very small age, Cathy told lies; however, she lies differently in such a manner as to…

The Description and Location of the Garden of Eden The Holman Bible Atlas describes the Garden of Eden as a well-watered place. A place of life giving water and fertile land where God made provisions for Adam and Eve. The Garden was full of many fruit bearing trees, one of which Adam was told not to eat of. Holman refers to the Genesis chapter 2 account when describing the river Euphrates that went out of Eden and was parted into four heads (rivers).The text offers three proposed locations for…

biblical Garden of Eden, yet his novels and the scriptural story show distinct resemblance to the ancient Greek myth, Pandora’s Box. As Rebecca Barnes stated, “The myth of Pandora bears striking similarities to the Christian creation myth most frequently associated with Steinbeck’s novels” (Barnes, 159) Women are depicted as releasing evil throughout history, especially in John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men and East of Eden which hold heavy similarities not only to the story, the Garden of Eden,…

In Hebrew, Eden directly translates to delight, so the Garden of Eden is literally the garden of delight. The New Revised Standard Version of the Bible contains the book of Genesis where the creation story of Adam and Eve is told. In the biblical story of Adam and Eve, they live in the paradise of Eden until they commit the original sin. Living in the Garden of Eden seemed difficult to Adam and Eve until they came to the realization of the many other challenges life has to offer outside of the…