Literary Analysis East of Eden

1.       The exposition of the novel is concerned with introducing the major characters and their background.  Steinbeck my change settings and leave characters behind for a couple of chapters, but they will always have an importance later in the story.  He start by describing Samuel Hamilton and his family living in Salinas.  Then he tells of the childhood of Adam and Charles Trask in the east, who acquires a large sum of money of enigmatic origins from the passing of their father.  He also describes the devious Cathy Ames, who feels no remorse and becomes leaches off of a married man who fell in love with her.  The stories intertwine when Cathy is badly beaten by the disillusioned man and winds up on the doorstep of Charles and Adam.  Charles distrusts her but Adam is enthralled and asks her to marry him after she recovers.  She agrees, secretly deciding she will use him to get back on her feet and move on with her plan.  Adam and Cathy agree to leave for California.  Before they leave, Cathy cheats on Adam with his brother.  We later find that Charles is the father of Adam’s twin sons, Cal and Aron.  In California Cathy gives birth to the twins, and then leaves as soon as she is recovered.  She shoots Adam in the shoulder and leaves the family forever.  She becomes a prostitute and gains the favor of her madam until she replaces her role.  Adam is devastated.  It is not until several months later after the prodding of Sam Hamilton and Adam’s servant Lee that he even names the boys.  Growing up, the twins are raised by Lee more than by their father. They are not told about their mother. Aaron is amiable well-received.  Cal is smarter but struggles in the shadow of his brother.  When they are about twelve, Adam steps back into the picture as a real father.  Cal wanders out at night and one night finds out who his real mother is. Aron falls in love with a girl named Abra.  They are happy until Aron starts studying to be a minister and becomes committed to perfection and celibacy. He ends up going to Stanford, his tuition paid by Cal who becomes working with Sam Hamilton’s son Will in business. When he is away studying he paints Abra into a perfect sinless person that she is not.  He comes back for Thanksgiving and is greeted by Cal and Adam.  At the reunion Adam voices his displeasure for Cal’s monetary earnings and says he earned them dishonestly.  Cal lashes out against his father’s preference of Aron and tells how his mother is a prostitute.  Aron is shattered and changes his life by joining the army.  Aron’s parents both cannot handle this.  Cathy commits suicide upon hearing of her son’s reaction to her and Adam goes into a stroke.  The story ends with Adam on his deathbed, finally offering his blessing to Cal.
2.      The theme of the novel is overcoming a predisposition to evil.  Inherited from his mother, Cal struggles with his darker qualities.  He even prays to be good and more like his brother.  His cognizance of his heritage first makes him despair that he is doomed to being evil.  But Lee vehemently tells him that he cannot put this on his inheritance and that he is ultimately the one responsible for his being good or bad.  In the end, he overcomes his predisposition and gains the blessing of his father for it.
3.  Steinbeck’s tone is both informative and entertaining.  This is what makes him such a great raconteur.  My favorite example is when he is describing Cal and Aron.  He notes that upon finding an ant hill, Aron would “lie on his stomach and watch the complications of ant life.”  Cal, on the other hand, would “kick it to pieces and watch as the frantic ants took care of their disaster.”   His tone is also open and perceptive.  He owns that his voice is not unimpeachable- he wonders “if it was true” what he said early about Cathy being a monster.  His casual informative tone is also demonstrated when he says “there is so much to tell about the Western country that it is hard to know where to start.”
4.  Steinbeck utilizes extended metaphor in the passage about anthills I mentioned earlier. (pg 545)  He also uses a long descriptive passage to start the story. (Ch 1)  Throughout the novel, he utilizes dialogue to develop the characters.  He uses an allusion to the story of Cain and Abel on page 300. The passage parallels fraternal relationships throughout the novel.  He also uses colloquial language throughout the novel.  An interesting technique he uses is contrasting Lee’s pidgin talk and his normal voice.  (Pg 261, Pg 185)  A couple times in the novel he uses first person, mentioning how a character is related to him.  He uses hyperboles like “she had a terrible eye which could blanch of the skin of a bad child as easily as an almond.” (pg 149)  Another technique used throughout the novel is switching character point of view.  By doing this, the novel comes together like pieces of a puzzle.  Steinbeck also personifies sins when describing Tom Hamilton’s story.  His sins take a human form and torture him into suicide. (pg 405)