East of Eden
by John Steinbeck
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Book Summary Information
Author: John SteinbeckEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2002-02-05
ISBN: 0142000655
Number of pages: 601
Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics)
Book Reviews of East of Eden
Book Review: In the Land of Cain
Summary: 5 Stars
After the slaying of his brother, the biblical Cain dwelt in the land "east of Eden," protected from the wrath of men by the divine mark placed upon him but vulnerable to his own sense of guilt and its consequence, a forlorn and hateful existence. Does Cain still have the choice of salvation through self-determination or is he foredoomed to damnation?
The answer to this question is crucial to the characters in Steinbeck's novel, where parallels to Cain and his brother, Abel, are abundant. Predestination or self-determination? Both philosophies come to bear on the characters in this story. We see the unrelenting descent into sin and depravity by the child Catherine as her cold and calculating acts become ever more heinous and she devolves from the girl Cathy into the woman Kate, the madam of a house of sadism. At the end, Kate frightens herself into suicide, which, by the way, is one of Steinbeck's powerful ironies inasmuch as the person whom Kate fears is, unbeknownst to her, already dead.
Of all the persons whom we meet in this novel, Kate alone seems to have no hope of salvation, and this hardly seems fair for she alone seems to have had no choice. She alone appears predestined to damnation. She alone feels no remorse, no guilt, indeed nothing at all. She alone is utterly cold and empty of human emotion. She is preternaturally evil, and she seems to have been born thus. Is she, then, the counterpart of the biblical Eve, whose act of disobedience was so unforgivably heinous that not only she but all of her progeny were driven from the Garden of Eden into a dark, painful world and made to suffer for her Original Sin for as long as mankind shall exist? (We must accept Christian mythology here for sake of discussion.)
As the biblical Eve was the consort of the biblical Adam, and the dam of Cain and Abel, so Kate begets Caleb and Aron, who are raised as the sons of her husband, Adam Trask. The fact that Adam's brother Charles was the biological father adds even more to the ponderous weight of sin that courses through the novel. Can the generations ever be freed of spiritual darkness? The answer lies in Timshel, the Hebrew verb meaning, according to the Oriental servant and philosopher Lee, "thou mayest," a translation different from that commonly accepted in the King James Version of the Bible.
Lee suggests that God continues to give man a choice, free will to work toward repentance and salvation or toward sin and damnation. "Thou mayest" follow the course that thou will. Caleb, even though he feels that he is mean and ugly and that his actions led to Aron's death, hence making him a murderer as surely as Cain was a murderer, may nevertheless prove to be the turning point and achieve salvation. If he manages this, it will be through the influence and aid of Abra, and her presence in the story saves Steinbeck from being labeled a misogynist, to which his portrayal of Kate would surely have led. Still, the turning point lies in the future beyond the end of the novel, and Steinbeck does not tell us whether or not Cal succeeds. Abra's name inevitably reminds me of that of Abraham, too; are she and Cal destined to be the founders of future "saved" generations?
These are only a few of the major themes that weave through this work. We could also explore the fatal flaw shared by Adam and his son Aron, their failure to see reality and their insistence of living in a world that is as insubstantial as their naïve dreams. Thus do they contribute to their own destruction. We could examine more of the ironies of life that permeate this novel, as they do all of Steinbeck's creations. Suffice it to say that EAST OF EDEN is full of both interest and meaning, for it speaks to the essential question of mankind's spiritual salvation, a question that has resulted in tremendous schisms among theologians, and it speaks to this question through a constantly evolving plot that captures the reader's interest immediately and pulls him through the novel without pity!
This book probably belongs on the "must-read" list of American novels, and I commend it and its message to every literate adult (and precocious teenager) who possesses the will and the courage to examine the most basic of human choices and who is willing to decide for himself how to translate "Timshel." However, there is a prerequisite reading assignment. Before starting EAST OF EDEN, do read at least Chapters 3 and 4 from the Book of Genesis. They're short, but without some knowledge of them, the reader will miss the point that Steinbeck so intriguingly makes.
Summary of East of Eden
Today, nearly forty years after his death, Nobel Prize winner John Steinbeck remains one of America?s greatest writers and cultural figures. We have begun publishing his many works for the first time as blackspine Penguin Classics featuring eye-catching, newly commissioned art. This season we continue with the seven spectacular and influential books East of Eden, Cannery Row, In Dubious Battle, The Long Valley, The Moon Is Down, The Pastures of Heaven, and Tortilla Flat. Penguin Classics is proud to present these seminal works to a new generation of readers?and to the many who revisit them again and again.Classics Books
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