This is the blog -- the electronic home -- for Advanced Placement English Literature and Composition for the class of two-thousand eleven at Gloucester (MA) High School.
I remember about six years ago, when my sister was taking an AP English class here, she had to read East of Eden. I went to Catholic school from 1st to 7th grade, so I recognized the phrase in the title “east of Eden” as a biblical reference from the Old Testament. “East of Eden” is where God sent Cain after the murder of his brother Abel. Even knowing the story I wasn’t sure what to expect out of the large book before reading, because the Cain and Abel stories that I had read as a kid were very small. I figured it would be best to keep an open mind and prepare myself before reading the story, because the author was definitely going to throw in his take on the tale and some extra details added in that I wasn’t sure what to expect from. Such as; Is the author religious? A devote Christian, or is he going to bring about his own views of Christianity and add in controversial topics? I really was not sure what to expect which, of course, is why we chose to make this an “author study” versus a certain theme or time period.
The beginning chapters of the book explained the history of the setting, Salinas valley, and described the ancestry of the books characters. I noticed that the book was written similarly to the bible, with a lot of historical background about the families and their lives. As I remember for an example, after Cain is banished east of Eden, he then gets married and has a son Enoch, who then has Irad, who then has so on and so on… which is very similar to the history of the Trask and Hamilton families.
After reading most of Journal of a Novel: The East of Eden Letters, I have gained an insight to why John Steinbeck wrote his novel, East of Eden. This book is basically a collection of the letters that John Steinbeck wrote to his friend Pascal Covici to help inspire him while in the process of writing East of Eden. East of Eden was addressed to his two sons, Thomas and John. In the process of writing the novel the two boys had not reached adulthood yet, and he wrote the book to them so that they could read it, reflect on it, and learn from it later on in life. In the first letter Steinbeck writes, “It is not written for them to read now but when they are grown and the pains and joys have tousled them a little.” He address the book to his sons for two reasons. The first, to inspire and each them through a story of the bible about good and evil and the other is because Steinbeck feels that writing the book directly to his two sons will make the story more personable and, in talking directly to his sons, he will be able to speak directly to his readers also. This really intrigued me about Steinbeck, because many authors might write the book that they think will sell, like if East of Eden were written from a fancier, biblical point of view. But instead he wrote the book to speak directly to his readers, not to speak to a group of people or an entire audience.
I liked reading his process in the book because, before starting, he tells Pascal Covici about the idea in his head about the book, and he admits that he is not sure that he has the talents to put the idea into words. I think that we have all felt that way from time to time, even if it is just in an English class. Writing an essay can be challenging sometimes, especially if you have a complex idea in your head about what you are going to write about and you are not sure quite how to get it out on paper. I am really inspired and glad that I read this because I am going to use this technique next time I have to write a paper. I find that sharing my ideas with someone usually helps to get the work flowing, but sometimes I can forget all of the point and arguments I make. In writing a letter, you have a document of all the idea that came into your head, and unlike brainstorming, you feel that what you are writing has a purpose because it is a letter that you are writing to a friend.
I am also inspired by the fact that he dedicated the book to his two sons. He does state that he wants, “… to tell them directly, and perhaps by speaking directly to them I shall speak directly to other people.” But I feel that behind it was also the motive to take a step back and reassess the themes that he wanted his book to portray. By stating what he wanted his book to say to his sons, he was brainstorming what he wanted his book to say to his entire audience of readers. By creating his book off of the pureness of teaching and speaking to his sons about the struggles of life’s good and evil, he was able to create a book who’s themes were easy to understand and learn from. I also found this to be a very impressive way to create any forms of writing that I might pursue in the future. Direct writing towards a certain person or certain people in order to create the outlook that you want on your writing, and to eliminate the fancy “what they want to hear” garbage that may be thrown in unintentionally.
As I was reading the book the story of Cain and Abel came forth as soon as Adam and Charles Trask came into the story. I found it very easy to compare all of the characters to characters of the bible at different times in the story as I read. While Steinbeck tells of Adam Trask’s childhood, I could see Adam as Abel and Charles as Cain. Adam and Charles’ birthday gifts to their father, Cyrus, created a parallel to the biblical story when Cain and Abel gave offerings to God. Adam’s gift of a stray puppy was admired greatly and the puppy was trained and played with immediately, whereas Cain’s gift of a very expensive knife went almost unused. This part of the bible story always confused me when I was little, and now. Why didn’t God appreciate Cain’s gift the way that he appreciated Abel’s? It had to be some form of faith that Abel had that Cain did not that was not explained fully in the Bible. Steinbeck, I assume, saw the same thing. By making Cyrus a deceiving and dishonest character, one must truly love and have faith in him to believe that he was an good and honest man. This can be compared to those that believe in God. It is really very difficult to believe in God with no doubts in your head of his existence, but those who will be greatly loved by him, and I think that that is what Steinbeck is trying to show us using Charles and Adam. Charles then matches Cain again when he beats Adam out of jealousy. Later, he receives an ugly scar on his face which is like the curse/mark that God puts on Cain after he kills Abel. But this is only the first generation of the Trask family in the book.
The next generation comes from Adams children, or presumable children, with Cathy, a prostitute. (Charles sleeps with Cathy after he learns of her involvement with Adam, which means the boys could actually be Charles’ children, which would make sense if compared to the biblical story because in that story Abel never had children because he was murdered, and only Cain had children. But that is another topic for another post…) Adam’s children are Aron and Caleb. Aron can be seen as the Abel character, and Caleb can be seen as the Cain character. Aron is favored by his father Adam, although Adam does not realize that he is favoring one son over the other. Caleb’s jealousy, and Aron’s fear of evil ultimately leads to Aron’s demise in the war. When Caleb reveals to Aron that his mother Cathy is actually a prostitute working in a brothel, Aron cannot handle the thought and he enlists in the army and is killed in WWI.
As I was reading the book the story of Cain and Abel came forth as soon as Adam and Charles Trask came into the story. I found it very easy to compare all of the characters to characters of the bible at different times in the story as I read. While Steinbeck tells of Adam Trask’s childhood, I could see Adam as Abel and Charles as Cain. Adam and Charles’ birthday gifts to their father, Cyrus, created a parallel to the biblical story when Cain and Abel gave offerings to God. Adam’s gift of a stray puppy was admired greatly and the puppy was trained and played with immediately, whereas Cain’s gift of a very expensive knife went almost unused. This part of the bible story always confused me when I was little, and now. Why didn’t God appreciate Cain’s gift the way that he appreciated Abel’s? It had to be some form of faith that Abel had that Cain did not that was not explained fully in the Bible. Steinbeck, I assume, saw the same thing. By making Cyrus a deceiving and dishonest character, one must truly love and have faith in him to believe that he was an good and honest man. This can be compared to those that believe in God. It is really very difficult to believe in God with no doubts in your head of his existence, but those who will be greatly loved by him, and I think that that is what Steinbeck is trying to show us using Charles and Adam. Charles then matches Cain again when he beats Adam out of jealousy. Later, he receives an ugly scar on his face which is like the curse/mark that God puts on Cain after he kills Abel. But this is only the first generation of the Trask family in the book
The next generation comes from Adams children, or presumable children, with Cathy, a prostitute. (Charles sleeps with Cathy after he learns of her involvement with Adam, which means the boys could actually be Charles’ children, which would make sense if compared to the biblical story because in that story Abel never had children because he was murdered, and only Cain had children. But that is another topic for another post…) Adam’s children are Aron and Caleb. Aron can be seen as the Abel character, and Caleb can be seen as the Cain character. Aron is favored by his father Adam, although Adam does not realize that he is favoring one son over the other. Caleb’s jealousy, and Aron’s fear of evil ultimately leads to Aron’s demise in the war. When Caleb reveals to Aron that his mother Cathy is actually a prostitute working in a brothel, Aron cannot handle the thought and he enlists in the army and is killed in WWI.
Another way that I was able to figure out who was the Abel and who was the Cain character was the initials of their names. A for Abel, Adam and Aron. C for Cain, Charles and Caleb. C’s are used in just about every one of the characters displaying evil, including Cathy and Cyrus. A’s are also used to show the good in characters like Abra Hamilton.
It has been said before that murder and suicide bring about the devil in the world and make him stronger to show himself in the human form. It was very convenient that Mrs. Trask, never named only known as Cyrus’ first wife, commits suicide after finding out that Cyrus had an affair and contracted syphilis. I can see a parallel between her suicide and the reason that the book started off this way before getting into Adam’s childhood.
Background Info: Going into this book I wasn’t sure what to expect. Because of the title I knew there would be a religious affiliation a strong connection in particular with the story of the Garden of Eden. Was it only a religious story? Here are a few things I learned before reading the book: John Steinbeck was born in the Salinas Valley where the story of East of Eden is set. More interestingly he wrote the book for his two young sons where he wanted to describe every aspect of the Salinas Valley for them and what better a way to describe it then to compare it to the Garden of Eden? As a child Steinbeck lived here with his grandfather, Samuel Hamilton, which the “Hamilton family” in the story is said to be based off of. It is also said to describe the fall of Adam and Eve and also the story of Cain and Able ( http://www.dltk-bible.com/genesis/chapter4-cv1.htm ). Cain and Able are easily able to be seen as Adam and Charles Trask.
The book opens with the Narrator (who I’m assuming is Steinbeck) describing how he learned to differentiate east from west as a small boy living in the Salinas Valley. The descriptions dive into the separating of good versus evil. The east is denoted by the “gay and light” Gabilan Mountains where the narrator remembers west by the “unfriendly and dangerous” Santa Lucias Mountains. It just so happens that these are also the areas where the sun rose and fell each day depicting the aspects of light and dark. The Salinas Valley seemed to hang in the gray middle, just like the land where Adam and Eve were banished too.
Two very different families exemplified the story of Cain and Able while continuing to show the developing “good verse evil” theme. The Hamilton family is a poor Irish family living on unfertile land trying to make a living, while the Trask family lives on very fertile land, but are filled with hatred, anger, and jealousy. In the Trask household is Cyrus, Alice, Adam, and Charles.
Charles and Adam take on the roles of Cain and Able. Just like Cain, Charles beats his brother (but does not kill him) out of jealousy because of the attention obtained from their Father/father.
Arica, Hilary, and Michelle,
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI remember about six years ago, when my sister was taking an AP English class here, she had to read East of Eden. I went to Catholic school from 1st to 7th grade, so I recognized the phrase in the title “east of Eden” as a biblical reference from the Old Testament. “East of Eden” is where God sent Cain after the murder of his brother Abel. Even knowing the story I wasn’t sure what to expect out of the large book before reading, because the Cain and Abel stories that I had read as a kid were very small. I figured it would be best to keep an open mind and prepare myself before reading the story, because the author was definitely going to throw in his take on the tale and some extra details added in that I wasn’t sure what to expect from. Such as; Is the author religious? A devote Christian, or is he going to bring about his own views of Christianity and add in controversial topics? I really was not sure what to expect which, of course, is why we chose to make this an “author study” versus a certain theme or time period.
ReplyDeleteThe beginning chapters of the book explained the history of the setting, Salinas valley, and described the ancestry of the books characters. I noticed that the book was written similarly to the bible, with a lot of historical background about the families and their lives. As I remember for an example, after Cain is banished east of Eden, he then gets married and has a son Enoch, who then has Irad, who then has so on and so on… which is very similar to the history of the Trask and Hamilton families.
After reading most of Journal of a Novel: The East of Eden Letters, I have gained an insight to why John Steinbeck wrote his novel, East of Eden. This book is basically a collection of the letters that John Steinbeck wrote to his friend Pascal Covici to help inspire him while in the process of writing East of Eden. East of Eden was addressed to his two sons, Thomas and John. In the process of writing the novel the two boys had not reached adulthood yet, and he wrote the book to them so that they could read it, reflect on it, and learn from it later on in life. In the first letter Steinbeck writes, “It is not written for them to read now but when they are grown and the pains and joys have tousled them a little.” He address the book to his sons for two reasons. The first, to inspire and each them through a story of the bible about good and evil and the other is because Steinbeck feels that writing the book directly to his two sons will make the story more personable and, in talking directly to his sons, he will be able to speak directly to his readers also. This really intrigued me about Steinbeck, because many authors might write the book that they think will sell, like if East of Eden were written from a fancier, biblical point of view. But instead he wrote the book to speak directly to his readers, not to speak to a group of people or an entire audience.
ReplyDeleteI liked reading his process in the book because, before starting, he tells Pascal Covici about the idea in his head about the book, and he admits that he is not sure that he has the talents to put the idea into words. I think that we have all felt that way from time to time, even if it is just in an English class. Writing an essay can be challenging sometimes, especially if you have a complex idea in your head about what you are going to write about and you are not sure quite how to get it out on paper. I am really inspired and glad that I read this because I am going to use this technique next time I have to write a paper. I find that sharing my ideas with someone usually helps to get the work flowing, but sometimes I can forget all of the point and arguments I make. In writing a letter, you have a document of all the idea that came into your head, and unlike brainstorming, you feel that what you are writing has a purpose because it is a letter that you are writing to a friend.
ReplyDeleteI am also inspired by the fact that he dedicated the book to his two sons. He does state that he wants, “… to tell them directly, and perhaps by speaking directly to them I shall speak directly to other people.” But I feel that behind it was also the motive to take a step back and reassess the themes that he wanted his book to portray. By stating what he wanted his book to say to his sons, he was brainstorming what he wanted his book to say to his entire audience of readers. By creating his book off of the pureness of teaching and speaking to his sons about the struggles of life’s good and evil, he was able to create a book who’s themes were easy to understand and learn from. I also found this to be a very impressive way to create any forms of writing that I might pursue in the future. Direct writing towards a certain person or certain people in order to create the outlook that you want on your writing, and to eliminate the fancy “what they want to hear” garbage that may be thrown in unintentionally.
As I was reading the book the story of Cain and Abel came forth as soon as Adam and Charles Trask came into the story. I found it very easy to compare all of the characters to characters of the bible at different times in the story as I read. While Steinbeck tells of Adam Trask’s childhood, I could see Adam as Abel and Charles as Cain. Adam and Charles’ birthday gifts to their father, Cyrus, created a parallel to the biblical story when Cain and Abel gave offerings to God. Adam’s gift of a stray puppy was admired greatly and the puppy was trained and played with immediately, whereas Cain’s gift of a very expensive knife went almost unused. This part of the bible story always confused me when I was little, and now. Why didn’t God appreciate Cain’s gift the way that he appreciated Abel’s? It had to be some form of faith that Abel had that Cain did not that was not explained fully in the Bible. Steinbeck, I assume, saw the same thing. By making Cyrus a deceiving and dishonest character, one must truly love and have faith in him to believe that he was an good and honest man. This can be compared to those that believe in God. It is really very difficult to believe in God with no doubts in your head of his existence, but those who will be greatly loved by him, and I think that that is what Steinbeck is trying to show us using Charles and Adam. Charles then matches Cain again when he beats Adam out of jealousy. Later, he receives an ugly scar on his face which is like the curse/mark that God puts on Cain after he kills Abel. But this is only the first generation of the Trask family in the book.
ReplyDeleteThe next generation comes from Adams children, or presumable children, with Cathy, a prostitute. (Charles sleeps with Cathy after he learns of her involvement with Adam, which means the boys could actually be Charles’ children, which would make sense if compared to the biblical story because in that story Abel never had children because he was murdered, and only Cain had children. But that is another topic for another post…) Adam’s children are Aron and Caleb. Aron can be seen as the Abel character, and Caleb can be seen as the Cain character. Aron is favored by his father Adam, although Adam does not realize that he is favoring one son over the other. Caleb’s jealousy, and Aron’s fear of evil ultimately leads to Aron’s demise in the war. When Caleb reveals to Aron that his mother Cathy is actually a prostitute working in a brothel, Aron cannot handle the thought and he enlists in the army and is killed in WWI.
As I was reading the book the story of Cain and Abel came forth as soon as Adam and Charles Trask came into the story. I found it very easy to compare all of the characters to characters of the bible at different times in the story as I read. While Steinbeck tells of Adam Trask’s childhood, I could see Adam as Abel and Charles as Cain. Adam and Charles’ birthday gifts to their father, Cyrus, created a parallel to the biblical story when Cain and Abel gave offerings to God. Adam’s gift of a stray puppy was admired greatly and the puppy was trained and played with immediately, whereas Cain’s gift of a very expensive knife went almost unused. This part of the bible story always confused me when I was little, and now. Why didn’t God appreciate Cain’s gift the way that he appreciated Abel’s? It had to be some form of faith that Abel had that Cain did not that was not explained fully in the Bible. Steinbeck, I assume, saw the same thing. By making Cyrus a deceiving and dishonest character, one must truly love and have faith in him to believe that he was an good and honest man. This can be compared to those that believe in God. It is really very difficult to believe in God with no doubts in your head of his existence, but those who will be greatly loved by him, and I think that that is what Steinbeck is trying to show us using Charles and Adam. Charles then matches Cain again when he beats Adam out of jealousy. Later, he receives an ugly scar on his face which is like the curse/mark that God puts on Cain after he kills Abel. But this is only the first generation of the Trask family in the book
ReplyDeleteThe next generation comes from Adams children, or presumable children, with Cathy, a prostitute. (Charles sleeps with Cathy after he learns of her involvement with Adam, which means the boys could actually be Charles’ children, which would make sense if compared to the biblical story because in that story Abel never had children because he was murdered, and only Cain had children. But that is another topic for another post…) Adam’s children are Aron and Caleb. Aron can be seen as the Abel character, and Caleb can be seen as the Cain character. Aron is favored by his father Adam, although Adam does not realize that he is favoring one son over the other. Caleb’s jealousy, and Aron’s fear of evil ultimately leads to Aron’s demise in the war. When Caleb reveals to Aron that his mother Cathy is actually a prostitute working in a brothel, Aron cannot handle the thought and he enlists in the army and is killed in WWI.
ReplyDeleteAnother way that I was able to figure out who was the Abel and who was the Cain character was the initials of their names. A for Abel, Adam and Aron. C for Cain, Charles and Caleb. C’s are used in just about every one of the characters displaying evil, including Cathy and Cyrus. A’s are also used to show the good in characters like Abra Hamilton.
It has been said before that murder and suicide bring about the devil in the world and make him stronger to show himself in the human form. It was very convenient that Mrs. Trask, never named only known as Cyrus’ first wife, commits suicide after finding out that Cyrus had an affair and contracted syphilis. I can see a parallel between her suicide and the reason that the book started off this way before getting into Adam’s childhood.
Background Info:
ReplyDeleteGoing into this book I wasn’t sure what to expect. Because of the title I knew there would be a religious affiliation a strong connection in particular with the story of the Garden of Eden. Was it only a religious story? Here are a few things I learned before reading the book:
John Steinbeck was born in the Salinas Valley where the story of East of Eden is set. More interestingly he wrote the book for his two young sons where he wanted to describe every aspect of the Salinas Valley for them and what better a way to describe it then to compare it to the Garden of Eden? As a child Steinbeck lived here with his grandfather, Samuel Hamilton, which the “Hamilton family” in the story is said to be based off of.
It is also said to describe the fall of Adam and Eve and also the story of Cain and Able ( http://www.dltk-bible.com/genesis/chapter4-cv1.htm ). Cain and Able are easily able to be seen as Adam and Charles Trask.
The book opens with the Narrator (who I’m assuming is Steinbeck) describing how he learned to differentiate east from west as a small boy living in the Salinas Valley. The descriptions dive into the separating of good versus evil. The east is denoted by the “gay and light” Gabilan Mountains where the narrator remembers west by the “unfriendly and dangerous” Santa Lucias Mountains. It just so happens that these are also the areas where the sun rose and fell each day depicting the aspects of light and dark. The Salinas Valley seemed to hang in the gray middle, just like the land where Adam and Eve were banished too.
ReplyDeleteTwo very different families exemplified the story of Cain and Able while continuing to show the developing “good verse evil” theme. The Hamilton family is a poor Irish family living on unfertile land trying to make a living, while the Trask family lives on very fertile land, but are filled with hatred, anger, and jealousy. In the Trask household is Cyrus, Alice, Adam, and Charles.
Charles and Adam take on the roles of Cain and Able. Just like Cain, Charles beats his brother (but does not kill him) out of jealousy because of the attention obtained from their Father/father.