East of Eden
Sometimes a book comes to you when you are in the right mood. It can feel like you’re ricocheting off the previous book on a certain course. Sometimes you can’t even read the book that you’re on because all you can think about is the next one. Two books were already in the queue for me to read. I still went out and bought East of Eden.
The novel is mostly set in the Salinas Valley in California. Samuel Hamilton is the loquacious father of nine children who lives the expression, ‘A man without words to speak is a man without thought.’ He is a thinker, an inventor and an Irish immigrant to the country. He manages to surpass his outsider status in the community and becomes one of the most known and liked men around, yet the cost of his patents continually bankrupts the family. Liza Hamilton is his opposite: stern and thrifty. She believes strongly in the bible and the austerity it advocates. Her decision making is shrewd and she continually brings Samuel sharply back to earth.
On the opposite side of the country Cyrus Trask is the father of Adam and Charles, two boys who are one of the two representations of Cain and Abel in the novel. Charles is fierce, physical and resents Adam for the way Cyrus seems to love him more. As the two grow older, their temperaments deepen in their opposition and they find it hard to connect. Their father’s death and the fortune left for the men in his will divide them further. Adam wants to move to California and Charles is content with working on the farm where he grew up and not making any use of his share of the money.
One morning they find a woman on their doorstep who has been beaten close to death. The woman is Cathy, who will tear the brothers apart as Adam falls in love with her and decides to move to California and start a family. Charles however, sees the truth of Cathy: her soulless capacity for evil. Although only young, she is manipulative, remorseless and incapable of feeling love.
The back of the penguin edition I bought mentions the novel’s focus on Steinbeck’s most enduring themes: the mystery of identity, the inexplicability of love and the murderous consequences of love’s absence. The binary themes of good and evil are returned to throughout the novel and set up constant digressions about the grey area in between. We are witness to the thoughts of characters as they make difficult decisions and interrogate their self-deception. I was impressed by the level of realism Steinbeck brings to represent such clear psychological understanding of the human habit of overthinking.
This is backed up by philosophical dialogue among the characters, especially from Sam Hamilton and Lee, the Chinese servant Adam Trask employs. Lee presents as the wisest character in the novel. He is aware of the reasons that people make choices and is precise about taking action or holding back. He can speak fluent English, but in public he speaks pidgin because he doesn’t want to draw attention to himself. I enjoyed waiting for him to weigh in with his thoughts.
The returning motif of the novel, central to the story of Cain and Abel is the word Timshel, a Hebrew word meaning ‘thou mayest.’ In the story of Genesis, Abel kept flocks while Cain worked the soil. Abel then brought an offering to God, a firstborn from his flock and Cain brought God fruit from the land. The lord then looks with favour on Abel, but not on Cain. Cain is angry, but then the Lord says to Cain, “Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it.”’ The ‘you must’ is translated differently in different bibles. Lee researches it with other Chinese scholars in San Francisco and comes to a conclusion that the translation should be ‘thou mayest.’ The ability to exercise a choice in the matter is the key.
This passage forms the grounds from which the conflicts in the novel takes place. The two generations of Trask brothers, representing Cain and Abel, both mimic the passage of Genesis in their relationship to their fathers. I thought that Cal, the son of Adam likened to Cain, was the most compelling character with regard to this theme. His journey was complex, and eventually led to a precise culmination in the final pages that is rarely as fine-tuned and satisfying in other novels I have read.
Steinbeck’s writing style can trend toward the simple and in some conversations between characters the detailed realism of every sentence felt unnecessary. However, the book was written in the 50s about the 00s so in some ways the simplicity of the time is ingrained. But it was an effort to relocate myself in the country and era that I was reading in every time I picked up the book.
I didn’t have a problem with any of the characters except for Cathy. The disturbing nature of her personality and the things she was capable of were presented in such a cold and secretive way, never really giving away the details of the depravity. It felt like Steinbeck did this in a way to represent the cold, modern world but the style of writing surrounding her came off as overdone and hollow at times. Cathy is somehow just born with this pure evil temperament. It seems to run against the grain of the meaning of Timshel.
Summing up it was difficult to get into from an Australian perspective, without the knowledge of American history and geography. I would recommend to readers who are looking for well-drawn, wisdom-spouting characters. I think it could be the most adages I’ve seen in a single book. Some sections are lacklustre, but it kind of balances out the high-sheen of aphorisms. Overall, I can say my mood for classics was satisfied. On to something from this decade.
