Adam Trask Analysis

An Interview With Adam Trask: East of Eden Today I will be interview Adam Trask from John Steinbeck’s bestseller East of Eden. East of Eden, of course, is the story of the Trask and Hamilton families who live in the United States from 1862 to 1918. The book is mostly about the Trask family starting when Adam and his brother Charles were kids and continuing until Aron, one of Adam’s twin boys, dies after going to war. Adam throughout the story tries to be kind and do the right thing although he is flawed and makes the same mistake as his father, loving one of his sons more than the other. Since all of main characters interact with Adam, he is the ideal character to interview in order to get a more personal insight to East of Eden.
MC: Hello Adam.
Thank you so much for meeting with me today.
AT: My pleasure.
MC: So first I wanted to ask you some questions about your childhood and work up to where East of Eden left off.
AT: Sounds good.
MC: So how did it feel to grow up with a father that was so respected that “‘ the Vice President came to his funeral. The President sent a wreath. There was a line of carriages half a mile long and hundreds of people on foot’” (Steinbeck 91) ?
AT: I never really loved my father. In fact when I got back from war and saw my father he was like a stranger to me. He went from being my father to some kind of war expert. And it turns out the all of that fame was for nothing. “ The first time he saw the enemy was at eight o’clock one spring morning , and at eight-thirty he was hit in the right leg by a heavy slug that mashed and splintered the bones beyond repair” (18). He was no war hero.
MC: What about living with your brother Charles?
AT: When I was younger, I feared my brother. He would always pick fights with me. When I got back from war I finally wasn’t afraid of him. Then when were were older, we lived together on a farm. I would get after him for wanting to get up at the crack of dawn to start work, “‘ Hal We then fought about what to do with Cathy when she showed up beaten and bruised in front of our house. I moved to California with Cathy and never saw my brother again. We didn’t even keep in touch. That didn’t really bother me though, seen we were never really close and had such different personalities.
MC: How did you feel after your wife, Cathy, shot you and ran away?
AT: I was miserable. Cathy was my whole life. For almost a year I sat around and moped. I did not even name my sons. Samuel Hamilton came over one day and literally slapped some sense into me. That was the day the twins, Aron and Cal got their names. From then on I became a bit more lively, but still I let Lee, my Chinese worker, take care of the boys and let him know the boys.
MC: How did you feel when you found out that your wife was alive and lived in a nearby town?
AT: “ It made me a little crazy at first, but now I’m all right” (418). After Samuel’s funeral I actually when Kate’s prostitute house and I am glad I went. It gave me closure to see her again. I realised that I was never mad at her. In fact I pitied her. I hope she has found some peace in death.
MC: Do you believe that you repeated the sins of your father?
AT: To an extend I think I have. Charles believed that my father loved me over him, which lead him to a life of unfulfillment. The same has happened with my boys. Cal believes that I don’t love him as much as his brother. In that way I have failed. But in other ways I didn’t repeat his sins. I have never pretended to be someone that I am not like my father.
MC: What do you most regret in life?
AT: I regret that I indirectly killed my son, Aron. I wish that I would have shown my sons equal love. If Cal did not feel so unloved he would have never shown Aron his mother, which caused Aron to enlist in the war and die. Or maybe if I had told them about their mother earlier. Either way it is my fault.
MC: Well again thank you so much for time. It has been a pleasure to interview
you.
AT: Thanks for having me.