East of Eden
Literary Analysis of East of Eden
The Author and His/ Her Times: The author of East of Eden is John Steinbeck. Steinbeck was born in Salinas California, one of the settings in East of Eden. His mother, a former school teacher, and helped him build his passion for reading and the written word. He speaks of her and her family in his book. They play a vital role in the progression of the book.
Many of Steinbeck’s novels could be classified as social novels. His novels usually deal with economic problems in rural labor. You can see this reflected in his novels as they are used to help tell the story. In east of Eden Steinbeck uses history two tell of two families the Trask’s and the Hamilton’s, which are his own family. Before Steinbeck became famous for his works, he first tried to be a free lance writer in New York but failed and returned to California.
Form/Structure, Plot: East of Eden is organized through many different means. Throughout the book there are multiple individual stories that as the story move’s they all intertwine together. Also the whole book is based around the idea of Timshel. Timshel is a word that is translated to “Thou mayest”, which gives man the choice of good or evil. This is used in each of the individual stories for each of the characters as they make their choices. This is focused in on the main story and it shows how the individual stories change the main one throughout the plot. As it starts as simple and moves to a more complex intriguing story plot. The chapters tend to introduce you to the main focus that it intends to focus on, by Steinbeck opening you up to things you wouldn’t normally think on. But it grabs your attention, to where you continue to ponder on what he says as you read through the chapter. To better understand here is a brief outline of the books plot. East of Eden tells the stories of the Trask’s and the Hamilton’s and through three generations over the span of almost 60 years. It begins in the Salinas
The Author and His/ Her Times: The author of East of Eden is John Steinbeck. Steinbeck was born in Salinas California, one of the settings in East of Eden. His mother, a former school teacher, and helped him build his passion for reading and the written word. He speaks of her and her family in his book. They play a vital role in the progression of the book.
Many of Steinbeck’s novels could be classified as social novels. His novels usually deal with economic problems in rural labor. You can see this reflected in his novels as they are used to help tell the story. In east of Eden Steinbeck uses history two tell of two families the Trask’s and the Hamilton’s, which are his own family. Before Steinbeck became famous for his works, he first tried to be a free lance writer in New York but failed and returned to California.
Form/Structure, Plot: East of Eden is organized through many different means. Throughout the book there are multiple individual stories that as the story move’s they all intertwine together. Also the whole book is based around the idea of Timshel. Timshel is a word that is translated to “Thou mayest”, which gives man the choice of good or evil. This is used in each of the individual stories for each of the characters as they make their choices. This is focused in on the main story and it shows how the individual stories change the main one throughout the plot. As it starts as simple and moves to a more complex intriguing story plot. The chapters tend to introduce you to the main focus that it intends to focus on, by Steinbeck opening you up to things you wouldn’t normally think on. But it grabs your attention, to where you continue to ponder on what he says as you read through the chapter. To better understand here is a brief outline of the books plot. East of Eden tells the stories of the Trask’s and the Hamilton’s and through three generations over the span of almost 60 years. It begins in the Salinas
Cited: Steinbeck, John. East of Eden. New York: Penguin Books, 2002. "John Steinbeck 's Biography". National Steinbeck Center. <http://www.steinbeck.org/Bio.html >. "East of Eden". Spark Notes. <http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/eastofeden/facts.html>. Liukkonen , Petri . "John Steinbeck". <http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/johnstei.htm >. "John Steinbeck Bioghraphy". Nobelprize.org. <http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/1962/steinbeck- bio.html>. "What does "Timshel" mean? ". Timshel Theatre Company. <http://www.timsheltheatre.com/about_timshel>. "East of Eden Summary & Study Guide". eNotes . < http://www.enotes.com/east-eden >. "East of Eden". Spark Notes . < http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/eastofeden/summary.html >. "Jason 's review of East of Eden". Good Reads. <http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/64689815 >.