East Of Eden Literary Analysis

In East of Eden by John Steinbeck, the individual family members earn their love only after struggling through loneliness, rejection, and sin caused by other family members. Strength comes from love and weakness comes from loneliness. When faced with the absence of their loved ones, characters crack and become feeble. The “darkness” that surrounds Adam leaves him ignoring his children for the first, vital years of their lives (Steinbeck 258). When Catherine leaves Adam, Adam becomes weak. However, he discovers compelling strength when he finally gets to know and love his sons, allowing him to move past his isolation. If Adam had stayed in his bubble of seclusion, then his children would have received the majority of the punishment because of the absence of their mother and now their father. From her love to her
purity, Aron idealizes “what of Abra he made” (Steinbeck 524). On the other hand, Abra feels as though Aron has carefully crafted her into a perfect idol, one that Aron can never love if he finds out her true personality. The “other girl” that Samuel Hamilton lost in Ireland leaves him in a heartbroken situation; he is seemingly never the same again (Steinbeck 9). However, he is able to overcome this loss and move on to find a new love, his wife Liza, and have children. Rejection of the son by the fathers recurs throughout generations.
Charles feels as though Cyrus rejects his love but accepts Adam’s; similarly, Cal feels like Adam rejects his love but accepts Aron’s. Cyrus flat out says to Adam, “I love you better” (Steinbeck 28). Although Cyrus loves Adam better than Charles, Adam only admires Cyrus and does not truly love him. Ironically, Charles loves Cyrus, but Cyrus does not have the same feelings toward Charles. Cal “wished” and hopes so badly that he could be like Aron that he now thrives off of the feeling of triumph over his brother (Steinbeck 349). Cal does not take his feelings of rejection and jealousy out on his competition—his brother Aron. Instead, he eliminates these feelings by going directly to the source—his father Adam. However, this tactic does not get him very far, as it leaves him in the same rejected state as before. Cal’s “jealous[y]” teaches him that in order to eliminate rejection, he has to take revenge on Aron (Steinbeck 538). His jealousy takes them to their mother’s prostitution house where Cal knows Aron will finally break and become the least favorite child, finally making Cal
superior. Some sins can never be forgiven. Although Cyrus tries so hard to earn his sons’ love, his sins prevent him from doing so. In order to gain an important government position, Cyrus is “dishonest;” he lies about his military record in the American Civil War. And although Charles and Adam do not discover his untruths until he is dead, they are still unsure about their love for him (Steinbeck 65). Charles and Adam convince themselves that “everyone knows” about their father’s lies, condemning them to a life in their father’s dishonest footsteps (Steinbeck 69). Initially, with their father’s ill-gained fortune, Charles and Adam feel as though they have to live out the rest of their lives very difficultly. However, they ultimately choose those rocky paths on their own. The “suspicious” and “unpleasant” sins that Cyrus commits in his past in no way affect the mistakes that Adam and Charles make. The sons are trying to learn from Cyrus’s doomed life and create a better one for themselves. Unfortunately, they both fail to do so. Throughout the novel, the constant struggle between father and son proves that some sins can never be forgiven. Because of said sins, loneliness recurs throughout the novel portraying itself as weakness. On a happier note, the few characters that achieve love are ultimately strengthened and empowered.