Literary Genealogy

Warning: partial plot spoiler

After class today I remembered an aspect of East of Eden that we only briefly touched on in class. The role of money throughout the novel fascinated me. On one hand there are the Hamiltons. Sam Hamilton and his family live on quite an unyielding plot of land. When his children are little, the family seems to always be in need of money. However, Sam always seems like such a happy man. He attracts visitors because they love his personality and his stories. But they live in a farming community on a plot of infertile land. At one point Steinbeck explains that Sam still has the respect of the community because he can blacksmith and bore wells and so on--just as long as he dies some kind of manual labor. Through everything, the Hamiltons still make their barren land a home. Most of the children end up living an adequate life in town, probably making more than their father. Will is discussed in detail because he becomes very rich. He is a shrewd businessman who takes care of his own wealth and also does the logistical work for the family. However he is not a dreamer like many of the Hamiltons. Steinbeck describes that his family accepted him because he was their brother, but they never had much in common. The family never quite understood him, and he didn't understand them. Cal's relationship with Will is very straightforward and there is a depth of understanding between them.

Apart from the Hamiltons, there are the Trasks. Adam is a rich man because of his father's wrong doings. I remarked in class today that I had never considered that Adam considers himself honorable and yet lives off of the thievery of a father he never loved. Maybe because he doesn't love his father he doesn't care how dishonest he was. Maybe in his detachment from his father, Adam detaches himself from the evil past of his money. Charles, on the other hand, wants to give the money back after he learns about his father's past. This, of course, leads back to the humanizing of Cain.

That part of the novel reminded me of when Cal gives Adam the $15,000 he made with Will off the bean futures. This scene is Adam's rejection of Cal's gift. Why is money used here when Cain gave vegetables and farmed goods? Adam scolds Cal for giving him money that was made dishonestly by exploiting farmers during a war. Adam is hypocritical since his own inheritance came from thievery. Cal never doubted that he wanted to buy his father's love with the money, but even that wasn't enough. Adam doubles as God in this scene and makes the reader question God's motives. Here Adam is hypocritical and harsh to his own son. What does that say about God's treatment of Cain, of God's treatment of mankind?
Money is a fickle and vital part of the novel in the role of inheritance. A novel about family history certainly needs inheritance. There are three wills in the novel that give large sums of money to seemingly strange characters. First, of course, is Cyrus Trask's will in which he splits his money between Adam and Charles. Adam uses it to go west and build an Eden, and Charles hardly spends a dime of it. Next is Charles' will that splits his fortune between Adam and Cathy. How strange of Charles to give half the money to Cathy, a woman he hates. Does he do it to punish Adam? Perhaps he hopes that by giving her the money, she will finally leave Adam alone and run away. The third will is Cathy's. She leaves all her money to Aron. She doesn't give it to Cal because he scares her. She sees herself in him and he can see right through her. Aron is seemingly the angelic one who looks like Cathy's own mask. His face torments her after he visits the whorehouse. How did this teenager affect her so deeply?

Through the three wills there is a direct passing of the same dirty money. Cyrus to Charles, Charles to Cathy, Cathy to Aron. I think maybe the symbol of money represents mankind's sins leading back to Cain. The argument would be stronger if the money had started with Charles, but the fact that it starts with his father says something even more poignant. Charles didn't want the money, and even though his is a Cain figure, he has more honor than Adam. So if the sins start with the father of Cain and Abel who is Adam. Does this refer to the original sin and that is what is inherited? I see Cyrus as maybe a God figure in his unloving demeanor. Did God give Cain the power to kill his brother? If God created man, isn't he responsible for the fall from Eden and for Cain's wrath? What about the idea of timshel? Maybe God just gave Cain the choice to triumph over sin or fall prey to it. I haven't quite made my mind up, but I certainly think there is something to the symbolism of money as something inherited

East of Eden

So far I have really enjoyed reading East of Eden. The relationship between Adam and Charles is startling, especially through childhood. Charles' rage and his capacity to commit spiteful acts against his own brother is frightening and it is something I keep in mind as I continue to read abotu Charles. Charles seems to be dangerous even as he grows up and grows lonely. When he lives alone on the farm the vulnerability of his lonliness is captivating and it almost gains my sympathy. I can't put my finger on it, but something in Charles scares me. He does redeem himself with his obvious hostility towards Cathy Ames. Cathy scares me a lot more than Charles ever could. Charles has shown his weaknesses in his want of compainionship, but Cathy's only weakness is alcohol. I admire her ability to get what she wants; she is a master in deception. I want to scream at Adam to leave her which makes me frustrated with his poor sense of her character. Adam is a genuine guy. He is so kind to Cathy and his plans to make his new farm into a garden are beautiful. But Adam has some obvious flaws. First is his bad judgement of Cathy/his inability to ever really see her. He is a dreamer and his imagination usurped his perception of reality. I would pity him, but I can't bring myself to. What makes it more difficult are his actions after the shooting. He can't bring himself out of his dumbfounded, heartbroken state to see that he has two sons that are his reponsibility. Lee practically raises the boys and Adam just sits around wallowing. Perhaps if he had turned his negative energy into attention and love for his boys, he would have been able to move on. This novel has captured the essence of humanity, which is fitting since it is the story of Genesis and the beginnings of man. When Samuel, Adam, and Lee name the boys, the story of Cain and Abel fits so perfectly into the novel. The transition is so smooth and the themes are so poignant to East of Eden. It's important to note that Cain was a farmer, just like almost everyone in Salinas. He was rejected by God because God didn't like his offering as much as he liked Abel's. When Cain is banished by God, he goes east of Eden to Nod. I loved the part in the chaper 22 when the title's meaning is placed so eloquently into the story. I like to think that Salinas is the land eat of Eden, and all its inhabitants are the descendants of Cain. In fact, Samuel points out that "we are Cain's children (270)." So it seems Salinas could be any town and its inhabitants could be anyone and the same pains and joys of mankind would be present.

Knowledge and the fall of man...

Even before beginning my foray into Steinbeck's East of Eden, I knew that the biblical allusion to Eden and the fall of man would play an important role. As I continue to delve into the text, however, I am having trouble making sense of how Steinbeck intends the allusion to function.

One interesting connection that weaves between both the Trasks and Hamiltons is how a little bit of knowledge ends up complicating things. For instance, Liza Hamilton's discovery of alcohol at the ripe old age of 70 leads her from a life of devout piousness to never "[drawing] a completely sober breath" (43). Charles Trask discovers that his father loves Adam better (note the name and biblical allusion), and this leads to Adam's whomping. Lastly, when Adam Trask's mother learns that she has contracted a disease Cyrus brought back from the war, she commits suicide.

In any case, the Salinas River seems to be the rich, lush Eden. As the story unfolds, it will be interesting to see how the knowledge of the Trask family fortune will impact the Trask brothers.