John Steinbeck's East Of Eden

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As the reader embarks on the journey through part one of John Steinbeck’s “East of Eden”, they shall find underlying secrets which point to the struggles between good and evil, that reside within every human being that is brought into the world since the time of Adam and Eve. Steinbeck starts out by describing the land surrounding Salinas Valley. In his description of Salinas Valley, he defines what is good and evil, which allows the reader to unlock the secrets being told if one is looking for them. John Steinbeck himself said about East of Eden that Your literate and understanding man will take joy of finding the secrets hidden in this book almost as though he searched for treasure, but we must never tell anyone they are here. Let them be …show more content…
Steinbeck even gives Adam and Charles the same first initials. However, when taking a closer look at these two characters you might find that Adam is both Abel and Cain and Charles is both Cain and Abel. The biblical story of Cain and Abel begins with an offering to God. Abel being the shepherd, chose to offer the first of his flock. Cain was a farmer and brought forth grain as his offering. God accepted Abel’s offering with respect, but for Cain, God did not have respect for Cain’s offering, so Cain becomes …show more content…
Steinbeck arranges them in a way that causes conflict in itself. The unfriendly and dangerous west is where the kind and good Hamiltons settle down. The corrupt Trasks reside in the loveliness of the east. The story of Charles and Adam reflects the biblical story of Cain and Abel but does not follow the story exactly, twisting the character’s roles. This is all used in an effort to depict the universal theme of humanity’s struggle between good and evil. The secret is that Steinbeck does not write about this in deliberate terms, but rather lets the reader discover it on his own. This makes a bigger impact and brings greater joy to the reader if found on
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