John Steinbeck's East Of Eden

John Steinbeck’s East of Eden draws comparisons to the Bible throughout the whole book. The allusions to the Bible help to reinforce the fight between good and evil that is at the base of East of Eden. John Steinbeck specifically uses the choices Cal makes in contrast to Cain in the Bible to demonstrate that human kind is born evil and the choices, which are based out of a lack of self-satisfaction, people make are what make them good or evil. Cal from East of Eden is written to mirror the Biblical character Cain. There are some distinct similarities in the characteristics of both characters. “God curses Cain, making him “a fugitive and wanderer on the earth’ (Genesis 4:14)” ( ______ 62). While Cal in East of Eden walks wanders around at night, unable to sleep. While Cain offers God the fruit that he has cultivated and harvested (Bible: Genesis 4:3), Cal gives his father the monetary fruit of the labor that Will Hamilton and Cal had done with the bean industry (Steinbeck 542). In both stories, those who received the gift renounced the gift and had preference of the gift of their brother. After God renounced his gift, Cain killed Abel out of jealousy. When God confronted Cain and asked …show more content…
I don’t have to be you” (Steinbeck 466). This brings a new perspective to the word Timshel. Timshel is the Hebrew word for ‘Thou mayest’ and according to Lee it means that man “’can choose his course and fight it through and win’”(Steinbeck 303). This manifests in Cal as Cal fights through life in order to make his course and become a good person. Cal fights against the currents which pull him towards naturally being like Cain and the character of Kate in the book. The choice between that natural evil and the fight for good is a reoccurring theme in East of Eden and Cal is the character in which this manifests in the