Desire is ingrained within our human nature. It lives within every person and can dictate our actions. The pull of desire can lead us to make horrific choices but it also can lead us to heroic actions. In East of Eden by John Steinbeck, desire effects Aron, Adam, and Caleb Trask in different ways, both negative and positive. It impedes the journey for self discovery, and has severe consequences when it is out of control.
Aron’s desire for purity and perfection builds an unobtainable goal that causes problems in the discovery of himself and in how he lives his life. Aron feels the impurity from the sin his mother passed onto him. As a result, he tries to create a perfect world to cope with his burden. When he and Caleb are arguing about their mother, Aron says, “‘Why would Father tell a lie?’” (338). Aron doesn’t believe his father would ever lie to him, because in his perfect world, his father never would lie, despite never lying being a completely unachievable standard for any person to live up to. Aron’s obsession with purity deepens as he goes to college. Aron leaves the dormitories of college to live in a room by himself, in effort to escape the sins of his fellow students (523). Aron needs to remove himself from the sins and filth of the other students because he can’t …show more content…
In some cases, like with Aron, desire can completely destroy us and make life incredibly difficult. In others, it can deprive a person a purpose and finding fulfillment in life, like it did for Adam. However, it can also motivate people to become better versions of themselves and impact the world positively, just like how it affected Caleb. In the end, desire can be dangerous. Failing to refrain from our desires can have disastrous consequences, however, it also can be helpful. In the end, we decide how desire affects us. We dictate our own choices and we allow desire to destroy us and leave us in a state of regret, or allow it to motivate us for something better in
Aron’s desire for purity and perfection builds an unobtainable goal that causes problems in the discovery of himself and in how he lives his life. Aron feels the impurity from the sin his mother passed onto him. As a result, he tries to create a perfect world to cope with his burden. When he and Caleb are arguing about their mother, Aron says, “‘Why would Father tell a lie?’” (338). Aron doesn’t believe his father would ever lie to him, because in his perfect world, his father never would lie, despite never lying being a completely unachievable standard for any person to live up to. Aron’s obsession with purity deepens as he goes to college. Aron leaves the dormitories of college to live in a room by himself, in effort to escape the sins of his fellow students (523). Aron needs to remove himself from the sins and filth of the other students because he can’t …show more content…
In some cases, like with Aron, desire can completely destroy us and make life incredibly difficult. In others, it can deprive a person a purpose and finding fulfillment in life, like it did for Adam. However, it can also motivate people to become better versions of themselves and impact the world positively, just like how it affected Caleb. In the end, desire can be dangerous. Failing to refrain from our desires can have disastrous consequences, however, it also can be helpful. In the end, we decide how desire affects us. We dictate our own choices and we allow desire to destroy us and leave us in a state of regret, or allow it to motivate us for something better in