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
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