Good And Evil In John Steinbeck's 'Timshel'

“Timshel” by Mumford & Sons does bring back recollections of the novel “East of Eden”. After just seeing the title of this tune, I recall the words that Lee said in his chat with Cal and Adam. Lee initiated a discussion about Cain and Abel, whom are two brothers in the bible. He discussed how God told Cain he can choose whether or not he will defeat the enticements of sin, stating, “... the Hebrew word, the word timshel - ‘Thou mayest’ - that gives a choice. It might be the most important word in the world. That says the way is open” (Ch. 24). Steinbeck stresses the phrase “timshel” towards the end of the book by pointing out that mankind can not conquer the original sin which, in Cal and Aron’s case, is her corrupted “mother” named Cathy. However, humanity can ask for forgiveness and choose between good and evil. Lee’s motive was to convince Adam and Cal to believe in the concept of “timshel”, and he succeeded in the
Steinbeck calls Cathy a beast, saying, “... there are monsters born in the world to human parents. Some you can see, misshapen and horrible, with huge heads or tiny bodies… And just as there are physical monsters, can there not be mental or psychic monsters born? The face and body may be perfect, but if a a twisted gene or malformed egg can produce physical monsters, may not the same process produce a malformed soul…” (Ch. 8). Furthermore, the lines “And you are the mother, the mother of your baby child, the one to whom you gave life” is a reference to Cathy. In the novel, she gives birth to Cal and Aron but later betrays and abandons the twins and their father, Adam. Cathy is the original sin in “East of Eden”, and the sons have a difficult time understanding the concept of “timshel” because of her. “Timshel”, the song, is the summary of the themes in “East of