Essay on Good vs. Evil in Steinbecks East of Eden

A theme is a unifying or dominant idea in a literary work. Steinbeck described the competition of good versus evil as the story of mankind itself. He believes that every generation to come since Adam and Eve will now be immersed with the struggle of good and evil due to Eve’s curiosity that led to sin, eventually banning both her and Adam from the Garden of Eden. In East of Eden, Steinbeck makes the contest of good versus evil apparent through his contrasting description of the setting, the characters’ opposing personalities, and society’s changing morals. To show that man is surrounded by good and evil no matter where they are, Steinbeck describes the setting in a contrasting way to represent the good side and the bad side of nature. He†¦show more content†¦In describing the land, Steinbeck is showing humanity is continuously immersed in a struggle of good versus evil; he suggests â€Å"the way in which this sense of opposed absolutes rises from deep w ithin man, representing something profound and inevitable in human consciousness† (Owens). The main way in which Steinbeck shows the theme of good versus evil is the character’s divergent personalities. The main good character of the novel is Samuel Hamilton, a poor farmer who raised nine children on little to no income. Despite the fact that his customers do not pay him money for his labor – blacksmithing, well digging – he is still gracious and kind to everyone he meets. He sees through Cathy’s faà §ade to the true core of her evilness. Cathy Ames is the evil character who has no conscious as she uses Adam Trask (protagonist) to move to Salinas after sleeping with his brother, trying to abort her babies, shooting Adam in the shoulder and leaving him alone with their twin sons, and secretly killing a brothel owner so she can take control. She is described as being â€Å"as close to pure evil as one is likely to get this side of hell† (Aubre y). Adam is always struggling between these two characters in the novel, representing his personal struggle with good versus evil. He is enamored with Cathy, or who he thinks Cathy is, and is left in an extreme state of depression uponShow MoreRelatedThe Significance of Sibling Rivalry in Steinbecks East of Eden1400 Words   |  6 Pages East of Eden The struggle of sibling rivalry over ability and temperament has taken East of Eden in a whole new perspective. Steinbeck’s portrait on sibling rivalry shows the good vs. evil of each character in the story. The nature of good vs. evil as natural selection is also seen in siblings, as a compete for something physical, mental, or something emotional. The sibling rivalry from the biblical characters embraced Steinbeck’s characters throughout every conceptRead MoreMoby Dick, Sophies World, East of Eden2310 Words   |  10 Pagesof control over our lives exercised through free will in our choices, others believe an entirely different power is at hand in controlling our lives. These issues often find themselves associated in literature, with examples such as John Steinbeck’s East of Eden, Herman Melville’s Moby Dick, and Jostein Gaarder’s Sophie’s World. Among these books, there are different interpretations on the role of fate and free will in h uman life. In particular, these three different works of literature express varyingRead More The Power of Words Essay2225 Words   |  9 Pagestrend and use powerful sayings or words to intensify their plot and to evoke specific emotions from their audience. â€Å"Timshel† or â€Å"thou mayest† was a reoccurring word in John Steinbeck’s fictional novel East of Eden, their was a struggle or contemplation of the exact translation that was parallel to the theme of good vs. evil found throughout the three generations of brothers (Steinbeck np). This one word meant redemption, forgiveness, and liberation all at once. Another example of the power of wordsRead MoreThe Idea Of The Absurd3255 Words   |  14 Pagesto change natural things, but people try anyway, absurd as it is, to try to make natural things different. This will be explored through Krakauer’s novel Into Thin Air, Adrienne Rich’s â€Å"Storm Warnings,† Eminem’s â€Å"Till I Collapse,† and John Steinbeck’s East of Eden. In the novel Into Thin Air the idea of commercializing Mount Everest is a main theme. This notion is absurd because Mount Everest is a creation of nature and commercialism is a creation of man. Trying to put something as unpredictable as