Character
There's good and there's bad. In the good, there might be some bad that in or surrounds them. Though one may seem bad, there might actually be some good in them, even though you might not see it. That seems to be the case with Samuel Hamilton and Cyrus Trask. Samuel Hamilton is a good, caring man who loves and respects every member of his family equally, but happens to be very poor unlike Cyrus Trask. Cyrus Trask is a mean and selfish man, who's very strict and disciplined, but loves rarely. For example, "His daughter Una had become a brooding student, tense and dark. He was proud of her wild, exploring mind. Olive was preparing to take county examinations after a stretch in the secondary school in Salinas. Olive was going to be a teacher, an honor like having a priest in the family in Ireland. Joe was to be sent to college because he was no damn good at anything else. Will was well along the way to accidental fortune. Tom bruised himself on the world and licked his cuts. Dessie was studying dressmaking, and Mollie, pretty Mollie, would obviously marry some well-to-do man... It was a well balanced family with its conservatives and its radicals, its dreamers and its realists. Samuel was well pleased with the fruit of his loins" (44). This shows Samuel's love for his children, although some obviously more better off than others. Compared to Samuel and his family, Cyrus and the rest of the Trask's aren't a well functioning family. An example of this when Cyrus is telling Adam about joining the military. "You’re not clever. You don’t know what you want. You have no proper fierceness. You let other people walk over you. Sometimes I think you’re a weakling who will never amount to a dog turd. Does that answer your question? I love you better. I always have. This may be a bad thing to tell you, but it’s true. I love you better. Else why would I have given myself the trouble of hurting you?" (28). Here Cyrus is explaining why Adam must join the military. Even though, Adam wanted an answer to his question that was not the way to answer it. As a child, I wouldn't want to hear my parent tell me that I was loved better than my sibling and vice versa. Things like that are really bad and will surely cause some psychological problems with you and your family. This is why Samuel is so different from Cyrus. Samuel loved and nurtured his kids, who grew up to be good people. Cyrus disciplined his kids and made some serious parenting mistakes, and his kids grew up to be argumentative and always quarreling with each other, one even getting in trouble with the law. Obviously Samuel mastered the secret to good parenting.
Setting
The author, John Steinbeck, did a very good job painting the picture of Salinas Valley. He did this by using a lot of personification and author's tone. Because Steinbeck lived in Salinas, he's able to use a great amount of imagery to describe the land. One of the main ways is through personification. For example, "The Santa Lucias stood up against the sky to the west and kept the valley from the open sea, and they were dark and brooding—unfriendly and dangerous" (1). Steinbeck gives the mountain the human characteristics of unfriendly and dangerous, which makes the reader think of the mountains as intimidating and scary. Tone also plays a key part in describing the setting. With a fond tone, Steinbeck illustrates the valley scene. " Once a woman told me that colored flowers would seem more bright if you added a few white flowers to give the colors definition. Every petal of blue lupin is edged with white, so that a field of lurins is more blue than you can imagine. And mixed with these were splashes of California poppies. These too are of a burning color-not orange, not gold, but if pure gold were liquid and could raise a cream, that golden cream might be like the color of the poppies" (4). Steinbeck uses his emotions of his home and its landscape to make the reader see the Salinas Valley and all its beauty. The author took a whole chapter to describe his setting which is something he likes do, especially in his other books like Of Mice of Men. Most authors however may take a paragraph explaining setting. This is what sets Steinbeck apart from other authors; taking the time and care to fully immerse readers into seeing the setting for all it truly is.
Plot
The story included many flashbacks into the main characters lives. Even though these flashbacks are thrown almost randomly in the plot, it provides important information on the main characters which helps the readers understand them. Some of the most important flashbacks or back-stories in the book so far are Cathy's and Adam Trask. An example of Cathy's background first happens in chapter eight. "There was a time when a girl like Cathy would have been called possessed by the devil. She would have been exorcised to cast out the evil spirit, and if after many trials that did not work, she would have been burned as a witch for the good of the community. The one thing that may not be forgiven a witch is her ability to distress people, to make them restless and uneasy and even envious" (72). This description of Cathy gives the reader an insight to her behavior and how she might effect other characters in the book. Another example is when Cyrus is first introduced in chapter three. "Young Adam was always an obedient child. Something in him shrank from violence, from contention, from the silent shrieking tensions that can rip at a house. He contributed to the quiet he wished for by offering no violence, no contention, and to do this he had to retire into secretness, since there is some violence in everyone. He covered his life with a veil of vagueness, while behind his quiet eyes a rich full life went on. This did not protect him from assault but it allowed him an immunity" (20). This gives a brief description on Adam and his personality. Some might find the disruptions of the plot for the flashbacks quite irritating, but to me it makes more sense. When you're thrown too many things about a character at once, it may be hard to remember. If you space it out evenly, like Steinbeck, it helps the reader understand the characters and the plot more.
Conflict
In the story, Charles is described as a person who resorts to violence when his emotions are high. This means when Charles is experiencing an internal struggle he automatically makes it an external struggle by violently acting out. An example of this is when Charles and Adam are playing a game in which Adam surprisingly wins. "Adam was not good at games. But by some accident of eye and timing he beat his brother at peewee...Charles moved close and struck him in the face with his bat... Charles swung his bat and hit him in the ribs...swung at his head and knocked him out. And as Adam lay unconscious on the ground Charles kicked him heavily in the stomach and walked away" (23). As soon as Charles is faced with the idea of losing or being lesser, he reacts viciously to the people around him (usually his brother, Adam). Another example is when Charles thinks Cyrus loves Adam more and confronts him about it. "Where’s that knife? Do you ever see him use it? Did he give it to you? I never even saw him hone it...What did he do with it? ‘Thanks,’ he said, like that. And that’s the last I heard of a pearl-handled German knife that cost six bits. Rage was in his voice... Too many times he had seen the destructive machine that chopped down anything standing in its way" (29-30). Here, Charles has the internal struggle of his father not loving him which causing him to attack his brother (yet again). Charles does all of this because he doesn't like being "the lesser person". Though he's loved, he feels like he's not at all or there's not enough. This type of thinking happens to a lot of people who either feel inferior to others (usually siblings) or not loved (again usually siblings).
Theme
A(n) universal theme expressed in the story so far in the story is that the characters either see people and the world in two different ways or colors: black and white or good and evil. An example of seeing evil in someone is how Charles views Cathy. “I tell you, she’s just a two-bit whore. I wouldn't trust her with a bit piece—why, that bitch, that slut!” (123). Even though Charles's perspective of Cathy is dead-on right, he's quick to judge Cathy and others in general. An example of seeing the absolute best of everything is how Adam views Cathy. "She smiled weakly at him, and he thought. What a child! What a helpless child! and a surge of love filled him" (120). Adam only sees Cathy for he he wants, a beautiful, helpless young girl who he wants to protect and love, not the conniving, manipulative woman she really is. Some people like to see only the evil in the, and others like to see only the good in it. This type of thinking misguides a lot of people and makes life either dark and twisted or end up getting hurt. What these people don't realize is that there's a big gray area. You can't view the world in black and white, its just not possible. The world has too many things and people to be looked at by black and white. The people who look at life through black and white are ultimately narrow-minded, just like most of the characters in East of Eden.
Author's Style
The tone of the story story changes depending on what scene it is on. This being said, the tone most used is reminiscence. An example of a reminiscent tone being used is when Steinbeck is first describing the Salinas Valley. "I remember my childhood names for grasses and secret flowers. I remember where a toad may live and what time the birds awaken in the summer—and what trees and seasons smelled like—how people looked and walked and smelled even. The memory of odors is very rich" (1). The narrator looks back into their childhood, remembering how the valley smelled, looked, and made him/her feel. Another example of a reminiscent tone is when the narrator first introduces Samuel and his decisions. "Why Samuel left the stone house and the green acres of his ancestors I do not know. He was never a political man, so it is not likely a charge of rebellion drove him out, and I was scrupulously honest, which eliminates the police as prime movers. There was a whisper—not even a rumor but rather an unsaid feeling—in my family that it was love drove him out, and not love of the wife he married. But whether it was too successful love or whether he left in pique at unsuccessful love, I do not know. We always preferred to think it was the former" (8). The narrator recalls his feelings and thoughts on Samuel and his choice to live in Salinas Valley. The reminiscent tone helps readers empathize with the narrator, meaning feeling and seeing what the narrator experienced.
One of the most important things in Part One happened at the very end. During the last scene, Cathy drugs Adam and goes to Charles's room where they had coitus. "...he drew back the blanket to receive her" (125). The reason why this is so important is because the book later hints that Aron and Cal may actually be Charles's. It also builds dramatic irony for the plot because Adam didn't know about Adam didn't know about Cathy's infidelity (until later), but the readers' knew the whole time.
