East Of Eden Book Comparison

East of Eden, by John Steinbeck and Elia Kazan’s movie adaptation demonstrate the struggle Cal faces for affection and acceptance from his father, Adam Trask. Characters develop differently and form different relationships with each other in the movie, which creates a story of its own, far from the book. The movie branches differently from the novel through its set-up, character portrayal, and character relationships. Since the movie only covers the last hundred pages of the book, the story development up until that point aren’t shown, which sets up the story differently. The film begins with Cal Trask following his mother, Cathy, home which allows the viewers to become interested in his motives. Although, this set up leaves out many significant details that preceded that moment, it gives the film

This set up however, leaves out important elements such as Cathy and her story of how she grew up and where her intentions lie. This disallows the viewers to get a better glimpse of her persona and understand her, along with other characters. The story of Adam and Cyrus also aren’t mentioned, which leaves out the parallelism to Aron and Cal, and how the Cain and Abel story passes down through the generations. However, since it is impossible to fit the entire book into a film, the decision to start the film at that scene was clever, as it introduces Cal Trask while still leaving space for the story to unfold.
The film’s portrayal of the characters display an accurate representation of Cal, however lacks depth of some other major characters in the book. James Dean’s portrayal of Cal Trask brings his character to life through his acting and exchanges with other characters.