Angel and The Devil in East of Eden by John Steinbeck

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In East of Eden, John Steinbeck tells the history of two generations of different families Hamiltons and the Trasks from around the 1880s to the 1920s. Throughout the Trask family, there is a reoccurring glimpse of the Cain and Abel story reflected in two sets of brothers. Each generation struggles to balance the angel and the devil raging inside them. Steinbeck uses masks to prove no matter how destructive it may be, one will always strive for acceptance from others. Charles Trask, who holds the destructive behavior of Cain, has an acute fear of rejection, despite it being a constant factor in his life. As a child, the only thing he wanted was love from his father Cyrus, but Cyrus gave all his love to Adam, the Abel to Charles and the brother who “most of the time [Adam] hated [Cyrus]” (64). This rejection creates anger in Charles, directed not at his more deserving father Cyrus, but Adam. Charles needs someone to blame for his hurt feelings, and felt his brother was the best choice. For Cyrus’s birthday Charles “took six bits and [he] bought him a knife made in Germany”, while Adam...

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