East Of Eden Analysis

Throughout the book, East of Eden, John Steinbeck thoroughly portrays the main character, Adam, for who he truly is. Throughout Adams life, he is faced with several obstacles that shift his daily actions and concept of love. From birth, Adam was not given adequate love and attention, and while it may seem trite to an infant, it is crucial that they obtain the care they need in order to live up to their full potential as neglect may have many negative consequences on one’s mental wellbeing in the future. In one particular passage (page 22) Adams true emotions and viewpoint of the concept of love is clearly laid out in order for the reader to truly comprehend his emotions. Throughout the passage, tone, rhetorical questions, and logos are utilized

to further depict Adam’s problematic past and how it negatively affects his life as an adult.
The first literary technique that contributes to the style of the passage is tone.

There is very apparent shift in tone nearly half way through the passage. The tone shifts from a more descriptive and objective description tone to a more subjective Freudian or sexual tone. He starts by describing Alice and the negative consequences of losing his birth mother to a women with little to no emotion. Adam states, “Alice never complained, quarreled, laughed, or cried.” He includes this line to present the reader with a simple yet powerful description of his step mother Alice’s inattentiveness those around her. This allows the reader to understand that from a young age Adam was not given the basic love and attention needed to flourish. The passage then promptly shifts to a Freudian description of his sexual thoughts and reasons for them. He describes his promiscuous thoughts involving Alice after seeing her naked. He says, “He ached toward her with a wanting that was passionate and hot.” He continues by saying, “He did not know what it was about, but all the lack of holding, caressing, breat and bipple, and a soft voice- all of these were in his passion, and he did not know it.” Adam does not even know why he feels the way he does in this instant but is backed up by the reasoning that he never experienced love as a baby and therefore does not know any

different.
Another literary technique that is presented in the passage is rhetorical questions. There is one overarching rhetorical question that is strategically placed at the end of the passage in order to elongate Adams constant questioning regarding the concept of love in order to keep the reader questioning, just as Adam does. Adam clearly does not know why he feels the emotions he does on a daily basis or what they mean. He mentions that he feels feelings similar to love and were in his passion but he had no idea why because he did not know that these feelings existed within him as he had to figure them out for himself. The rhetorical question leaves the audience with a question just as Adam is left questioning his emotions.
Steinbeck includes logos throughout the passage to layout concrete examples to aid the reader in understanding the logical explanations for Adam’s thoughts. Logos are included throughout this passage in order to present the reader with reasonable explanations as to why Adam has a difficult time grasping the concept of love. He explains that Adam questions the feelings he exhibits due to the understable reasons that he never experienced love as a child and is slowly discovering all these emotions as he grows older and has to decipher what they mean for himself.