John Steinbeck's East of Eden - A Biblical Allegory

East of Eden: A Biblical Allegory

In East of Eden (1952) John Steinbeck creates a powerful novel using biblical allegories. By doing this, he can deliver a clear message by describing something unfamiliar to his audience and comparing it to something more familiar. Set in modern times, East of Eden retells the famous story of the downfall of Adam and Eve, and the jealous rivalry between Cain and Able. Steinbeck also creates many other characters throug his novel, that capture a biblical sense and help portray an image of the vast confusion of life.

One character that resembles a biblical character is Cathy Ames. Throughout the entirety of the novel, her character portrays that of a monstrous almost inhuman creature. "... just as there are physical monsters, can there not be mental or psychic monsters born? The face and body may be perfect, but if a twisted gene or malformed egg can produce malformed soul? To a criminal, honesty is foolish. You must not forget that a monster is only a variation, and that to a monster the norm is monstrous" (72). These abilities Cathy possessed allowed her to manipulate and control nearly everyone. Her inborn talent enabled her to repress normal emotions of love and thus posses many devil like characteristics. One being the manipulation of sex. In the second half of the story Cathy has married and unintentionally bears the lives of her two unborn sons. Before arriving in their destination of King City, Cathy deviously attempts to abort the lives within her. "He [Dr. Tilson] looked around the room. He stepped to the bureau and picked up a knitting needle. He shook it in her face. 'The old offender - the old criminal. You're a fool. You've nearly killed yourself and you haven't lost y...

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...ch children can spend a lifetime trying to decipher the expressions of their love. Sometime later Adam becomes deathly ill. While on his death bed Lee pleads with Adam to forgive Caleb and bless him. "'Don't crush him with your rejection. Give him your blessing! ... That's all a man has over the beasts. Free him! Bless him!" (602). Slowly and with much effort Adam raises his right hand, displaying his act of blessing on Caleb.

Like all strong allegories, East of Eden draws one into a world of fictious characters that seem to take on a life of familiarity. The bible, which Steinbeck has chosen to build his novel on, is a book that interests itself not in causes, but in actions and their consequences. By creating biblical allegories, Steinbeck gives a new meaning to an old chapter.

Works Cited:

Steinbeck, John. East of Eden. Penguin Books USA Inc. (1992).