John Steinbecks East of Eden - Religious References :: East Eden Essays

Religious References in East of Eden   Religion constantly appears throughout Steinbecks East of Eden. Among these ghostly appearances are the similarities amongst the Cain and Abel story and the characters, the Hebrew word timshel, and the presence of God/Fate in the novel. First, East of Eden is a reenactment of the Cain and Abel tale. Many similarities are seen among the two. The title East of Eden comes from the biblical tale when Cain went out from the presence of the Lord and dwelt in the land of Nod on the east of Eden (Steinbeck 352). The relationship between Abel and Cain, who killed Abel, is similar to those of Adam and Charles, who once tried to kill Adam, and Aron and Caleb, who informed Aron of their mothers profession, an act which led to Arons death in World War I. Charles and Caleb fight for their fathers affections in the same way in which Cain fought with Abel over the Lords attention. Also in the novel, the Cain characters ... are identified by names be ginning with C (Cyrus, Charles, Cathy, Caleb) and the Abel characters ... with A (Alice, Adam, Aron, Abra) (Lisca 269). Next is the word timshel-- universal gravitational constant mayest-- a Hebrew word spoken to Cain by the Lord if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him (Steinbeck 351). leeward discovers that the verb in this passage has been translated as both thou shalt rule over evil and do thou rule over evil.With the help of his Chinese elders and a Jewish Rabbi, Lee determines that the pilot program meaning is thou mayest-- the word timshel ... gives a choice (398) or free will to mankind to commit good or evil acts. This word appears ofttimes in the novel and is important at the very end where Adams final timshel blesses and forgives Caleb and reminds him that even after his murder of his brother ... he can still take in his course and fight it through and win, meaning Caleb still has the chance to ov ercome the tendency for evil which he believes he has inherited form his mother. (Gribben 96) 1 of the novels epiphanies is Lees translation of timshel to thou mayest. This translation puts choice into mans destiny. According to this view, we are not condemned we have a choice between good and evil.