John Steinbecks East of Eden - The Gift of Free Will :: East Eden Essays

eastward of paradise - The Gift of Free get come onAn excellent benefit of choosing to major in English is that it has allowed me four age to dig deeply into my love of the written word. This involves looking beyond the go up of literature and studying its effects in the course of my everyday life. well-nigh books are easy to enter quickly, enjoy, and forget, but others exert an influence that is not easily discarded or forgotten. In my mental library, the classic American novel East of Eden, by John Steinbeck, falls into this category. I rely East of Eden has helped shape me morally by illustrating the power of unbosom will in a world caught between a perpetual battle of good and evil.I decided to read East of Eden later on hearing a friend share a wretched passage from it in his valedictory address. Although I do not opine the contents of that particular passage anymore, I remember that it was the power of Steinbecks simple, fill language that urged me to take it on as my next big ransack into what my high school English teacher called real literature.The Cain and Abel story, possibly the almost enigmatic story of good and evil in the Bible, is the basis for East of Eden. Although allegorical elements are scattered throughout the whole novel, the most obvious theme struck me as three of the main characters discussed the ramifications of graven images words to Cain after Abels death. Lee, a Chinese servant to one of the novels main families, explained to his dickens companions a little-known conflict between the translations of Genesis 47 in two versions of the Bible. In one translation, God tells Cain that thou shalt rule over sin. In another, God says to Cain, Do thou rule over sin. The first is a promise, and the second is an order. Lee concluded that the ambiguity presented by the two translations is at the heart of the universal human story.I agree. I know slightly people who surrender themselves to the fatalistic belief that everyth ing in life has been mapped out by God. I also know people who believe that God is a harsh drillmaster who issues demands under the constant threat of damnation. Until I read this book, however, I never wondered where the dispute originated. As the characters in Steinbecks novel discussed the strain of Genesis 47, I also wondered at the intended substance of the verse.