Kristine here.
It's been about a year since I read East of Eden (EoE),
so my thoughts on the book may be a little shoddy.
(my friend introduced the idea of book journaling -
recording favorite quotes + reactions + ideas while reading -
the other day, and I wish I'd started this while reading EoE!)
Here are some of my recollections and impressions:
- Context: I read EoE whille visiting Korea for 2 weeks last summer. I'd just completed an internship in the Philippines that entailed a lot of traveling and 'practical work,' so I was hungry to leisurely contemplate on human nature and with an American author. I finished EoE within 1.5 weeks, amidst frantically meeting up with friends and exploring the motherland.
- Reading: A few chapters into the book, I could not put the book down. Each word - phrase - sentence - paragraph - passage was seeped with insight. Steinbeck's writing style, tone, and themes resonated on spiritual, social, and ideological levels.
- Characters: All of them - Adam, Cathy, Lee, Cal, Aron, Abra, et al - are richly textured. Although they stand for specific qualities/struggles (i.e. Cathy as 'pure evil'), they are still layered and striking, some more than others, as in real life. I found my reactions to Cal to be particularly moving - I did not know whether I pitied him, understood him, or was fed up with him - actually all of the above that resulted in celebrating with him. I love that a character can evoke such a range of emotions.
- Response: EoE left an indelible mark on my views of the human experience, God, and what good writing can do. While writing on oft-written themes of redemption, depravity, love, generational sin, Steinbeck's take seems fresh, yet rooted. Passages on timshel are especially enlightening and richened my understanding of man's relationship with God and decision-making.
- Adaptation: Upon returning to the States, one of the first things I did was to watch the movie version. It was a lost cause from the start - anytime I love a work immensely, I have a negative reaction to other renditions (a habit I am trying to get rid of). All this to say, I fell asleep 30 minutes into the movie. The pace was super slow, the characters were watered down, and regardless of how much I love James Dean, I felt the characters were miscast. Jet lag may have affected my viewing, but I still have no desire to finish the movie.
- Steinbeck: Other Steinbeck works I'd read prior to this was The Red Pony and Of Mice and Men - good novels, but not on the same level as EoE. I'm currently reading Grapes of Wrath, but it's not eliciting the same fervor and passion to read that EoE did. There's something about EoE that holds a special place in my heart in my esteem for literature... I actually felt changed after reading EoE, and I think that is really remarkable when books can do that. I think Steinbeck would agree with my esteem for EoE over his other works, as he said about East of Eden:
It has everything in it I have been able to learn about my craft or profession in all these years... I think everything else I have written has been, in a sense, practice for this.Well said, Mr. Steinbeck. Thank you for writing such a thoughtful masterpiece.
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ReplyDeleteIn response to characters, I was drawn oddly enough to the coldest, seemingly unfeeling character Cathy(or Kate), the mother of the twins Aron and Cal. She was manipulative, mean and outright cruel, but there were moments of weakness--possible indications that she was broken and human. I found her character the most mysterious. She understood the world at such an early age, and she played it well. For some reason, I wanted so much(more than any other character) for her to be redeemed because she was so deeply fallen and alone. She had no one, and she wanted no one. But even evil characters have dreams. She wanted to get away somewhere and live a good life. However, this never happened because she could never escape the past. What a horrible way to live. In many ways, I felt so much sympathy for her.
ReplyDeleteI was surprised to discover Cal come around at the end. He was supposed to kill someone or something. But instead, he seeks forgiveness and redemption. It was such a beautiful transformation for me to see the character realize who he was, and who he could become. Maybe Lee had a lot to do with it, but Cal stayed honest with himself in the end. He was able to take the truth and then live, unlike Cathy and Aron.
and yes, to kristine...i am having trouble getting through Grapes of Wrath in the same way as East of Eden. melody was over my place today(i mentioned you!), and i seriously could not get past the 5th chapter...it is going so slllooowww. i agree with you that EoE has a very different effect on me compared to others. it has a special place in my heart because the story is unlike any other i have read before. and yes, in some ways it has changed my life too. i have never felt so much frustration, love, and exhilaration (all at the same time) with characters i will always remember.
ReplyDeletePS i meant to say i was most fascinated by Cal, not Aron. shows how i really need to reread EoE.. but after the rest of collection.
ReplyDeletekrisTINE...why does grapes of wrath feel so different from EoE? ive been on chapter 7 for the last i dont know hour? it's not penetrating! haha...i want to know what happened to Cal. did he live happily ever after with Abra? i mean, the ending happened so fast. do you think it was too convenient for Abra to marry Cal instead? i dont know, it just felt too easy an ending. and dude, Cal was supposed to kill Aron dangit. the ending was so frustrating!!
ReplyDeleteokay back to grapes..
Caleb is very relatable to me because he's the most human, the embodiment of timshel. I feel the most sympathy for Samuel whose life is a constant struggle, like his bad-tempered horse prone to kick him. Yet Sam keeps a song in his heart -- how fitting that the horse is named Doxology! He praises God by choosing to be a good man. It's a daily choice to say, "Blessed be the name of the Lord."
ReplyDeleteSo I relate to Cal and Sam, but my favorite character is Lee. He's the ideal parent -- gentle, selfless, and wise. I was moved by the story of his origins and by his and Abra's shared affection. I also admire his devotion. From a Christian perspective, Lee faithfully submits to God's purpose (giving up his plan to open the bookstore) and God uses him for salvation.
I was interested in how alcohol "poisons" Cathy, but Lee's drinking and opium smoking are harmless. Again, it's all about timshel. Lee's choice to exercise self-control prevents those habits from becoming vices. I love Steinbeck's wordplay, like the contradiction in "good rotten apples." Is that a paradox or an oxymoron? I'm unsure of the difference.
Anyway, my last thought (a trivial one) is I had a clear mental image of Lee because he reminded me of the actor James Saito on "Eli Stone"! I didn't watch that TV show very often, but I seem to remember Saito's character, a Chinese acupuncturist, speaking pidgin to customers and fluent American-accented English to his friends. Eli often turned to him for spiritual advice, which was an interesting similarity in my mind! By the way, was anyone else bothered by the racial stereotypes in E/E? I didn't like reading the pidgin, but the juxtaposition of that and Lee's erudite speech did make me laugh. I think that racism is an accurate reflection of the book's setting and Steinbeck's time period.
Well, as you can see, reading this wonderful novel gave me endless points to ponder. Thank you, Joy and Kristine, for introducing it to me!
You know what, I thought about the paradox/oxymoron difference some more and came to this conclusion:
ReplyDeleteA paradox is a truth stated in contradictory terms; a statement that should not be taken at face value but that requires scrutiny for the logic to be revealed. It defies conventional wisdom and intuition.
An oxymoron is a contradiction revealed in fewer words than a paradox. It can be one word ("bittersweet"), two words ("going nowhere"), or more ("the silence was deafening").
I ended up writing an exposition for my tutoring blog that included not only these terms, but also "paraprosdokian" and pertinent quotes from E/E. I'll copy the link here if you're interested. (It's not available yet because the blog has to be approved by the tutoring company I work for, WyzAnt.)
mei-mei! (i hear this from my chinese friends that to say it twice is a means of affection)
ReplyDeleteso wonderful you got to finish EoE! you know, about 20 years from now i predict in place of blogs we'll have like virtual transport or something where we can actually visit eachother and discuss these things without actually really moving. kind of like in star wars. hehe. sigh...some day..
so yeah, EoE! i like what you said about Lee. I find him a pretty multidimensional character, and his past is painful. man, the way his mother died in the mines was terrible. i was also kind of wondering about why Lee never stayed in San Francisco to start that bookstore. Steinbeck doesn't really say, and Lee, well, Lee didn't talk much about himself either. there was never an explanation as to why he decided to come back. was he turned away? did he truly miss the Trask family that much to come back after saving all that money? was it devotion that made him return within a matter of days? i kind of question his motivation. did he have a choice?
does Timshel apply to the china man, too? hmm. the part about opium though, haha..when were the opium wars again in china? did americans view opium smoking chinese men mildly in contrast to cathy and her alcohol? again, does Timshel apply to everyone in EoE?
yep, Mei-Mei = little sister! You're about a week older than me, right? (unless you weren't born in 1980)
ReplyDeleteI agree that Lee's motives are open to interpretation. Maybe he lacked the self-confidence to venture out on his own, get married, etc. It's more comfortable to dream than go out and pursue those dreams!
I think timshel applies to everyone, considering Steinbeck's desire for a universal story. I didn't think about the opium wars! Interesting :)
Again, it's been awhile since I read EoE, so my memory is rocky, but from what I recall, I thought Lee's decision to return was out of love for the Trask family. I think Steinbeck has made his characters layered enough where it is possible Lee lacked confidence or maybe he was being 'honest' about the ambiguity of choice in this situation. But given Lee's wisdom throughout, I felt he willfully made a decision out of love to stay w/the family than to venture out... or maybe this is what I'd like to think..
ReplyDeleteI also like to think it was out of love and sacrifice :)
ReplyDeleteI don't know. I like to view Lee as more "complex" than that. haha....oh the power of psychoanalysis.
ReplyDelete